Conquering Royal Portrush with surgical consistency and superior trajectory control, the World No. 1 gained over nine strokes on approach shots (+9.059) with his Pro V1 golf ball to win The 153rd Open Championship in a four-shot runaway.
The Champion Golfer of the Year, also with three Vokey Design wedges in the bag, posted rounds of 68-64-67-68 to finish at 17 under, leading the field with 32 birdie chances inside 20 feet.
Over the four days in Northern Ireland, he hit 78% GIR (56 of 72), making 19 birdies and an eagle. He played the weekend with only one bogey.
The Open Champ has used a Pro V1 golf ball and Vokey gap, sand and wedges to win each of his 17 PGA TOUR titles and four major championships.
The 153rd Open Champion topped a leaderboard that featured a 1-2 finish for Titleist golf ball players, with five of the top six and 10 of the top 13 finishers gaming a Pro V1 or Pro V1x:
The World No. 1 (+9.059) and runner-up Harris English (+5.270) were also part of the nine Titleist ball players who finished atop the Strokes Gained: Approach Shots category.
In total, 107 competitors (69%) at Royal Portrush teed up a Titleist golf ball, more than five times the nearest competitor with 18 (12%).
In addition to his Pro V1 golf ball, the Champion Golfer of the Year brought three Vokey Design wedges to the winner’s circle: Vokey Design SM8 50.12F, 56.14F and SM10 WedgeWorks 60.06K.
The latest addition to the World No. 1’s short game setup is the SM10 60.06K lob wedge that he put in play this past May before his win at the PGA Championship. The wedge features the same Low Bounce K Grind with which he won the 2022 Masters.
He moved from the K Grind to a T Grind in late 2022, using the narrower-soled, lower-bounce T to win nine times including his second Masters title in 2024.
“The 6-degree K Grind lives in the bags of some of the world’s best,” said Vokey Tour Representative Aaron Dill. “It has always been known as the ultimate bunker club. However, when you ask players on tour why they play the .06K Grind, they will tell you not only do they love the performance in the bunkers, but they love the way the leading edge hugs the ground when pitching and chipping.”
This week, there were 211 (47%) Vokey Design gap, sand and lob wedges in play at Portrush. The champion’s .06K Grind was among the most popular lob wedge options, as it offers players tremendous bunker performance from its wide, full sole while affording ample greenside versatility off the firm, fescue turf from its low-bounce design.
“[.06]K Grind is a popular option this week because the bunkers have a lot of sand,” said Dill earlier this week at Portrush. “These bunkers are also taller, so height is a premium here. Players need that stopping power because the greens are firm and a wider bottom flange will allow that ball to get up in the air easily.”
Originally a WedgeWorks exclusive grind, Vokey added 58.06K and 60.06K lob wedges to the stock Vokey SM10 lineup earlier this year.
Titleist Brand Ambassador Ryan Gerard entered the PGA TOUR winner’s circle for the first time Sunday, converting a pair of eagles and four birdies on his way to 13 final-round points and a three-point victory in the Modified Stableford event.
Gaming a NEW 2025 Pro V1 golf ball and Titleist setup that includes his GT3 driver, T-Series irons, Vokey wedges and Scotty Cameron Phantom 5.2 putter, the 25-year-old Gerard posted rounds of 68-64-66-68 on his way to a total of 47 points. It was his 47th career PGA TOUR start.
The victory – Gerard’s fourth top-10 of the season – punctuated a season of consistency (20 of 23 cuts made) and pushed him to No. 28 in the FedEx Cup Rankings with two events left in the regular season.
Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 50.08F, 54.10S, SM10 60.04T wedges | KBS C-Taper 125 S+ (46), Dynamic Gold S300 (50-60)
– “I love the Pro V1 because of the feel. It hits the trajectories that I want. The spin is kind of just slightly on the lower side compared to that X, which benefits me a little bit more with my bag setup, and I really love it. I feel confident every time I show up and hit the golf ball, and it's a very consistent thing and it's the one thing I use on every shot, so it's very important.”
– “Spin is a very finicky word in the golf business. You don't want too much, and you don't want too little. So you're kind of looking for those thresholds and ranges on certain clubs. And the Pro V1 kind of hits every single one that I'm looking for, especially on and around the greens. I feel very confident with the feel and kind of the control and how much it checks and the different shots and the playability that I have with it. So I really love it.”
