Seamus Power Earns Second Career PGA TOUR Victory After Switching to All-New 2023 Pro V1x Golf Ball

By Zack R., Team Titleist Staff On 31 October 2022 Balls Tour Clubs

PGA TOUR | Butterfield Bermuda Championship

Seamus Power earned his second career PGA TOUR title Sunday in Bermuda, a week after switching to the all-new Pro V1x golf ball.

  • Power, who put 2023 Pro V1x in play for the first time at last week’s CJ Cup, opened the week with three consecutive 65’s to take a share of the lead with PGA TOUR rookie Ben Griffin (Pro V1) heading into the final round.
  • The 35-year-old Irishman closed in 1-under 70 on a blustery Port Royal Golf Course to finish the week at 20 under and win by one shot.
  • Power, who moves to No. 32 in the Official World Golf Ranking, led the field with a tournament-record 28 birdies while hitting 75% of his greens in regulation.
  • Fifteen of the top 18 players on the final leader board played a Titleist golf ball.

POWER CLAIMS FIRST WIN FOR NEW 2023 PRO V1x

  • With his victory in Bermuda, Power claimed the first win for the NEW 2023 Pro V1 and Pro V1x models on the PGA TOUR.
  • Power tested NEW Pro V1x for a week at home before putting the new model in play for the first time last Thursday at Congaree. Power had previously been playing Pro V1.
  • “It’s been excellent,” Power said. “I was delighted trying it [the week before CJ Cup], tested all week, loved it. Played lots of golf with it and very, very happy with it.
  • “For me, it’s very visual,” he said. “When I swing and it comes off the face, if it comes out in the trajectory I feel it should, that’s a big positive for me, and that’s what I saw immediately.
  • “It felt great off the tee with a little bit extra heat. If anything, I under spin my irons, so I’ve got that little bit extra spin (moving to Pro V1x). I didn’t give up anything around the green. I didn’t feel any noticeable difference with the noise off the putter face, so it was an easy change for me. Very excited about it.”
  • Rookie Harrison Endycott put NEW Pro V1x in play for the first time this week in Bermuda, posting 62 in his first round with the new model.
  • He finished the week at 14 under, earning his first top-10 finish (10th) on the PGA TOUR. 
  • Playing NEW Pro V1, Garrick Higgo posted a tournament record-tying 10 birdies in his final-round 7-under 64.
  • Higgo first put 2023 Pro V1 in play at the Sanderson Farms Championship, where he led the field in birdies (24) and finished one shot out of the playoff.
  • “I think the biggest thing was that it gave a similar feel to the 21V, but it was a lot faster,” Higgo said. “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.”

POWER ON CONSISTENCY OF NEW PRO V1X, WINDY CONDITIONS IN BERMUDA

  • Power made a tournament-record 28 birdies with his NEW Pro V1x golf ball over the four rounds at Port Royal Golf Course, while becoming the only player in tournament history to make three birdies in a single tournament at the course’s signature par-3 16th.
  • Said Power in his post-round press conference: “I was absolutely fine with the wind the last couple days because I’ve been lucky enough to play here a few times and I’ve seen this course in a lot of different wind directions and I've seen how -- just a bit of experience. Even on 16, like I hit a very, very good shot aimed at the left hazard line. I’ve done it before here and it ended up online with the pin.”
  • “It’s having a little bit of extra confidence knowing that my ball was going to come back and do what it’s supposed to do versus other guys, it’s hard to aim in the ocean and hit a shot. When you’re not used to doing it, you haven’t done it before, it’s hard to trust that it's going to come back, but I’ve played it before. I played here last year and the tee was back and you're hitting a long iron starting out into the ocean, same thing. You just learn to trust it a little bit more.”
  • “Same with No. 8 today, you're very sheltered on that tee box, but I’ve played in that westerly wind before. Once it gets out past the tee it gets hammered and it gets hit hard and it goes left. So I hit a very confident shot starting to a right pin, starting probably 10 steps right of the pin, which normally I wouldn’t be comfortable doing, but I’ve been able to do it before here and just I knew the ball would come back if you just kind of trust it.”
  • Last week at the CJ Cup, Power talked about the consistency he was seeing with his NEW Pro V1x.
  • “That’s forever always been the biggest positive for me with any of the Titleist balls I’ve used over the last 15 years,” he said. “You never get one that doesn’t do what you expect it to do. And I mean, that’s huge for us. Especially when you get on a Sunday under pressure, knowing that if you hit it the way you want to hit it, you know what it’s going to do. You know how it’s going to react, year after year, tournament after tournament.”
  • “I mean, one shot here and there can do all the difference. You get one that all of a sudden just knuckles through the wind, goes over a green, you maybe drop one or two shots, it can change a whole tournament for you. So to have that consistency and the confidence in it, I mean, it’s massive. Just knowing that’s one less thing you got to worry about.”

