In complete control of his Titleist golf ball, Matt Fitzpatrick (Pro V1x) closed out with a final round 66 in St Andrews to win his 9th DP World Tour title.
The 2022 U.S. Open champion started the third and final round in the shortened event with a one-shot lead over the chasing pack. After making birdie on his first hole, Fitzpatrick never looked back making eight birdies around the Old Course to win the event for the first time.
The week was made even more special for Fitzpatrick after also winning the Team event alongside his mother, Susan, to make it a double win in Scotland.
Having started the week 60th in the Race to Dubai standings, Fitzpatrick moves up to 11th, guaranteeing a spot at the season's grand finale event in Dubai.
• FITZPATRICK ON THE PERFORMANCE OF HIS PRO V1X : “There’s obviously so many different variables with a golf ball. I’ve always been kind of a lower flight player but I am kind of high spin so that’s where I feel like my game is at with the golf ball. To be able to rely on the golf ball and know that it’s gonna do what I want it to do – have a consistent flight, consistent spin with every shot that I hit – that’s so important. Having that ability to know what your ball is going to do rather than second guessing makes a hell of a difference and obviously makes you more comfortable. And from there you’re gonna hit better golf shots. I love the golf ball that I’m in, it just works perfectly for my game.
“The reason [Pro V1x] is so good for me is feel, I like the harder feel off the club face. I just feel like the spin’s consistent, the flight’s consistent, and that’s what you need in a golf ball. You don’t need it kind of in different windows. It’s nice to have that consistency to have the confidence in the golf ball to know how far it’s going to go every time, and to be within a really tight deviation is obviously so important. This is a game of inches after all, the margins are so fine you want it to be as tight as possible. So that’s why I play Pro V1x because it’s exactly that, you know what you’re going to get every shot and you don’t get any strange effects from shots.
“You just know, hitting other golf balls, that as soon as you’ve hit it, it doesn’t have the same effect. I’ve messed around with balls on the range when they’ve been mixed into the Pro V1x bag that I always go to grab, and they just get funky flights. I don’t know how you can play golf with that, to be honest, and not knowing what you’re going to get from shot to shot.
“I feel like, for me, the firmer the ball is, the more I can control the spin. That’s always nice for me (with Pro V1x), knowing that I can increase spin, and take spin off it. That’s been the big thing. I know for a fact I can flight the ball easy, much easier, up and down, with the ball that I use.
“I’ve been Pro V1x ever since I was probably about 15. It was always the best ball. There was never anything else for me growing up, to be honest. That’s all I’ve ever known.”
The Champion of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship was also gaming a Titleist TSi3 9.0 driver and three Vokey Design wedges. After having played three different driver brands in 2020, it was at the DP World Tour Championship that year where he worked with Titleist Tour Rep Liam McDougall to put all of them head-to-head during a rigorous testing session. He’s had the TSi3 in the bag ever since, using it to earn his first major victory at the 2022 U.S. Open.
Amid the final minutes of daylight Sunday at Jackson Country Club, Luke List rolled in his Pro V1 golf ball for birdie from just over 43 feet to clinch his second PGA Tour victory.
The putt – officially measuring 43 feet, 1 inch – ended a five-man playoff that was anticipated to finish Monday morning in Mississippi but instead needed just one hole.
List, who posted rounds of 66-66-68-70 to make the playoff at 18 under par, was one of four Titleist golf ball players who qualified for the extra session, along with Ludvig Aberg (Pro V1x), Ben Griffin (Pro V1) and Scott Stallings (Pro V1x).
For the week, the 38-year-old List gained +5.731 strokes tee to green (14th), with +3.456 of them coming around the green (6th).
The winner of the Sanderson Farms Championship played the PGA TOUR’s most popular driver, a Titleist TSR3 he used to gain more than two shots off the tee (+2.171/19th) on his way to victory in Mississippi. For the reason, he ranks 10th on TOUR in that statistic (+0.584).
