Jason Kokrak (Pro v1)

PGA TOUR

Jason Kokrak (Pro V1) captured The CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek for his first career PGA TOUR title.

• Kokrak, who started the final round three shots behind the leader, matched the best round of the tournament with a closing 8-under 64 en route to a 20-under 268 victory total.
  He finished two shots clear of the runner-up and three shots better than Titleist Brand Ambassador Russell Henley and Tyrrell Hatton (Pro V1x), who tied for 3^rd.
• Hatton was coming off a victory last week in the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour.

What’s in Russell Henley’s Titleist Bag:

Pro V1x golf ball, TS4 driver, TS3 fairway metal, 818H2 hybrid, T100 irons, Vokey Design SM8 wedges, Scotty Cameron Timeless putter.

TITLEIST (9 OF TOP 10) LEADERBOARD

Kokrak topped a leaderboard on which nine (9) of the top 10 finishers relied upon Titleist golf balls for their success. Following Kokrak (Pro V1/1st), Henley (Pro V1x/T2) and Hatton (Pro V1x/T2) were Talor Gooch (Pro V1/5th), Joaquin Niemann (Pro V1x/6th), Lanto Griffin (NEW Pro V1/T7), Bubba Watson (Pro V1x/T7), Sebastian Munoz (Pro V1/9th) and Harris English (Pro V1/10th).

• Griffin is the second player in two weeks to finish among the Top 10 playing a NEW Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball.
• Griffin also plays a NEW TSi2 (10.0°) driver, NEW TSi3 (16.5°) fairway metal, U510 2-iron, T100 (4-9) irons and Vokey Design SM8 pitching (46°), gap (50°), sand (54°) and lob (60°) wedges.

POULTER AND WORLD NO. 16 AMONG FIVE MORE PLAYERS MAKING NEW PRO V1/PRO V1x GOLF BALL SWITCH

The next generation Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls made their competitive debut with 12 players teeing them up at last week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

• Five more newcomers were added to the list at this week’s CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek: Michael Thompson chose the New Pro V1, while the World No. 16, Ian Poulter, Andrew Landry and Ryan Palmer opted for the New Pro V1x.
• Lanto Griffin (New Pro V1) and Cameron Smith (New Pro V1x), who were in the field this week, were already early adopters at Shriners.
• A total of eight players teed up a New Pro V1 (2) and New Pro V1x (6) in competition this week.
• Abraham Ancer, whose 4th place finish with the New Pro V1 last week was the highest among all the players who switched at TPC Summerlin to the New Pro V1x.
• According to Titleist Tour Golf Ball Consultant Fordie Pitts, despite Ancer’s top five finish, the World No. 21 was seeking a little higher ball flight and saw more speed with the New Pro V1x during his testing process at the CJ Cup.

More From Fordie:

“In both instances with [the world number 16] and Poulter, it was a case of introducing them to the product — having a conversation about the new improvements to the construction and performance — and then letting them take it to the golf course. After providing feedback about what they liked on-course, each did additional testing with us on Trackman to examine specific numbers and get a better sense of how the balls were flying. Both enjoyed the results enough to make the change straight away.”

• World Number 16: “In the case of the World Number 16, he really liked the feel and spin he was getting with his wedges and in the short game with the New Pro V1x when he took it on the course,” Pitts said. This prompted him to do additional testing and confirm spin and distance numbers on some fuller shots. During testing, we saw similar and slightly longer carry distances with a ball flight that still suited his eye. So, between that and the great short game performance he saw, he was confident to make the switch this week.”
• Ian Poulter: ”It was a similar situation with Ian Poulter. He liked the great feel and performance in the short game of the New Pro V1x with a ball flight that matched up for him very well. We also saw a bit more carry yardage, and still had good spin numbers and stopping power. With the New TSi metals Ian has been incorporating into his game, he was now seeing great improvements at both ends of the bag.”
• Andrew Landry: “The New Pro V1x gave Andrew Landry the spin and flight that he needs with great improvements to feel and short game performance. He made the switch after just a couple days of testing on site.”
• Ryan Palmer: “Ryan Palmer made the move to the New Pro V1x after doing some golf ball testing with the team on Wednesday. Ryan had tested the ball as a prototype at Riviera earlier this spring and was very impressed with its performance even then.” Pitts recalls how Palmer reacted to one particular 5-iron shot at Riviera – a second shot into the 15th hole that flew long and stopped quick right next to the hole. Palmer turned to Pitts with a “did you see that!?” response. “After noticing the gains he saw during testing on the GC Quad at CJ Cup, Ryan felt he had no choice but to make the move.”
• Michael Thompson: “Michael Thompson had been testing the New Pro V1 at home and liked what he had seen. He told us it has great feel and more spin with the wedges. It gave him the penetrating ball flight that he likes but one that still stays in the air. He continued to test when he arrived on Monday and confirmed his switch on Wednesday.”

