PGA TOUR | Shriners Children’s Open
Titleist Brand Ambassador Joohyung "Tom" Kim – playing a Pro V1x golf ball and NEW TSR3 driver among his Titleist equipment – earned his second career victory on the PGA TOUR, becoming the youngest two-time TOUR winner in 90 years.
- The 20-year-old made 24 birdies and zero bogeys over the 72 holes at TPC Summerlin, with his 24-under total earning him a three-shot victory.
- Kim, who moves to No. 15 in the Official World Golf Ranking, shot a final round 5-under 66, his fourth-consecutive round of 67 or better (65-67-62-66).
- For the week, Kim led the field Scrambling, getting his Pro V1x up-and-down 100% of the time (9 attempts).
- He also ranked 3rd in Greens in Regulation (87.5%), 3rd in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (+8.933), 5th in SG: Approach (+5.83) and 3rd in SG: Putting (+6.052).
- Kim’s victory marks his second win in four starts, a meteoric rise since his breakout 3rd-place finish at the Genesis Scottish Open and his PGA TOUR card-clinching Sunday 63 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July.
What's in Joohyung “Tom” Kim's Titleist Golf Bag?
Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: NEW TSR3 9.0° | Fujikura Atmos Black 6 X
Utility Irons: T200 2-3 | Fujikura Ventus Black Hybrid 10 TX (2), True Temper Project X 5.5 (3)
Irons: T100 4-PW | True Temper Project X 6.0
Wedges: NEW Vokey Design SM9 52.12F, WedgeWorks 60A | True Temper Project X 6.0 (46), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (52-60)
Putter: Scotty Cameron TourType Timeless GSS tour prototype
KIM ON HIS PRO V1x; ‘GOOD VIBES’ WITH HIGH NUMBERS CONTINUES
- Playing a Pro V1x golf ball, Kim became the first PGA TOUR winner without a bogey over 72 holes since the 2019 Wyndham Championship, where Titleist Brand Ambassador J.T. Poston also went bogey-free playing a Pro V1x.
- Gaining nearly nine strokes (+8.933) on the field from tee to green in Las Vegas, Kim topped a leader board that featured Pro V1 and Pro V1x players in six of the top-7 positions.
- His victory also marked the third-consecutive victory by a Titleist golf ball player to begin the 2023-23 PGA TOUR season following wins by Pro V1 players Max Homa (Fortinet Championship) and Mackenzie Hughes (Sanderson Farms Championship).
- “I’ve been using [Pro V1x] for my whole life,” Kim said. “For me, when I hit a shot, and it comes in the window that I see it… just that consistency of seeing that window every time, where a lot of [competitive] golf balls, sometimes you might hit a shot, and it might go a little far, it might go a little short. With Titleist being the best ball, number one in golf, it shows you that consistency.”
- Earlier this year, Kim made the switch to Pro V1x’s with high play numbers (5-6-7-8). “Mid-year I kind of wanted to give a little bit of spice to it, change things up a bit, and went to the high numbers,” Kim said after his third-place finish at the Scottish Open (one month before earning his first PGA TOUR victory at the Wyndham Championship). “And it’s been good so far. So after I changed to the high numbers, it’s been good vibes only. So, I’m going to keep it for a while.”
KIM CLAIMS PGA TOUR WIN NO. 6 FOR NEW TSR DRIVERS
- Kim’s victory with his NEW TSR3 9.0° driver marked Win No. 6 for the new Titleist driver models in their first 13 weeks on the PGA TOUR.
- Kim, who also gamed the new model in winning the Wyndham Championship, gained strokes off the tee in every round this week at TPC Summerlin.
- Kim made the switch to TSR after a summer visit to the Titleist Performance Institute, where he worked with Titleist Tour Rep Dino Antenucci.
- “I had been playing the TSi3 for the longest time and I thought I wasn’t going to change it, but after trying it at TPI, it was just so good that I had to put it in the bag, and it’s been working out really well. My percentage in the fairway has gone up and, yeah, it’s a keeper. Missed hits, solid hits, it just stays in the wind so well for me, that’s what I’ve had trouble with before and I thought I was going to use the ‘i’ for the rest of the season, but I put it right in the bag because I gained ball speed, gained swing speed, smash factor went up and holds it really well into the wind. So it was great.”
