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NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
At a time in which most top players mix and match brands throughout their bag, Patrick Cantlay takes a more conventional approach by employing all Titleist clubs.
The 28-year-old Californian recently switched to a 9.5-degree TS3 driver after a long run with the older 917D2 model, but he is sticking with a 915F2 3-wood and 816H2 hybrid. His irons, which have lighter shafts than the tour average, also are older models as Cantlay uses a set of 718 AP2s.
While Cantlay also is known as a loyalist with his Scotty Cameron GSS prototype putter, he recently switched to a slightly longer shaft and heavier head. The tweak helped him to rank No. 10 in strokes gained putting during his win two weeks ago at the Zozo Championship.
“This is the third or fourth event I’ve played with this putter,” Cantlay said. “I’m trying to get my hands a little more forward and the putter a little more square at address, so today it felt really good.”
Another player who has been surging lately is Xander Schauffele, owner of five top-10s in his past eight starts. The world No. 7 recently wanted to reduce spin in his 4-iron and had two Callaway Apex prototype 4-irons built, one with his gamer True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shaft and the other with Nippon’s Modos3 130X shaft. During practice, Schauffele noticed that the prototype with the Nippon shaft launched 3-4 degrees higher with a playable spin rate, and it prompted Schauffele to put in a full Callaway Apex prototype set. That proved to be a smart decision as he immediately went out and shot 60 at the Farms Golf Club during a practice round.
The irons feature minimal offset, a holdover from Schauffele’s old Apex Pro set, and a tungsten back weight that aligns with what is currently found in the recently released X Forged CB and UT irons.
In driver news, the Ping G425 line made its PGA Tour debut last month where Cameron Champ, Viktor Hovland and others have put them in play. Hovland was seeing 178-180 mph ball speed with a 45.75-inch (up from 44.75-inch) Project X Hzrdus Smoke RDX shaft and Champ followed his lead by going up to a 45-inch shaft. Champ reached 192 mph ball speed with the new setup, which was 4 mph faster than with his previous build.
Sean Fairholm