In his first start with the NEW 2025 Pro V1 golf ball, the winner of The RSM Classic birdied the 18th hole Sunday, hitting his 6-iron to 5 feet, 5 inches to close out the one-shot victory.
Just five weeks since the official launch of the 2025 Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls on the PGA TOUR (Shriners Children’s Open), the champion was one of 37 players already gaming the new Pro V1 (16) and Pro V1x (21) models at Sea Island, more than the nearest competitor’s total number of golf balls (14) in play.
He first hit the new 2025 Pro V1 on the range at the Shriners Children’s Open, bringing a dozen home with him for further testing.
“I said once I locked up Top-60, I would switch balls,” he said Sunday after the victory. “Obviously Bermuda we didn’t have the ball shipped over there, so I didn’t have access to it. I said I’ll play it in Sea Island, see how it does under the gun. Then in the wind on Thursday it performed unbelievably well. I was really excited, every ball came out exactly how I wanted to, held the wind, went through the wind and that gave me a ton of confidence.”
For the week (over the three rounds tracked by ShotLink), the RSM champ gained +6.858 shots tee to green (4th), while ranking T2 in GIR at 79% (57/72). He also finished second in Proximity on Approach (29’, 1”), highlighted by his winning approach on 18.
In total, 116 players (74%) at The RSM played a Titleist golf ball – including the winner, every player in the top seven, and 12 of the top 14 finishers.
RSM CLASSIC CHAMPION LEADS 1-THROUGH-7 FINISH FOR TITLEIST GOLF BALL PLAYERS; 34th PGA TOUR WIN OF 2024 FOR PRO V1 & PRO V1x
The winner of The RSM Classic led a sweep of the top seven positions on Sunday’s final leaderboard for Titleist golf ball players, with 12 of the 14 finishers all playing a Pro V1 or Pro V1x.
Titleist golf balls continue to be the overwhelming #1 choice of players on the PGA TOUR, with players teeing up a Pro V1 and Pro V1x a total of 4,103 times (70%) this season, compared to 649 (11%) for the nearest competitor.
Sunday’s victory marked the 34th win of the season for Titleist golf ball players on the PGA TOUR, more than six times the nearest competitor (5).
Additionally, four of the top seven finishers were playing a NEW 2025 Pro V1 or Pro V1x model – including the champion and Nico Echavarria, who finished T2 following his victory with ‘25 X three weeks ago at the ZOZO Championship.
- Titleist was the most played driver on the PGA TOUR for the sixth straight season, with Titleist drivers being used 2,193 times this campaign (37%). The nearest competitor was played 1,317 times (22%).
- Titleist has now been the most played iron on the PGA TOUR for 20 of the last 21 seasons, including each of the last 10. This year, Titleist irons (1,986, 32%) more than doubled the total of the nearest competitor (870, 14%). Titleist was also the most played hybrid (596, 42%) and utility iron (1,437, 53%).
- Vokey Design wedges have been the most played wedge on the PGA TOUR since 2004. This year, over half the gap, sand and lob wedges on TOUR were Vokey (9,185, 53%), more than four times the nearest competitor (1,884, 11%).
The RSM Classic champion brought four Vokey Design SM10 wedges to the winner’s circle on Sunday: 46.10F, 50.08F, 54.08M, WedgeWorks 58L. He got up-and-down 11 of 15 attempts this week (73%, T15), and gained +0.728 strokes on the field around the greens (29th).
Twenty-nine events were won this season on the PGA TOUR by players gaming at least one Vokey Design wedge.
Titleist Brand Ambassador Elvis Smylie broke through on the DP World Tour with a wire-to-wire victory in Brisbane. Smylie – gaming his Pro V1x golf ball and 14 Titleist clubs, including his NEW GT3 driver, GT2 fairway, T150 and T100 irons, Vokey SM10 wedges and Scotty Cameron Phantom 11 putter – went bogey-free on Sunday, closing in 4-under 67 to win by two shots.
Smylie, who in 2019 was one of two players to receive the Cameron Smith Scholarship, held off his countryman and fellow Titleist Brand Ambassador, who finished runner-up at 12 under.
The 22-year-old's first DP World Tour title comes on the heels of his first professional victory, which came a month ago at the Western Australia Open on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
- ON HIS NEW GT DRIVER AND FAIRWAY: “I made the change to the GT3 at Troon this year at the British Open. I noticed a difference in the trajectory of the ball flight, a little bit higher, which I like because I’m quite a low spin player. So I've got the GT head number 3 with a Blue Ventus shaft as well, and that's in a 10-degree head. The 3-wood, I have the GT2. I used to have a 5-wood, and I kept the 5-wood shaft and I'm now using it in the 3-wood. So that little bit of a shorter shaft length actually helps with the control. So I'm using a black Tensei shaft and it's on a 15-degree setting with a D4 setting.”
