Starting the day four shots behind the overnight leader, Titleist Brand Ambassador Justin Thomas (Pro V1x) knew he had to post a low number if he was going to defend his CIMB Classic title. And with his sights set on climbing to the top of the leaderboard once again, he went out and put on impressive charge closing with an 8-under-par 64 en route to a 23-under-par 265 victory total.
“Yeah, it was obviously a fun day,” said Thomas after the win.
For Thomas, the fun also started toward the end of his third round where he birdied five consecutive holes to put him within striking distance.
“It [the win] couldn't have happened if it wasn't for my finish yesterday,” added Thomas. “That was huge for me and put me in a good position to have a chance to win today. I definitely owe a lot of it to that.”
He posted 13 birdies in his final 23 holes and carded a total of 29 for the week.
“I feel like I'm playing well,” Thomas explained. “I’m in pretty good form right now. I just was six, seven holes away really from winning the Safeway Open, as well. I just need to continue to build on this momentum and try to use this as kind of a springboard to the start of the year.”
The win marks the second Top 10 finish in the first two events of the season for Thomas who finished T8 at last week’s Safeway Open. It also marks the first successful title defense on the PGA TOUR since the 2014-2015 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Summing up his week at TPC Kuala Lumpur, Thomas said, “It's great to win again here. It's obviously a place I'm very comfortable with and I think a lot of that is because of just everything that goes on here. This is by far my favorite place that we go to out of the country. It's definitely worth the 24- or 25-hour travel day.”
Let's take a look at the equipment Justin trusted this week to win back-to-back at the CIMB Classic.
Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: 917D3 (9.5°)
Fairways: 917F3 (15°)
Irons: 712U (2) and 716 MB (4-9)
Wedges: Vokey Design SM6 pitching (46°), gap (52°), sand (56°) and lob (60°)
Putter: Scotty Cameron X5
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TITLEIST BY THE NUMBERS
At the second event of the new 2016-17 PGA TOUR wraparound season, a total of 50 players in the 78-player field trusted a Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball for their success, more than six times the nearest competitor with 8 and more than all competitors combined.
Titleist was also the field favorite at the CIMB Classic in iron sets (T1/17) and Vokey Design Wedges topped the approach, sand and lob wedge (77) category.
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