THE PLAYERS Champion and longtime Pro V1 golf ball player became the first player to ever successfully defend his PLAYERS title, making it 11 wins for Titleist golf ball players through the first 12 events of the 2024 PGA TOUR season, including each of the last five:
This week at THE PLAYERS, four of the top five finishers on Sunday’s final leader board trusted a Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball:
For the second week in a row, the World No. 1 was in complete control of his Pro V1 golf ball from tee to green, closing with a flawless 8-under 64 to reach 20 under and win by one shot. The back-to-back PLAYERS champ made six birdies along with a hole-out eagle on the par-4 4th, when he played his 92-yard approach to perfection, spinning his Pro V1 into the cup for a two. He played his final 9 holes in 3 under, including a birdie on the par-5 16th to complete the comeback victory.
For the week, he led the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (+15.88), while gaining over nine shots combined with his approach play (+6.372/7th) and around the green (+3.099/6th).
The champion’s clinical ball-striking was on full display, as he hit over 76% of his greens in regulation (55/72, T3), a stat in which he leads the TOUR (1st, 78%). He also hit over 80% of his fairways (T1, 45/56) and got his Pro V1 up-and-down for par on 13 of 17 attempts (8th).
Gaming three Vokey Design wedges, the PLAYERS champion led a 1-2-3-4-5 finish for Vokey wedge players at TPC Sawgrass. Between the five players, there were a combined 16 Vokey pitching, gap, sand and lob wedges:
There were a total of 227 Vokey Design gap, sand and lob wedges in play this week in Ponte Vedra, accounting for more than half of the field’s total (54%). Vokey wedges have been the most played wedge on the PGA TOUR since 2004.
Titleist, the most played driver on the PGA TOUR for the last five seasons, was once again the top choice at THE PLAYERS with 55 players (38%), compared to 31 (21%) for the nearest competitor. Three of the top five finishers had a Titleist driver in the bag:
Titleist Brand Ambassador Wyndham Clark earned his second runner-up finish in consecutive weeks, playing his final three holes in 2 under par Sunday to come up one stroke shy of a playoff at TPC Sawgrass.
The reigning U.S. Open champion made his first PGA TOUR start of 2022 (The American Express) with a brand new bag of Titleist equipment, having played competitive clubs through his last event of ‘21 (RSM Classic). Over that offseason, Clark visited the Titleist Performance Institute to get dialed in to his new setup.
In January of ‘22, when he teed off in the first round of the AmEx, Clark was ranked 249th in the Official World Ranking. Forty-six starts later, following last summer’s U.S. Open victory at The Los Angeles Country Club, Clark had climbed to No. 13.
One of the more impactful changes has been his driver. Playing a competitive model, Clark ended the 2020-21 season at 117th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, finishing with a negative strokes gained total (-.015). After making the switch to Titleist TSi3, he finished the following season 61 spots higher and gaining strokes off the tee (+.209). Clark is up to 24th in that statistic (+0.457) this season after gaining +1.825 shots off the tee this week at TPC Sawgrass.
“I use this driver because it’s so consistent. My misses are incredible and that’s big for me...,” he said. “When you miss with the Titleist it stays within the parameters that I need to play good golf. And that’s ultimately why I use Titleist clubs, especially this driver.”
Earlier this season at Pebble Beach, Clark made the move to a new TSR3 driver model. Clark had experienced immediate speed gains with TSR during his initial testing sessions last year, but was hesitant to make any changes following his breakout summer. On Tuesday at Pebble, Clark worked with J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, Titleist’s Director of Player Promotions, to dial in his TSR3.
According to Van Wezenbeeck, Clark’s swing has evolved in recent years to become much more neutral, allowing for a more neutral setup in his driver. The result – TSR3 9.0, Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 60 6.5 shaft, D1 SureFit setting (-.75* loft, standard lie), +4g SureFit CG weight (12g) in H•1 (Slight draw) – delivered a better spin-to-launch ratio with the increased speed he’d already seen.
“I switched to the TSR3. It had a touch more ball speed and a little more spin for me, which was huge. And then I was able to keep it straighter. I sometimes tail it off too much with fade. And so [at Pebble] kind of Monday, Tuesday, we did some fittings and honestly, that was one of the biggest keys.”