- Also in the TOUR’S TSR winner’s circle: Max Homa (TSR3 10.0°/Fortinet Championship), Will Zalatoris (TSR3 8.0°/FedEx St. Jude Championship), Cameron Smith (TSR3 10.0°/Open Championship) and J.T. Poston (TSR3 9.0°/John Deere Classic).
KIM ON HIS T100 IRONS, VOKEY WEDGES
- Playing a set of T100 irons and along with two Vokey Design SM9 wedges, Kim hit 63 of 72 (87.5%) greens in regulation over the four days at TPC Summerlin, gaining nearly six strokes on the field (+5.83) with approach shots.
- Kim, on his T100s: “I’ve been a T100 player for the longest time. It’s just something I’ve always been comfortable with. It just gives you more forgiveness in the irons. I was using the previous T100’s. I was playing so well with them, I didn’t really think that I was going to change, but I tested them out, put them in right away. It looks just so amazing, so simple, and when you set it up, it looks even better. It’s just spin control, ball flight control, trajectory control. … It’s something that I’ve loved, and I’ve never thought about changing to a CB or an MB. Never thought of it. So it’s, yeah…. It’s a forever thing for me.”
- Kim, who this week carried SM9 52.12F and WedgeWorks 60A models, led the field in Scrambling by going a perfect 9-for-9.
- “Vokey wedges, ball flight control-wise, spin control-wise, are just very, very different from [competitive models]… When you hit a shot the way you want, it comes out the way you want,” he said. “That’s what you want, especially with a wedge. These as well have been a very big difference for me this year.”
- Kim also carries a pair of T200 (2 & 3) utility irons: “The new T200’s, they come out a little softer off the face and it’s really easy to flight it, high, low. I feel like that was the big difference for me, feel, just sound off the face, and penetrating flight. … Normally 2-iron, you might get a little nervous, because it looks thin, but this is just… It feels so comfortable. It looks like I’m hitting a 7-iron. It’s a trusted club. I have the [Ventus Black Hybrid 10 TX] shaft in it. But the 3-iron, I have a steel shaft. It’s the [True Temper Project X 5.5] just because I wanted to get it up in the air a little bit better. I’ve been using this for the whole year now, and it’s gotten me some good birdies. So, definitely a keeper.”
KIM ROLLING WITH SCOTTY CAMERON PUTTER
- Playing a Scotty Cameron TourType Timeless GSS tour prototype putter, Kim gained more than six (+6.052) strokes on the greens, averaging 1.651 putts per green in regulation.
- “I’ve always putted my best with a blade,” Kim said. “I was using a mallet for a couple of years, but I’ve won a lot of my tournaments with a blade, and I wanted to come back, kind of use something natural. Scotty and Paul (Vizanko) really helped me with this piece and it looks great with the mint blue (paintfill). It’s been in the bag for a really long time now.”
NEW PRO V1 & PRO V1x MAKE PGA TOUR DEBUT; 15 PLAYERS TEE UP NEW MODELS IN VEGAS
- The new 2023 Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls made their PGA TOUR debut at last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship – a week earlier than expected.
- Titleist’s tour seeding and validation process for 2023 Pro V1 and Pro V1x, the next generation of the most trusted golf balls on the PGA TOUR and at every level of competitive golf, had been scheduled to begin at the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas.
- Leading up to Sanderson Farms, however, Titleist tour reps received multiple requests from Garrick Higgo, M.J. Daffue and Gary Woodland – each of whom had done extensive testing during the prototyping process – asking to put the new balls in play as soon as possible.
- “I went to TPI over a month ago and I’ve had the ball at home practicing with it and I’ve just seen shots that I haven’t seen in a long time and that’s been very exciting to me,” Woodland said. Prior to the season-opening Fortinet Championship, Woodland received a text from Titleist Tour Rep Todd Harris saying the new golf balls wouldn’t be available in Napa. “I just responded, Are you sure? Are you sure?” he said. “And I sent a cry face emoji.”