- ON HIS T-SERIES IRONS: “From 3-iron, I use a Titleist T150 with a Dynamic Gold 120 grams X100. I've been using this especially around Royal Troon and those Scotland courses where you have to hit it quite low and flight the ball, it comes out really low and just hunts, so it's nice. Then going into the irons, I use the T100 from 4-iron to 9-iron as well as the same shafts. I use the Dynamic Gold 120 grams in the X100 with the Golf Pride Multi Compound groups. So I've been using these for the last two years and I can't see myself getting out of them for a very long time. I love the flight that it comes out at, and I love the control that it has as well.”
- ON HIS VOKEY SM10 WEDGES: “With my wedges, I’ve been using this setup: I use a 46, 50, 56 and 60. So my 46 is 10 degrees [of bounce] with an F grind. My 50 is a 50-degree with 12 degrees of bounce with an F grind. And then the 56 is 10 degrees with an S grind, and then my 60 degree is probably one of my favorite clubs in the bag. It's a T grind with four degrees of bounce. So when I'm playing in conditions that are really tight firm, it's a great tool to have, especially when you want to open the club up and you don't want to use too much bounce. So having that low bounce really helps clip the ball off the turf really nicely.”
- ON HIS SCOTTY CAMERON PHANTOM 11 PUTTER: “Moving into probably what my new favorite club is in the bag is my putter... I [had] been using a blade for a very long time. So going from a blade putter back to a mallet putter is something a little bit different, but it's got a little center shaft as well... It helps sit your hands in a really nice position. And I've been using this for the first three events of the season here in Australia, and I've managed to get my first professional win with it. And this has definitely been a reason why I got over the line, so I can't see myself changing this anytime soon.”
Full WITB: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCxbcTvqR--/
After racing out to the 54-hole lead with a third round 11-under 59, the winner of the Hong Kong Open closed in 66 to win by three shots. The champion, who was gaming a Pro V1x+ prototype golf ball as well as a NEW GT3 driver, GT2 fairway, Vokey SM10 wedges and a Scotty Cameron putter, shot 22 under for the week en route to capturing his first Asian Tour title.
Gaming his NEW 2025 Titleist Pro V1x golf ball, Hiroshi Iwata made five back-nine birdies to come from behind and win by one, posting 14 under for the week after closing in 68. The win is Iwata’s seventh career JGTO title and his second of the season.
Iwata's win with 2025 Pro V1x comes in his fourth start with the new model, having moved into it at the ZOZO Championship.
The winner of the Casio World Open gamed a full set of Titleist 620 MB irons (4-9), along with two Vokey Design SM10 wedges (52, 58).
Titleist Brand Ambassador Pieter Moolman shot a bogey-free final round 67 to capture the South African PGA Championship by one shot. Moolman, whose all-Titleist setup includes his Pro V1 golf ball, NEW GT3 driver, T150 irons, Vokey SM10 wedges and Scotty Cameron putter, made the cut on the number this week before storming up the leaderboard with a course record-setting Saturday 62. Five birdies and a clean card on Sunday helped Moolman reach 15 under and narrowly beat out 22-year-old Barend Botha (Pro V1x Left Dash).
WITB | Pieter Moolman: Titleist Pro V1 golf ball; NEW GT3 9.0 driver; TSR3 15.0 fairway; TSR3 19.0 hybrid; T150 4-9 irons; Vokey Design SM10 46.10F, 50.08F, 54.10S, 60.04T wedges; Scotty Cameron Phantom 5 tour prototype putter
Titleist Brand Ambassador Yanhan Zhou shot 20 under for the week to win by five shots and lead a 1-through-8 finish for Titleist golf ball players. The 16-year-old, gaming his Pro V1x golf ball and full bag of Titleist equipment, became the youngest three-time China Tour winner, having previously captured titles in 2022 and 2023 (both as an amateur).
WITB | Yanhan Zhou: Titleist Pro V1x golf ball; TSR2 10.0 driver; TSR3 15.0 fairway; T200 2-3 irons, T100 4-6 irons, 620 MB 7-9 irons; Vokey Design SM10 46.10F, 50.08F, 54.10S, 58.08M wedges; Scotty Cameron Super Select Squareback 2 tour prototype
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- Eric Soderstrom
- Director, Tour Communications
- eric_soderstrom@acushnetgolf.com
- 508-979-3028