This week across the worldwide professional golf tours, as final events were being staged and playoff action heated up, the winning ways continued for Titleist, as players trusting their games to Titleist golf balls and golf clubs added four more wins to the Titleist victory count.
WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS
• It was a 1-2 Titleist finish at the BMW Championship, where Justin Thomas secured the 10th PGA TOUR victory of his career, setting a new course record at Medinah and edging Patrick Cantlay by two strokes as the TOUR now heads to Eastlake for the final act in the FedExCup Playoffs.
• Scottie Scheffler captured the first leg of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, winning the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship and improving his station next year as one of the top 25 players who will be playing on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR.
• On the PGA TOUR Champions, Doug Barron entered the winner's circle at the Dick's Sporting Good Open, becoming the first Monday qualifier to win a Champions Tour event since 2012.
• Titleist Brand Ambassador Andrew Dodt made history this weekend on the Asian Tour, becoming the first player to win with Titleist's new T-100 irons, as he won by two shots at the Sarawak Championship.
• It was an all-Titleist finish at this year's U.S. Amateur Championship, where both the winner and the runner-up relied on Titleist golf balls and 26 of a possible 28 Titleist golf clubs as they battled down to the wire for the Havemeyer Trophy.
• Titleist players have captured a total of 134 victories across the worldwide professional tours this season. That’s more than five times the nearest competing brand with just 22 and more than all competing brands combined.
• The ball count for the 2018-19 season also checks in at 18,429 players trusting a Titleist for their success across the worldwide professional tours. That’s more than eight times the nearest competing brand with just 2,221 and more than all competing brands combined.
Let’s take a closer look at this past week’s Titleist tour highlights…
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PGA TOUR
Justin Thomas captured his tenth career PGA TOUR title on Sunday, relying on a Pro V1x golf ball and Titleist clubs tee-to-green to win in convincing fashion at the BMW Championship. The win vaults the 26-year-old to the “pole position” as the top seed heading into the FedExCup finale next week.
Thomas entered the final round at Medinah Country Club with a six-shot lead, thanks to a scintillating 61 that he shot on Saturday. His 8-birdie, 2-eagle performance broke the course record at Medinah’s No. 3 course, a 63 that had been established just 24 hours earlier.
Thomas closed the tournament out with a 4-under-par 68, good for a 25-under 263 total and a three-shot margin of victory over fellow Titleist Brand Ambassador Patrick Cantlay, who fired a 7-under-par 65 to advance to the No. 2 position at The TOUR Championship at East Lake. Each of the top four players in the FedExCup Rankings play a Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x.
Thomas won the FedExCup Playoffs in 2017 when he won five times. In a new twist to the playoff format this year, Thomas will enter the TOUR Championship with a starting score of 10-under-par. As the second seed, Cantlay will begin Round 1 with a score of 8-under-par, followed by remaining 28 players in the field, whose beginning scores will be adjusted from 7-under-par down to even-par, based on seeding. This new format has been put in place in an effort to simplify player standings as they vie for the $15 million FedExCup prize.
Thomas's win advances the 2018-19 PGA TOUR victory total for Titleist golf ball players to 25, more than four times the nearest competitor with six and more than all other golf balls combined.
A total of 44 players (64% of the field) teed up a Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball at the BMW Championship, more than five times the nearest competitor with 8.
Titleist was also the top choice across the driver, hybrid, utility iron, iron and wedge categories.
Let's take a closer look at the equipment that Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay relied on to finish 1-2 at the BMW Championship:
Justin Thomas: Pro V1x golf ball, TS3 driver (9.5°), TS3 fairway metal (15°), 915 Fd fairway metal (18°), T100 (4) and 718 MB (5-9) irons, Vokey Design SM7 pitching (46.10 F Grind), gap (52.12 F Grind), sand (56.14 F Grind) and lob (60.07 K Grind) wedges, Scotty Cameron X5 putter.
Patrick Cantlay: Pro V1x golf ball, 917 D2 driver (9.5°), 915F fairway metal (15.0°), 816 H2 (21), 718 AP2 (4-PW) irons, Vokey Design SM5 gap (54.10 S Grind), SM6 sand (56.08 M Grind) and SM7 lob (61.0 M Grind) wedges, Scotty Cameron Custom GSS.
KORN FERRY
Scottie Scheffler (Pro V1) had already earned his 2019-20 PGA Tour card by finishing in the top 25 on the Korn Ferry Tour regular season points list. This week, he captured the first of three Korn Ferry Tour finals events when he won the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship by two shots.
There are 25 more PGA Tour cards available in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals series, with the field made up of the top 75 players in the regular season, along with PGA Tour players who finished 125th-200 on the FedEx Cup Points list.
Scheffler closed with a 4-under-par 67 en route to a 12-under 272 winning total.
Ben Taylor (Pro V1) and Brendon Todd (Pro V1x) were among three players who tied for 2nd. In fact, Scheffler topped a leaderboard that included eight Titleist golf ball players among the top 10 finishers.
Scheffler won the Evans Scholar Invitational earlier this year and finished third on the regular season points list.
