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NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
Titleist won the driver count at the Genesis Invitational thanks in large part to its new TS4 driver. Adam Scott, Max Homa and Russell Henley are among the players who switched to the TS4 recently.
Each player had his own reasons for going to the TS4. Titleist tour rep J.J. VanWezenbeeck noted that Scott switched due to head size, shape and improved launch-to-spin ratios. He switched back to a shaft that he had played previously so he could regain head feel.
“We went on course with lead tape to get the feels to match up then weighted the head to the preferred swing weight after testing,” VanWezenbeeck said.
Homa also made a shaft change last month after his low-spin properties were showing up too much. He also implemented a Surefit hosel that helped him improve launch angle while maintaining low spin.
Henley went from using an 8.5-degree Titleist 917 D2 to a 10.5-degree TS4 starting lat month at the American Express, quite a significant change for a veteran player to make.
With the Genesis Invitational taking place at Riviera Country Club near Los Angeles last week, several players donned gear to honor Kobe Bryant, the late Los Angeles Lakers great.
Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson put a set of headcovers in their bag that featured the Lakers’ color scheme, Bryant’s retired numbers and the popular “Mamba Mentality” phrase associated with Bryant. Brooks Koepka worked with Nike to create custom shoes with “Mamba” on the right outsole and “Mentality” on the left outsole. Justin Thomas charged sneaker artist Roly Padron with designing two pairs of FootJoys – one set featured a drawing of Bryant dunking a basketball and the other was a more classic look that included relevant numbers from his career. The latter pair also included the names of the others who died with Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, in a Jan. 26 helicopter crash.
The tournament itself honored Bryant by placing a purple and gold flag on the par-4 eighth hole to celebrate one of his retired numbers. After marking his ball near that flagstick during Thursday’s round, Tiger Woods subtly tossed his ball back to caddie Joe LaCava as if he were taking a jump shot. That was more intentional than what had happened earlier in the round when Woods holed an eagle putt of 24 feet, 8 inches – the two numbers that matched what Bryant wore – on the par-5 first hole.
The wedge stamping category is always an interesting one to keep an eye on, and last week at Riviera was no different. Collin Morikawa, known for his love of breakfast food, has strip of bacon stamped into the back of one of his Titleist SM7 Vokey wedges. Matthew Fitzpatrick’s motivation is slightly more direct as he has the phrase “Nobody cares, work harder” stamped onto his 60-degree Titleist SM8 Vokey wedge. Marc Leishman, on the other hand, has the names of his two sons, Harvey and Oliver, stamped on his 52- and 60-degree Callaway JAWS MD5 wedges.
Titleist swept all the equipment counts at the Genesis Invitational. It was the third consecutive week the brand has done so on the PGA Tour. Meanwhile, FootJoy won the shoe count at Riviera (52 percent).
Sean Fairholm