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NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
Titleist has been on a roll as far as player counts are concerned. Last year, it swept every major equipment category at 13 PGA Tour events. And the company is showing similar strength in 2020, winning those same counts in three consecutive tournaments this winter (Waste Management Open, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational), and then more recently at the Travelers Championship. The numbers at TPC River Highlands in late June included balls (74 percent of all participants), drivers (28 percent), fairways (31 percent), hybrids (38 percent), utilities (51 percent), iron sets (29 percent), wedges (56 percent) and putters (32 percent).
Last weekend’s Workday Charity Open saw Brandt Snedeker put Titleist Pro V1x balls in play, marking the first time he has used a Titleist golf ball in medal competition as a professional (he employed a Pro V1 at the 2019 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play). The Workday event, the first of back-to-back tournaments being staged this summer at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, also saw Snedeker carry a Vokey SM8 sand and prototype lob wedge.
In addition, Steve Stricker switched to a Pro V1x last week and also put a new set of Titleist T100 irons (5-PW) and U500 3- and 4-utility irons in play.
As far as the equipment count at the Workday was concerned, Titleist once again topped the field with golf balls (72 percent) as well as drivers (a total of 43 in play), hybrids (24), utility irons (38), irons (45) and wedges (244).
Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth have added Vokey T Grind lob wedges to their setups.
Last spring, Spieth asked Vokey PGA Tour rep Aaron Dill to build him one with 60 degrees of loft; it has been in Spieth’s bag ever since.
As for Thomas, he fell for his T Grind after testing a series of low-bounce wedge options leading up to the 2019 President’s Cup at Royal Melbourne in Australia. Thomas selected the T Grind because he thought it best fit his game as well as the course conditions he expected to encounter at that Sand Belt classic. He now keeps a 60T in his travel bag – and uses that or a low-bounce K Grind based on where he is playing and what weather and course conditions are.
John Steinbreder