NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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After taking more than two months off since the Tour Championship to undergo and recover from surgery in early September to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, Ludvig Åberg returned to competition with a respectable T17 finish in his title defense at the RSM Classic at Sea Island, Georgia.
The 25-year-old Swede, already one of the best drivers on tour, ranking fourth in total driving and 14th in strokes gained off-the-tee this season, used the time away recovering to test a new Titleist driver that earned a place in his bag. He showed up for the RSM with a new 9-degree GT2 driver in place of the Titleist TSR2 he’s been using since he turned professional in June 2023.
“Once I had a couple weeks off, I felt it was a good time to kind of incorporate [the GT2] a little bit more in practice and in training,” Åberg said at the RSM Classic. “I feel like any club can perform on the range, but I want to see it on the golf course; I want to see what happens when I toe it or heel it a little bit. I felt like these couple weeks that I had it was a good time to do it.”
The more forgiving GT2 is considered the model best suited for everyday players who don’t always find the center of the club face and need the stability of high MOI without sacrificing speed. The combination of forgiveness, launch and spin suits Åberg’s needs and could send him into 2025 in even better shape off the tee.
Åberg also carries a 60-degree Vokey lob wedge with a K* Grind sole, a modified version of the wide low bounce K Grind. The K* features a steeper pre-wear on the leading edge to resist excessive digging along with heel, toe and trailing edge relief that allows the leading edge to sit closer to the ground. The K* in 58 and 60 degrees is available for the first time through WedgeWorks to suit recreational golfers with a neutral to shallow attack angle in a variety of turf conditions.
Åberg switched into a 60K* from his higher-bounce V Grind for the first time this year to adjust for the firmer conditions of the Scottish Open and the Open Championship.
The K* wedge grind emerged from a conversation between Webb Simpson and Vokey tour rep Aaron Dill.
“Webb was not one to make many changes to his wedges,” Dill said. “As conditions shifted on tour and we introduced different soles in our line, Webb was motivated to test additional grind options that could offer some forgiveness. This led to Webb in 2015 testing a 60 K Grind, and while this was a great wedge, it still was missing a key element important to him: versatility from tighter lies. Webb and I worked on the sole, adding relief, testing different bounce angles, and ultimately landing on most of the modifications we see today in the K*.”
Justin Thomas, who alternates a 60K* with his 60.04T lob wedge, provided testing feedback which helped to identify the specific angles and changes to the original K Grind’s sole, resulting in the finished K* Grind today. Cameron Young had 58- and 60-degree K* wedges in the bag for his Saturday 59 at the Travelers Championship this summer, and Rory McIlroy also deployed a 58K* lob wedge in winning twice this year on the PGA Tour.
Meanwhile, Maverick McNealy, who picked up his first PGA Tour victory at the season-ending RSM Classic, said he thrives as an “equipment free agent.”
“I think the best part about that is there is zero pressure to change or switch any equipment,” he said at Sea Island. “You don’t have to play the new model if something comes out and really just the peace of mind from knowing that I can play whatever I want.”
That said, McNealy practiced with the new 2025 model Titleist Pro V1 ball on the range in Las Vegas when it launched its 25th-anniversary season. He officially made the switch to it before the RSM.
“I had seen it fly. It had really done not much different than what I was used to seeing except it was maybe slightly closer to the ’20, ’21 ball, which was probably my favorite ball through the air from Titleist,” McNealy said. “I said once I locked up top-60, I would switch balls. Obviously, Bermuda, we didn’t have the ball shipped over there, so I didn’t have access to it. I said I’ll play it in Sea Island; see how it does under the gun.
“Then in the wind on Thursday, it performed unbelievably well. I was really excited. Every ball came out exactly how I wanted to – held the wind, went through the wind – and that gave me a ton of confidence.”
Scott Michaux