- Woodland was on the first hole of his Tuesday practice round at The Country Club of Jackson when he found out he could finally tee up 2023 Pro V1x. “I was very excited just because I know what I was getting,” he said.
- On Thursday, he joined Higgo (Pro V1) and Daffue (Pro V1x) as the first three players to game the new models in competition.
- In Round 1, Daffue’s NEW Pro V1x rolled into the cup at the 182-yard par-3 4th for a hole-in-one, the first ace for the new 2023 models.
- Playing his NEW Pro V1, Higgo led the field in birdies (24), closing in 4-under 68 Sunday to finish one shot out of the playoff.
- “I was happy that I was allowed to play it because I really enjoyed it when I played with it at home,” Higgo said. “I think the biggest thing was that it gave a similar feel to the 21V, like the low spin, but it was a lot faster. So that made me really excited because I played the par-5s pretty well last week. So if I could hit it long and straight, which I feel like with the V – with the less spin, more control – I hit it a lot straighter. So straight and far works.”
- This week in Las Vegas, the trio was among the group of 15 players who put the NEW 2023 Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls immediately in play:
LPGA | LPGA Mediheal Championship
Jodi Ewart Shadoff (Pro V1x) captured her first career LPGA Tour victory, making two birdies over her final seven holes to win by one shot.
- Ewart Shadoff, after opening in 8-under 64, completed the wire-to-wire win with a Sunday 71 to finish at 15 under.
- For the week, she hit 81% (58 of 72) of greens in regulation.
WINNER PLAYS TITLEIST DRIVER, VOKEY WEDGES
- The winner of the LPGA Mediheal Championship played a Titleist TSi3 10.0° driver, hitting 95% of fairways while averaging 265 yards off the tee.
- She hit every fairway over her first two rounds, missing just three fairways for the entire week. The winner also played three Vokey Design SM9 wedges.
CHAMPIONS TOUR | Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS
Steve Stricker (Pro V1x) closed in 3-under 69 to earn his 11th career PGA TOUR Champions victory and his fourth win of the 2022 season.
- Four birdies on Sunday helped Stricker reach 14 under for the week, two shots clear of Pro V1 player Harrison Frazar, while leading a 1-through-6 finish for Titleist golf ball players.
- Nobody made fewer bogeys than Stricker (3), who led the field in Scrambling, getting his Pro V1x up-and-down 83% of the time.
KOREAN TOUR | Genesis Championship
Titleist Brand Ambassador YeongSu Kim closed with back-to-back rounds of 3-under 69 to win by one shot.
- With his first career win on the KPGA Tour, Kim is now exempt into the CJ CUP, Genesis Invitational and Genesis Scottish Open on the 2022-2023 PGA TOUR schedule.
- Eight of the 12 players who finished in the top 10 and ties gamed a Titleist golf ball.
What’s in YeongSu Kim’s Titleist Golf Bag?
Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: TSi3 9.0°
Fairway Metals: TSi2 13.5° and 18.0°
Irons: 620 CB (3-4) & 620 MB (5-9)
Wedges: Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 52.12F, 58K
JAPAN GOLF TOUR | For the Players by the Players 2022
Shintaro Kobayashi (Pro V1x) won his first career JGTO title, outpacing second place by five points in the tournament’s Stableford format.
- The 36-year-old made five final-round birdies to finish the week with 41 points.
SUNSHINE TOUR | Fortress Invitational
Titleist Brand Ambassador Pieter Moolman made birdie on the first hole of a playoff to claim his first career Sunshine Tour victory.
- Moolman’s closing 5-under 67 was highlighted by a clutch eagle on No. 18 in regulation to reach 14 under and force extra holes at Ebotse Links.
What’s in Pieter Moolman’s Titleist Golf Bag?
Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: NEW TSR3 9.0°
Fairway Metal: NEW TSR3 15.0°
Irons: T100•S (4-9)
Wedges: Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 50.08F, 54.10S, WedgeWorks 60T
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport
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