The winner, who played a TSR3 9.0 model (Mitsubishi Diamana DF 80 TX), was one of three playoff participants gaming a TSR driver. (Scott Stallings also plays a TSR3 9.0, while the European Ryder Cupper plays a TSR2 9.0.)
Titleist has been the most played driver on the PGA TOUR for five straight seasons and this week was no different, with 33 percent of the field (48 players) using Titleist drivers. Half of those were TSR3, the TOUR’s most played model.
The winner of the Sanderson Farms Championship made the move this week from a competitive model to a new Vokey Design SM9 WedgeWorks 60T lob wedge, gaming a total of three Vokey wedges in his winning setup (SM9 50.12F, 54.14F, WedgeWorks 60T). Four of the five players in the playoff had Vokey wedges in the bag.
The champion credited his short game in his press conference Sunday, after finishing 6th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green (+3.456). He got up-and-down 12 of 16 attempts (75%, T19) for the week and was 7 for 9 in sand saves (78%, 13).
The T Grind is one of the most popular grinds on Tour, with 41 of the top 100 players in the OWGR playing T Grind lob wedges. That list includes Titleist Brand Ambassadors Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Cameron Young and Tom Kim, as well as the World Nos. 1, 5 and 6.
According to Master Craftsman Bob Vokey, the T grind is built for players seeking to unlock ultimate creativity around the greens. It is a low-bounce wedge with a narrow crescent surface and wider back flange, best for players with shallow and precise deliveries, as well as those playing off firm conditions.
The Sanderson Farms champion used a Scotty Cameron Fastback Plus (Centre Shaft) tour prototype putter to end Sunday’s five-man playoff on the first extra hole, rolling in a 43-footer on the 18th green at Jackson CC. Four of the five players to make the playoff gamed Scotty Cameron putters.
The champion, who played four different competitive putter models through his first 11 events of the season, made the switch to the Scotty Cameron at the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship and has had it in the bag ever since (9 events).
Over the four days in Mississippi, he gained more than six strokes on the field putting (+6.002/7th), making over 150 feet in putts on Friday alone.
“Felt really comfortable in that moment (in the playoff), and then just once you get on the green, I've been rolling it well, and I hit really good putts in the last three in regulation, so just pick my line and get in the moment and just trust the line. It was awesome to see it go in,” he said.
“My speed has been really good all week. I think I maybe had one or two three-putts, but just really good speed. Just really dialled into my spot, and that's all I did. I was just thinking about rolling it over that spot, and it was downhill. The greens were so perfect, breaking right to left, and I hit my spot, and it went in.”
Hyo Joo Kim (Pro V1x) earned her sixth career LPGA victory, winning wire-to-wire after opening the week with a 7-under 64. Kim – who entered the week ranked No. 7 in the Rolex Rankings, having recorded eight top-10's this season on the LPGA Tour – followed up her strong start with rounds of 68-70-69 to reach 13 under and win by four shots. She hit 43/52 (83%) of her fairways and made 20 birdies over the four rounds at Old American Golf Club.
This week in Texas, 109 players (84% of the field) teed up a Pro V1 or Pro V1x, including 10 of the top 12 finishers on Sunday’s final leader board.
Paul Barjon (Pro V1 Left Dot) shot a final round 4-under 68 to win by three shots and lock up his PGA TOUR card for the 2024 season. The 31-year-old Frenchman, who also won in July at the Memorial Health Championship and is now a three-time KFT winner, jumped 37 spots from No. 45 to No. 8 in the KFT Points List with the season-finale victory. The Top 30 earned their TOUR cards.
“This is the best one by far,” said Barjon, who posted 14 under for the week while leading a 1-2-3-4-5 finish for Titleist golf ball players. “The other one I didn’t really expect to turn out that way. This one I knew what I had to do and I did it.”
Over the four rounds at Victoria National, Barjon made 18 birdies and two eagles and finished T1 in Scrambling, getting his Pro V1 Left Dot up-and-down 13 of 19 attempts (68%).