A total of 101 players (73% of the field) teed up a Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, more than seven times the nearest competitor with 14.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
Doug Barron (Pro V1) made an impressive return to professional golf last month when he tied for fifth at the Senior British Open after Monday-qualifying just days following his 50th birthday.
This week, he won the Dick's Sporting Goods Open after qualifying for the event on Monday once again. He became the first Monday qualifier to win on the PGA TOUR Champions since 2012.
Barron fired a final round 66 to finish with a 17-under 199 victory total, good for a two-shot margin of victory.
By winning the event, Barron is now exempt on the tour through next year. Barron had not played a PGA-Tour affiliated event since the Korn Ferry Tour in 2012. He topped a leaderboard on which 9 of the 12 players who finished among the top 10 and ties relied upon Titleist golf balls for their success.
The win is the 16th for Titleist golf ball players through the first 19 events this season, eight times the nearest competitor with 2.
A total of 62 players (80% of the field of 78) teed up a Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball at the event, more than seven times the nearest competitor with 8.
ASIAN
Titleist Brand Ambassador Andrew Dodt [Pro V1x golf ball, TS3 driver (9.5°), TS2 fairway metal (15°), 718 T-MB (3) and T100 (4-9) irons, Vokey Design SM7 pitching (46.10 F Grind), gap (52.12 F Grind), sand (56.10 S Grind) and lob (60.04 L Grind) wedges, Scotty Cameron Futura X putter] became the first player to win on a major professional tour with a full set of the New Titleist T-100 irons en route to a playoff win at the Sarawak Championship.
Dodt closed with a final round 8-under-par 64 to finish tied in regulation with Richard T Lee (Pro V1x), who eagled the final hole to get into the playoff with at 24-under par. Dodt then birdied the first extra hole and topped a leaderboard on which 8 of the top 10 finishers relied upon Titleist golf balls for their success, including each of the top five.
The win marked Dodt’s third career Asian Tour crown (2010 Avantha Masters, 2015 True Thailand Classic).
In addition to being the top choice in golf balls (110 players / 71% of the field), Titleist was also the field favorite in the hybrid (36), iron (35 and wedge (161) categories.
THE STORY BEHIND ANDREW DODT’S TRANSITION TO TITLEIST T100 IRONS:
Andrew Dodt has been a Titleist Brand Ambassador for his entire professional career, spanning more than 10 years. He returned to action this week following a layoff due to injury to claim his third career Asian Tour title and his first in four years.
Two weeks ago, Titleist Tour Representative Andrew Herwynen flew to Sydney to fit Dodt and a dozen other Australasian and Asian Tour players for the new Titleist irons. Following the fittings, he returned to Melbourne to build the iron sets in order to get them to players this week get them to the players. A number of players, including Dodt, put the clubs straight into play.
Even though Dodt had been a CB player for several years, it became apparent during the fitting process that he was better suited to the new T100 model. Herwynen worked closely with Dodt to confirm that he could hit all his shots and have the confidence to make the immediate change to T100. Fair to say the results proved the process worked.
Following the win, Herwynen received the following communication from Dodt: "Who would have thought… CB into T100 and take home the trophy! Very satisfying and couldn't be happier with those irons. Thank YOU mate!!!!”
U.S. AMATEUR
It was an all-Titleist final at the U.S. Amateur where both players in the championship match relied upon Titleist golf balls and 26 of a possible 28 Titleist golf clubs.
The winner, a senior at Georgia Tech, topped a senior from Vanderbilt by a 2 and 1 margin in the 36-hole finale at Pinehurst.
The winner made par on the 17th hole at the historic No. 2 for the victory. The champion actually lost four of the first five holes and was still 4-down after 11 holes. He finished 2-down after the first 18, which was played on the No. 4 course. Both players secured berths on the 2019 U.S. Walker Cup, and both will have invites to the 2020 Masters.
Inside the Counts:
According to Darrell Survey, Titleist was the overwhelming equipment choice of the 312 players in the elite amateur field.
Titleist topped the field in golf balls with 232 participants (74% of the field), more than four times the nearest competitor with 52.
Thirty (30) of the players who advanced to the Round of 32 relied upon Titleist golf balls, as did ALL of the final 16.
Titleist was also the field favorite in six of the seven major golf club categories, including fairway metals (111), hybrids (52), utility irons (105), irons (119), wedges (461) and putters (95).
Titleist was also second in the driver category with 98, just eight shy of the leader.
WHAT’S IN THE BAG OF THE U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPION:
Pro V1x, TS3 (9.5) driver, TS2 (15.0) fairway metal, 816H1 (19.0) hybrid, 716 T-MB 4-iron, 718 CB (5-9) irons, Vokey Design SM7 pitching (46), gap (50), sand (54) and lob (58), Scotty Cameron Concept 1 putter.
WHAT’S IN THE BAG OF THE U.S. AMATEUR RUNNER-UP:
Pro V1, TS4 (9.5) driver, TS3 (15.0) fairway metal, 718 CB (4-5) and 718 MB (6-9) irons, Vokey Design SM7 pitching (46), gap (52), sand (56) and prototype lob (60) wedges.
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Congratulations to all of #TeamTitleist!
Click here for a listing of all Titleist golf ball wins this season.