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NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
IN HAWAII
Jason Dufner remains contracted to Titleist for his ball (ProV1x) and glove (plus FootJoy for his shoes), but without a club deal he has changed out his irons to Mizuno’s JPX 900 Tour clubs and put a TaylorMade M4 driver in for a practice round at Waialae Country Club. For the tournament, he went with his Titleist 917 D2, and he’s sticking with Titleist for the rest of his gear, including putter.
KJ Choi is a Ping man now, playing the G400 LST driver, G400 3- and 5-woods, hybrid, 5- through 9-irons, pitching and utility wedges and a trio of Glide 2.0 wedges, plus a Sigma G Piper 3 putter. ... J.J. Henry is with the newest iteration of Ben Hogan, playing its PTx irons and Ft. Worth Hi-Utility irons. ... Robert Garrigus is among four new signees to Callaway deals, along with Sam Saunders, Luke List and Brice Garnett.
Kyle Thompson has made changes in his TaylorMade equipment, going to the M3 driver and fairway woods from the M2 and Aeroburner models.
IN SOUTH AFRICA
Chris Paisley signed with Callaway, then immediately brought home a victory – the first in his European Tour career – in the BMW SA Open ... The European Tour’s calendar-year opener brought a flurry of changes, including a quartet of players (Jorge Campillo, Oliver Fisher, Lasse Jensen and Eddie Pepperell) signing with Mizuno.
There was instant payoff for both Branden Grace and rookie Chase Koepka, each wielding a new Callaway driver and fairway wood. They shared the lead after the first round at Glendower Golf Club.
Anirban Lahiri signed with Callaway for 13 clubs, including an Odyssey putter. ... Justin Rose spent Friday morning testing TaylorMade’s new gear, calling it “a busy day” on Twitter.
Tim Cronin