– “I'm playing the GT3. I play an 11-degree driver, but I play a Ventus shaft in it and I've been playing it since this December. It took me a couple months to get rid of my TSR, but this new GT3 is fantastic. It's the best driver I've ever hit just in terms of consistency, it flies exactly kind of the way I want to. It hits the windows that I want to, and I feel very confident every time I tee it up I'm going to hit that slight baby fade that I'm looking for.”
– “I feel like this one really holds its flight nicely. It kind of stays in the trajectory that I'm looking for and just, it never really goes offline. It kind of hangs or falls offline instead of diving offline, which I really like.”
– “Just knowing that the TSi series, the TSR's and now the GT's, there's just been such drastic improvement. I felt like for a while there, Titleist was just kind of on the way up. And with this GT, it really has kind of set the standard for what you want in a driver. I feel like it's very consistent. I feel like the speed is there, the height is there, but more importantly, when you look down it looks good. You have that confidence in it and that traditional kind of setting that you get with a title is the way it looks and you can step up and make a good swing and it does exactly what you want it to do.”
– “4-iron is T200. I just need a little bit more height with the 4-iron coming into the greens on the tour. They're a little bit firm for the most part. So it gives me more stopping power into some of these greens when you're looking for a shot from 225 yards. But then we go to the meat of the bag, these T100's... I've been playing them since they handed them to me on the truck at LACC, and I put them in play that week at a major. That's rare to put something brand new in play major week, but they were that good that I just had to do it. They've been in the bag ever since.”
– “I play a 46-degree pitching wedge (46.10F)... it goes about 155 yards, just kind of a standard full one. What I like about the 46-degree wedge is it gives me a little bit more versatility in flight. I feel like I can control trajectory a little bit better with it. And when I'm looking at a pitching wedge, I'm not just trying to hit it 155 yards. Sometimes you need to hit it 133 yards into the wind and sometimes you need to hit it 142 yards high and soft. So it really gives me the versatility that I'm looking for and gives me the most confidence in the amount of shots that I can hit with it.
– “50-degree (50.08F), this one flies about 140 yards kind of stock full, but then again, you're looking at hitting it from 125 that kind of scoots, to just hitting it downwind from 150 and trying to hit it high and get it stopped... The 54-degree (54.10S), 128 [yards] is kind of the max number on that. It definitely spins a little bit more than the 50. So it is just something that I'm aware of when I'm picking the shot and choosing what I want to hit, knowing that it's going to give me more stopping power and give me kind of that extra height and spin. Sometimes if I need to hit something 132, I'll swing hard at 54 instead of kind of smoothing a 50 just because it gives me a little bit more wiggle room and room for error.”
Gerard also plays a Vokey Design SM10 60.04T lob wedge, which he recently added to the bag at the Memorial after spending time working with Vokey Tour Rep Aaron Dill. According to Dill, the session revealed that Gerard’s technique was best suited to a low-bounce, thinner-flange setup, which he found in the T Grind.
The T Grind, one of the most popular lob wedge grinds on the PGA TOUR, is designed for players seeking ultimate creativity and versatility around the greens. The low-bounce wedge is ideal for those with shallow and precise deliveries, as well as those playing off firm conditions. Compared to the L Grind, another popular low-bounce Vokey offering, the T Grind features a narrower forward sole and more aggressive heel, toe and trailing edge relief.
For the week at Tahoe Mountain Club, Gerard finished 6th in Putts per GIR, averaging 1.66. On Sunday, he used his Scotty Cameron Phantom 5.2 tour prototype putter to drain a lengthy eagle putt from off the green on No. 11 to extend his lead and jump to +14 on the day.
The Phantom 5.2 is a compact, wing-back mallet with a plumbing neck configuration, which is designed for slightly more toe flow than the mid-bend shaft of the Phantom 5, but slightly less toe flow than the jet neck of the Phantom 5.5. The familiar lines and angles of the plumbing neck also provide additional body alignment assistance at address, familiar to players transitioning from a blade to a mallet setup.
According to Scotty Cameron Tour Rep Drew Page, Gerard is drawn to the Phantom 5.2 as it gives him the forgiveness of a mallet with the setup and look of a blade.
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- James Savage
- PR and Communications Manager at Acushnet Europe Ltd
- james_savage@acushnetgolf.com