PGA TOUR | Sony Open in Hawaii

TITLEIST SWEEPS EQUIPMENTS COUNTS AT SONY

• For the second time of the 2021-22 season – and 25th time since the beginning of the 2019 calendar year – Titleist was the top choice in every major equipment category on the PGA TOUR, a feat that has never been matched by another brand.
• Of the 144 players in the field at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Titleist was the most played brand in golf balls, drivers, fairways, hybrids, utility irons, irons, wedges and putters.
• Titleist Brand Ambassador Russell Henley finished runner-up, closing in 5-under 65 to make the playoff.
• Playing a Pro V1x golf ball and bag full of Titleist equipment, Henley has finished out of the top 25 only once in his first six starts this season.
• A total of 102 players teed up either a Titleist Pro V1, Pro V1x, Pro V1 Left Dot or Pro V1x Left Dash golf ball, more than five times the nearest competitor (18), including Henley (Pro V1x), T3 finishers Kevin Kisner (Pro V1x) and Seamus Power (Pro V1), and T5 finishers Michael Thompson (Pro V1) and Lucas Glover (Pro V1x Left Dash).
• Titleist was the most played driver (42 players), with 93% of the Titleist drivers in play being TSi2, TSi3 or TSi4 models.
• TSi3 continues to be the most played driver on the PGA TOUR, with 29 players gaming a TSi3 driver at Waialae Country Club, including Henley (TSi3 10.0°) and fellow Titleist Brand Ambassador Hayden Buckley (TSi3 9.0°).
• A PGA TOUR rookie, Buckley earned his third top-12 finish of the season at Sony, where he finished second in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+3.929) while leading the field in driving accuracy (82.1%) and hitting 34 of his last 35 fairways to finish the tournament. 

WITB | RUSSELL HENLEY

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: TSi3 10.0° | Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70 6.5 TX
Fairway Metal: TS3 16.5° | Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 80 6.5 TX
Hybrid: TSi2 21.0° | Mitsubishi MMT Hybrid 100
Irons: T100 4-9 irons | True Temper Dynamic Gold AMT (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (7-9)
Wedges: Vokey Design SM8 48.10F @47°, 50.08F @51°, 54.10S, @55° 58.08M @59° wedges | True Temper True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48°), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (50°, 54°, 58°)
Putter: Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless Long Neck tour prototype 

SCOTTY CAMERON | THE WINNING PUTTER 

The winner of the Sony Open in Hawaii trusted a Scotty Cameron Timeless Newport 2 GSS tour prototype putter to a playoff victory in Honolulu, where he led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (+7.264) while averaging 1.64 putts per green in regulation.

• It was his second win of the 2021-22 PGA TOUR season, following his victory at the ZOZO Championship in Japan using the same putter.
• He played a similar-style Newport 2 tour prototype model in his victory at last year’s Masters.
• That victory at Augusta National was one of 18 wins for Scotty Cameron players during the ‘20-21 season, six more than the nearest competitor.
• His win Sunday was the fifth for Scotty Cameron players already this season, including victories by Max Homa (Phantom X 5), Sungjae Im (Flowback 5) and Cameron Smith (009M), who also led the field in SG: Putting (+6.464) in last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions victory.

• Last week’s winner, Cameron Smith, who also plays a TSi3 10.0° driver, finished first in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+3.996) at Kapalua, while hitting 14 of 15 fairways (93.3%) with an average driving distance of 320.5 in Sunday’s final round.
• Said Smith: “There’s a reason why it’s the best driver on tour. I feel like when I’m comfortable and I’m hitting it out the middle, it’s just going to go dead straight and as long as you want. The biggest thing for me is just a little bit more pop off the face. I probably gained three or four meters in the air and it’s just a lot more consistent. The spin’s a lot more consistent. It’s just a great driver. … You definitely have to feel comfortable with driver around Kapalua. There’s a couple of holes where the fairways are quite wide, but if you miss the fairways, you can be in some strife pretty quickly. So I just felt really comfortable all week.”
• No brand had more fairway metals (58) or hybrids (24) in play at Sony, with TSi2 being the most played model in each category (24 fairway, 6 hybrid).
• Titleist irons were in the bags of 43 players, more than double the nearest competitor (21), with more players using NEW T100 irons (18) at Waialae than any other model.
• Titleist was the most popular utility iron (31) with more NEW T200 (Utility Build) irons (18) in play than the nearest competitor’s total number of utilities (12).
• There were 204 Vokey Design gap, sand and lob wedges in players’ bags, more than three times the nearest competitor (54).
• This includes the four new Vokey Design SM9 wedges (46.10F, 52.08F, 56.08M, 60.10S) that Smith put in play last week at Sentry, the first week that the new SM9’s were available for competition.
• The tour launch for SM9 continues Monday at The American Express, as Vokey Tour Rep Aaron Dill gets back behind his grinding wheel in the Titleist Tour Truck at PGA West. 
• More players put their trust in a Scotty Cameron putter (54) than any other brand, with the winner using his Scotty Cameron Timeless tour prototype putter to lead the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (+7.264).

KORN FERRY TOUR | The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic

The opening event of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season began Sunday in the Bahamas, with more players using Titleist golf balls, drivers, fairways, hybrids, utility irons, irons, and wedges.

• The event concludes Wednesday.

PGA TOUR AUSTRALASIA | Fortinet Australian PGA Championship

Playing in just his fourth event as a professional, the winner of the Australian PGA Championship claimed a record-setting 11-shot victory in Brisbane.

• The 22-year-old – playing a Pro V1 golf ball and TSi3 driver among his bag of Titleist equipment – opened with rounds 65-63-65 to take a nine-shot lead into Sunday’s final round at his home course of Royal Queensland GC, where he also won the 2020 Australian Amateur.
• He closed in 2-under 69 to finish the week at 22-under 262, besting the previous low 72-hole total (266 in 2006) by four shots.
• At 22 years, one month and 18 days old, he also became the youngest winner in the event’s stroke-play era by more than a year.
• With the win, he earned three mid-year starts this season on the DP World Tour, while moving to the top of the Australasian PGA Tour Order of Merit.
• The top 3 earn DP World Tour cards for 2022-23.

What's In The Bag? | Australian PGA winner

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TSi3 10.0°
Fairway Metal: TS2 16.5 °
Utility Iron: U•505 3 utility iron
Irons: 620 MB 4-9
Wedges: Vokey Design SM8 48°, 52°, 56°, 60°

ASIAN TOUR | Singapore International

Titleist Brand Ambassador Joohyung Kim rolled his Pro V1x golf ball in for birdie from 14 feet on the first hole of a playoff to claim his second-career victory on the Asian Tour.

• Playing a full bag of Titleist equipment, the 19-year-old closed in 2-under 70 to force overtime with fellow Brand Ambassador Rattanon Wannasrichan, making it a 1-2 finish for Titleist Pro V1x, TSi3 driver, T100 irons and Vokey Design wedges.
• With his win, Kim now sits atop the Order of Merit heading into the final event of the 2020-21 season to be played next week at the SMBC Singapore Open.
• Twelve of the 15 players who finished in the Top 10 and ties played a Titleist golf ball.

WITB | Joohyung Kim

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: TSi3 9.0°
Fairway Metals: TSi2 15.0° & TS3 19.0°
Irons: NEW T100
Wedges: Vokey Design SM8 52°, 56°, 58°
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS tour prototype