Barjon was one of 21 Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x players to earn their 2024 TOUR cards, and one of four Titleist golf ball players who earned their way into the Top 30 on Sunday, including Titleist Brand Ambassador Mac Meissner (Pro V1x), Josh Teater (Pro V1x) and Roger Sloan (Pro V1x).
The 24-year-old Meissner earned his first TOUR card after posting back-to-back 68s on the weekend to finish T3 and jump from 35th to 20th.
Titleist Brand Ambassador Joe Highsmith posted Sunday’s best round, a 6-under 66 to finish the week T3 and secure his first trip to the PGA TOUR after starting the week 27th.
The 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season came to a close Sunday with 30 PGA TOUR cards on the line. Twenty-one players trusted a Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball in earning status for the 2024 PGA TOUR season:
Titleist equipment in Top 30: Driver (8 players); irons (8), wedge (18 with at least one Vokey), putter (12).
No. 1: TSR3 9.0 driver; TSR3 19.0 hybrid; NEW T200 4-5 irons, 620 CB 6-9 irons; Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 50.12F, 54.12D, 60.08M; Scotty Cameron P5 GSS tour prototype putter
No. 15 | Jimmy Stanger: TSR2 10.0 driver; TSR2 15.0 fairway; TSR2 21.0 hybrid; T100 4-5 irons, 620 MB 6-9 irons; Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 50.08F, 56.10S, WedgeWorks 60T wedges; Scotty Cameron Tour Rat tour prototype putter
No. 17 | Nicholas Lindheim: TSR2 9.0 driver; TSR3 16.5 fairway; T200 4 iron, T100 5-9 irons; Vokey Design SM9 48.10F, 50.08F, WedgeWorks 54.08M, 58.04L or 58.08M wedges; Scotty Cameron Masterful plus tour prototype putter
No. 18 | Joe Highsmith: TSR3 8.0 driver; TSR3 15.0 fairway; NEW T200 3 iron; T100 4-9 irons; Vokey Design 46.10F, 50.12F, 54.14F, WedgeWorks 58; Scotty Cameron 009 tour prototype putter
No. 19: Vokey Design SM9 52.12F, 56.10S, WedgeWorks 64; Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Midsize tour prototype putter
No. 20 | Mac Meissner: TSR3 9.0 driver; TSi2 15.0 fairway; U•500 3 iron, NEW T100 4-9 irons; Vokey Design 46.10F, 50.12F, 56.14F, 60T wedges; Scotty Cameron GOLO 6.2 tour prototype putter
No. 21 | Tom Whitney: TSR2 11.0 driver; TSR3 15.0 fairway; U•505 2 iron, NEW T200 4 iron, NEW T100 5-P irons; Vokey Design SM9 50.08F, 56.10S, BV-Proto 60T; Scotty Cameron Phantom X 11 tour prototype putter
No. 26: Vokey Design SM9 50.12F, 54.14F, WedgeWorks 60.06K; Scotty Cameron Masterful plus tour prototype putter
No. 28: TSR3 9.0 driver; U•500 4 iron; Vokey Design SM9 50.12F, 54.10S, 60; Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5 tour prototype putter
No. 29 | Roger Sloan: TSi3 10.0 driver; TSR3 15.0 fairway; U•500 3 iron, T100•S 4 iron, T100 5-P irons; Vokey Design SM9 50.08F, 56.08M, 60.10S wedges; Scotty Cameron Circa 6 flowneck tour prototype putter
The champion of the International Series Singapore earned his first professional victory in wire-to-wire fashion, winning by five shots. Gaming a Pro V1 golf ball, TSR3 driver and NEW T100 irons among his Titleist setup, the 21-year-old opened the week by shooting rounds of 64-66 and never relinquished his lead, finishing the week at 19 under. The win, which comes for the champion just 13 months after turning professional, moves him to No. 2 on the International Series Order of Merit.
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