LPGA TOUR | Palos Verdes Championship
Marina Alex (Pro V1x) claimed her second LPGA victory Sunday in California, closing in 6-under 66 to win by one shot over the No. 1 player in the world and fellow Titleist golf ball player Jin Young Ko (Pro V1), who also posted a final-round 66.
WINNER MAKES SWITCH TO TSi3 DRIVER; 4TH WIN FOR TSi ON 2022 LPGA
- The winner of the Palos Verdes Championship played a Titleist TSi3 driver, having switched from a competitive model to begin the 2022 season.
- It marked the fourth win for Titleist TSi drivers on the LPGA through the first 10 events this season, double the nearest competitor.
- The Palos Verdes champ made the switch to TSi following a pre-season session with Titleist fitter Scott Kraul in which she was only meant to test fairway woods.
- Kraul, having asked her to hit a few shots with her gamer to see the gapping with her 3-wood, noticed her contact was toward the heel and she was over-spinning it on her preferred shot shape (fade). Her miss was a pull left.
- In testing TSi3, Kraul fit her into a 9.0° loft in the B•1 SureFit Hosel setting (standard loft, -.75 degrees flat). She immediately began to make consistent contact in the center of the face.
- Her ball speed increased 1.5 mph on average and she maintained more consistent spin rates.
- As a result, she picked up an average of 5 yards carry distance.
ANWA CHAMP MAKES CUT IN LPGA DEBUT
- Two shots outside the cutline as she stepped to the 16th tee on Friday afternoon in Palos Verdes, the winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur played her final three holes of Round 2 in eagle-birdie-par to make the cut in her LPGA debut.
- “I knew that I obviously had to make something happen to make the cut. I knew that I had to be kind of aggressive going into the last few holes,” she said.
- The ANWA champ gamed a Titleist Pro V1x golf ball and full bag of Titleist equipment, as she did last month in claiming one of the biggest titles in amateur golf, becoming the youngest champion in the event's history at 16 years old.
What’s in the ANWA Champion’s Golf Bag?
Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: TSi2 11.0°
Fairway Metal: TSi2 16.5° & 18.0°
Hybrid: TS2 23.0°
Irons: 620 MB 5-PW
Wedges: NEW Vokey Design SM9 50.12F, 54.10S, 58.10S
Putter: Scotty Cameron Timeless tour prototype
PGA TOUR | Mexico Open
Titleist was the most played golf ball, driver, hybrid, utility iron, iron, wedge and putter at the Mexico Open, where eight of the top 10 – and 10 of the top 12 – finishers trusted at least one piece of Titleist equipment.
- That list includes PGA TOUR rookie and Titleist Brand Ambassador Brandon Wu, who matched Tony Finau (Pro V1 Left Dot) for Sunday’s low round of 8-under 63.
- Wu, who had his best week on the PGA TOUR (T2), played his final 36 holes in bogey-free 13 under par, making six birdies and an eagle over his final 14 holes Sunday.
- His closing 63 was the lowest score of his PGA TOUR career, as he set career-bests for a single round in Strokes Gained: Off-the-tee (+1.72) and SG: Tee-to-green (+4.07).
- “I played awesome today,” said Wu, who jumped 77 spots up the FedEx Cup Rankings to No. 73. “Tried to keep it easy, that was kind of the game plan with me and my caddie. Hit a lot of greens, hit a lot of fairways. The conditions were kind of tough especially towards the middle and the end of the round, there’s some tough holes with the wind, but yeah, I just tried to play my game and it was good.”
What’s in Brandon Wu’ Titleist Golf Bag?
Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TSi3 10.0° | Graphite Design Tour AD GP 7 TX
Fairway Metals: TSi2 15.0° | Graphite Design Tour AD GP 8 TX and TSi2 18.0° | Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 TX
Utility Iron: NEW T200 (4) | Nippon NS Pro Modus3 Tour 130 X
Irons: NEW T100 (5-9) | Nippon NS Pro Modus3 Tour 130 X
Wedges: NEW Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 52.12F, 56.12D, SM8 WedgeWorks 60.06K | Nippon NS Pro Modus3 Tour 130 X (46), True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 (52, 56, 60)
Putter: Scotty Cameron 009M tour prototype
RILEY ROLLING WITH NEW PHANTOM X PUTTER
- Titleist Brand Ambassador Davis Riley – playing a NEW Scotty Cameron Phantom X 7.2 tour prototype putter – led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (+2.35 round) en route to his third Top 5-finish in his last five starts.
- His 40 one-putts were also the most of any player in the field.
- Riley has played a Scotty Cameron Phantom X putter model throughout his rookie season on the PGA TOUR, after switching to a Phantom X 11 late last season on the Korn Ferry Tour.
- He moved to the Phantom X 7.2 tour-only prototype at the Honda Classic, returning to the plumber’s neck he had played prior to the Phantom X 11 (Newport 2).
- Said Riley on his Phantom X mallet: “Everybody’s going to mishit putts, even out here. When you’ve got those longer putts and you don’t hit it quite in the center, you want that forgiveness there to still get the speed that you’re trying to hit. And that’s the biggest thing is, it helps you when you off-center the hit, it’s still going to have the speed you’re expecting it to come out at.”
KORN FERRY TOUR | Huntsville Championship
Harrison Endycott (Pro V1x) won for the first time as a professional, sinking an 11-footer for birdie on the 18th hole Sunday to complete a five-shot victory.