WITB | Wyndham Clark:
Titleist Pro V1x golf ball
TSR3 9.0 driver | Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 60 6.5
620 CB 4-9 irons | True Temper Dynamic Gold X7
NEW Vokey Design SM10 46.10F, 52.12F, 56.10S, WedgeWorks 60A (@ 59) | True Temper Dynamic Gold S400
Playing the weekend in 12 under par, Titleist Brand Ambassador Brian Harman earned his best PLAYERS finish (T2) to moved to No. 8 in the Official World Ranking.
Prior to the start of 2017, the reigning Open Champion had been playing a competitive golf ball and equipment (the only Titleist club in his bag at the end of 2016 was a Vokey pitching wedge).
During that offseason, he made a call to Titleist Tour Rep Jim Curran, asking for a set of Titleist irons, similar to the ones he had played as a junior golfer and in college at the University of Georgia.
Said Curran: “Brian called me during the offseason holidays last December (2016) and said he played Titleist irons before he turned professional and has not had that feel in his iron ball striking since then. He ordered a set of 716 CB’s and we agreed to meet on the range in Palm Springs the Monday of CareerBuilder. It was then that we dialed in his loft, lies and yardages. From there, Brian was low maintenance all season. I would check his grips, lofts and lies roughly once a month and he did the rest.”
Harman put his new set of CB’s in play for the first time that Thursday at PGA West’s Nicklaus Course. (He now plays the 620 CB models.)
“Very first time when I played (the CB’s) was in Palm Springs,” Harman said in 2018. “I worked with Mr. Jim Curran and we got them figured out. Finished third that week and I was having a pretty nice year.”
Three months later, Johnson Wagner asked Harman, who was still playing a competitive golf ball, if he wanted to team up at the Zurich Classic (the first year that the Zurich went to the team format).
“He was kind of curious as to what ball we wanted to play,” Harman said. “I said, ‘I played Titleist balls in college and everything. We’ll just play your ball (in alternate shot), no problem.
“We had a nice tournament... It got really windy. I was hitting some shots with Johnson’s ball, shots that I just couldn’t hit with the ball I was playing. After that round, I decided to switch to the Pro V1. …
“I hit one shot on the second hole the last day in New Orleans (with the competitive ball) that spun up into the wind. I hit it flush but it came up 10 yards short and plugged in the bunker. And I just remember thinking, ‘That’s the last time I’m going to hit that ball. I’m switching balls.’”
The following week, Harman teed up Pro V1 at the Wells Fargo Championship. On Sunday, he birdied 17 and 18 at Eagle Point GC to win by one shot. “I won the next week with it (Pro V1), the very first week I played it,” Harman said.
Harman reiterated the significance of his switch prior to the ‘22 Open Championship at St. Andrews, where he finished T6: “The reason I switched back to Titleist was because of windy days and with Open Championships and major championships in mind. To flight the ball and not have to worry about it getting up and getting out of hand was a big deal.”
“I switched to this ball in 2017 from a different company and the effects were immediate. You know, the last four years on tour have been my best four put together,” Harman said prior to the 2022 U.S. Open. “I just was never able to flight my old ball. I had trouble controlling and especially in the wind and we ended up playing so much wind out here. The effects for me were immediate switching to this Pro V and I mean, it’s been a complete 180. The way that I flight iron shots, the way that I control it around the green, it saves me, I don't know how many shots it’s saved me.”
When Harman arrived at the winners-only Sentry Tournament of Champions to open 2018, there were several new additions to his bag, including a new Titleist driver, fairways and full set of Vokey Design wedges.
Titleist Brand Ambassador Cameron John made four back-nine birdies on Sunday to pull away from the field and earn his first PGA Tour of Australasia title. John carded a final round 69 to finish at 16 under for the week, good for a three-stroke victory.
WITB | John Cameron: Titleist Pro V1 golf ball; TSR2 9.0 driver; TSR3 15.0 fairway; T200 3 iron, T100 4-9 irons; NEW Vokey Design SM10 46.10F, 50.12F, 56.14F, WedgeWorks 60V wedges
Ai Suzuki (Pro V1x) made five birdies in her final nine holes to win in back-to-back weeks. The victory marks her 20th title on the JLPGA tour.
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- Eric Soderstrom
- Director, Tour Communications
- eric_soderstrom@acushnetgolf.com
- 508-979-3028