NEW TITLEIST TSi DRIVER MOMENTUM CONTINUES AT CJ CUP

• For the sixth consecutive tournament – that is, every PGA TOUR event in the new 2020-21 season – Titleist was the field favorite in the driver category.
• This week, Titleist was the top choice of 23 players, including 19 teeing off with a New TSi model.
• The TSi3 was once again the most played single driver model in the field with 13.
• Among those who put the New TSi3 in play are three of the top 35 players in the Official World Golf Rankings (Nos. 16, 19 and 35) who teed it up without an agreement.
• They joined Justin Thomas (TSi3), Ben An (TSi3), Lanto Griffin (TSi2), Ian Poulter (TSi3) and Jordan Spieth (TSi3) among others who played it this week.

From the Titleist Tour Trailer:

• The World No. 16 put the New TSi3 driver in the bag over a month ago — the first week it was available in Portugal on the European Tour. He reported that he had newfound confidence in his driving and how ‘stable’ he felt the driver was. At the CJ Cup he added the New TSi2 (15.0°) fairway metal to the set composition, including the same Ventus 7 Black shaft that he has in his driver with a C1 Titleist SureFit setting.
• The World No. 35 also provided similar ‘stability’ feedback to the team about the New TSi3 driver since he put it in play for the first time at the U.S. Open. Based on his confidence in his driver, he added two New TSi2 (15.0°, 18.0°) fairway metals to the bag this week, both with HZRDUS Smoke Black shafts. When the SureFit was moved to a flatter setting, it improved the strike location and the player saw his preferred launch and increased ball speed numbers and added them to his bag.
• Ian Poulter put the New TSi3 (10.0°) driver in play when he played in the Scottish Open two weeks ago and again last week when he finished 5th at the BMW PGA Championship. He also carries a New TSi2 (21.0°) fairway metal that he played at the U.S. Open the first week he tested it. This week, after committing to teeing up the New Pro V1x golf ball following a practice round, Poulter wanted to test another new fairway metal. He landed on a New TSi2 (15.0°) with a B2 Titleist SureFit setting and Aldila Tour Green Graphene shaft, the same as he has in his 21-degree fairway.

ONE FAIRWAY SHY OF ANOTHER SWEEP

According to Darrell Survey, Titleist was just one fairway metal shy of its third PGA tour equipment sweep in four weeks at The CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek.

• Titleist was the top choice in golf balls (55/71%), drivers (23/30%), hybrids (12/39%), utility irons (18/50%), irons (22/28%), wedges (111/51%) and putters (24/31%) among a select field of 78 players.
• Titleist was also the fairway metal favorite of 33 (29%) players, one shy of this week’s leader.
• Titleist has already swept the tee-through green equipment counts at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship and Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in 2020-21, and swept every equipment category five times during the shortened 2019-20 campaign. 

EUROPEAN

The winner of the Scottish Championship relied upon a Titleist Pro V1x golf ball to produce a closing 9-under par 63 and storm to his first 72-hole stroke play victory on the European Tour.

• The Spaniard previously won the 2017 Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Match Play and the 2018 Belgian Knockout for his first two European Tour victories.
• He topped fellow playing partner Matt Wallace (Pro V1) by four shots after entering the day four shots off the lead.
• He carded eight birdies from Nos. 5 through 15 en route to a 23-under 265 victory total.
• After an opening round of 62, the winner’s Sunday 63 bookended his winning week.
• Titleist players have now won 12 times on the 2019-20 season, twice the nearest competitor with 6.

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