- The Sydney, Australia, native opened in 7-under 63, tying the 18-hole tournament scoring record, and followed with rounds of 67-64-70 to seal the win.
- For the week, he led the field (T1) in Greens in Regulation at 80.56% (58 of 72) and was second in Scrambling at 78.57%.
- The win moves Endycott from 103rd to 12th on the KFT’s Regular Season Points List as he aims to secure a PGA TOUR card for next season.
TITLEIST SWEEPS EQUIPMENT COUNTS
DP WORLD TOUR | Catalunya Championship
Titleist Brand Ambassador Oliver Bekker fell just short in a six-hole playoff in Spain, earning his best finish of the season and sixth top-10 of 2022.
- Bekker – playing a Pro V1 golf ball, TSi3 driver, NEW T100•S irons and NEW Vokey Design SM9 wedges among his Titleist setup – has the third-best stroke average (69.21) this season on the DP World Tour.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS | Insperity Championship
Steven Alker (Pro V1) won for the second time in three starts, posting rounds of 67-65-66 to win by four shots.
- Alker, the only player to shoot all three rounds in the 60s, returned from a two-hour weather delay Sunday by playing holes 11 through 16 in 6 under, including an eagle at the par-5 15th.
- It was the third-career Champions victory for Alker, who has finished T2 or better in four of seven events in 2022.
- Since Monday qualifying for last year’s Boeing Classic, Alker has played in 14 events, finishing outside the Top 9 only three times.
PGA TOUR AUSTRALASIA | Western Australian Open
Titleist Brand Ambassador Braden Becker – playing a Pro V1x golf ball, TSi3 driver and NEW T100 irons among his Titleist setup – claimed the first victory of his PGA TOUR Australasia career.
- Becker posted rounds of 66-66-65-72 at Royal Fremantle Golf Club
- to finish at 19 under, one shot ahead of the defending champion – an amateur who plays a full bag of Titleist equipment.
What’s in Braden Becker’s Titleist Golf Bag?
Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: TSi3
Fairway Metal: TSi3
Irons: NEW T100 (4-PW)
Wedges: Vokey Design SM8
SUNSHINE TOUR | The Tour Championship
Titleist Brand Ambassador Tristen Strydom won for the first time on the Sunshine Tour in a record-setting performance at the season finale.
- Strydom closed in 6-under 66 to finish at 21-under 267, claiming the record for the lowest winning total in the history of the Tour Championship.
- He broke the previous record of 19-under-par 269 set by Titleist Brand Ambassador Garrick Higgo in 2020.
- Pieter Moolman (Pro V1) took second place at 15 under, while Titleist Brand Ambassador George Coetzee finished third at 11 under.
What’s in Tristen Strydom’s Titleist Golf Bag?
Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: TSi2
Fairway Metal: TSi2
Irons: T100
Wedges: NEW Vokey Design SM9 50°, 54°, 60°
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport 2.5
PGA TOUR LATINOAMERICA | Diners Club Peru Open
Jose Toledo (Pro V1x) was the only player to shoot four rounds in the 60s as he cruised to a six-shot victory in Peru.
- It marked the second PGA TOUR Latinoamerica win for Toledo, who played the week in 67-64-69-66 to finish at 22 under par.
IN THE NEWS | Masters Champ donating Vokey lob wedge for Augusta National display
The 2022 Masters champion is donating his Vokey Design WedgeWorks Low Bounce K lob wedge to be displayed at Augusta National, according to a report this week by GOLF’s Jonathan Wall.
- Masters champions have donated one club from their winning setup to ANGC ever since the first tournament was played in 1934.
- The current World No. 1 played three Vokey Design wedges in his Masters victory, including the WedgeWorks 60.06K model he used to make a pivotal Sunday birdie on the par-4 3rd, chipping in from 29 yards left of the green. For the week, he finished T-2 in Scrambling (69.6%).
- When asked after the final round what he saw as his biggest strength that week, he said: “I had a lot of nice up-and-downs… If I was to pick one part of my game that excelled the most, I would say it was probably my lob wedge. Even today (Sunday), I had some really good up-and-downs in the beginning of the round and then just kept myself in position.”
- The Masters champ began making the transition to Vokey wedges from competitive models toward the end of 2020. He played a full set of three Vokeys for the first time at the 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, using 60A and 60T grinds for most of that season.
- At the 2021 Tour Championship, he asked Vokey Tour Rep Aaron Dill to build him a 60.06K after trying one being used by the reigning Olympic champion while in the short game area at East Lake Golf Club.
- “He hit it and loved it from the start,” Dill said. “He tried it in the bunker, from the rough, and tight cut Bermuda. He described the sole as forgiving and fast. He said it felt forgiving and at the same time gave him confidence to hit all the shots he wanted. He asked me to build one and it went right in play that week.”
- The K grind is among the most popular of all the available Vokey options, especially with amateur golfers who favor its wide, cambered sole, providing maximum forgiveness on greenside shots and out of the bunker.
- “He sort of traps everything. If you look at how he hits shots, most of his shots are low with a lot of spin,” Dill said. “So he has a lot of shaft lean. He’s got a descending blow, but I think for most shots, he just really wants to feel it cut, but also slide at the same time. And with a little bit wider sole, you get that sensation a lot of times. I think that’s really what he’s hoping for is just those two feels.”
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