TITLEIST SWEEPS MAJOR EQUIPMENT COUNTS IN BERMUDA

  • Titleist was the overwhelming #1 golf ball and most played brand across all major equipment categories (golf ball, drivers, fairways, hybrids, utility irons, irons, wedges and putters) at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, sweeping the counts for the first time of the 2022-23 PGA TOUR season and 28th time since the start of 2019.
  • Last season, Titleist swept the counts four times, including the first-ever sweep at the TOUR Championship.
  • Titleist remains the only brand to ever accomplish this feat on the PGA TOUR.
  • This week in Bermuda:
    • 106 players (80%) teed up a Pro V1, Pro V1x, Pro V1 Left Dot or Pro V1x Left Dash golf ball, 11 times the nearest competitor with nine.
    • Titleist was the most played driver with 45, 11 more than the nearest competitor, with NEW TSR drivers accounting for 32 (71%) of those drivers.
    • There were more Titleist fairways (45) and hybrids (16) in play than any other brand, with TSR3 as the most popular fairway model and TSi2 the most played Titleist hybrid.
    • 47% of the utility irons gamed in Bermuda were Titleist. T200 utility irons were the most popular with 31 in play, more than double the nearest competitor’s total number of utilities.
    • Titleist was the most played iron (42) with more T100 iron sets in play (24) than any other brand’s total number of iron sets (20).
    • With 224 gap, sand and lob wedges (59%), there were more Vokey Design wedges in play than all other wedges in the field combined.
    • On the greens, more players used Scotty Cameron putters (49) than any other brand. 

T3 FINISHER EARNS BEST RESULT IN FOUR YEARS AFTER SWITCH TO TITLEIST

  • After bookend rounds of 65, one of this week’s T3 finishers, the 2014 Ben Hogan Award winner and former World No. 1 Amateur, notched his highest finish since November 2018 after switching to 13 Titleist clubs from a competitive brand to start the 2022-2023 PGA TOUR season.
  • Playing a Pro V1x Left Dash golf ball, NEW TSR driver and fairway, T100 irons and Vokey Design SM9 wedges, the former Stanford standout made 26 birdies over the 72 holes, posting rounds of 65-67-70-65 to finish the week at 17 under.
  • So far this season, he ranks 18th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+0.701) after finishing 64th in the same category last season. 

What's in the Bag?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash
Driver: NEW TSR2 8.0°
Fairway Metal: NEW TSR3 15.0°
Hybrid: TSi3 18.0°
Irons: T100•S 4 and T100 5-PW
Wedges: Vokey Design SM9 50.12F, 56.12D, 60.08M 

DP WORLD TOUR | Portugal Masters

Titleist Brand Ambassador Jordan Smith captured his second career victory on the DP World Tour, finishing a near-flawless week at 30 under.

  • Smith’s final-round 8-under 63 earned him a three-shot, wire-to-wire win that featured three rounds of 63 or better (62-67-62-63).
  • On Sunday, Smith made six birdies and one eagle while surrendering zero bogeys (and only three throughout the entire week).
  • For the tournament, Smith ranked 10th in Stokes Gained: Approach (+1.28) and 8th in SG: Around the Green (+0.62), getting his Pro V1 golf ball up-and-down 77% of the time.
  • Twelve of the top 14 finishers on the final leader board played a Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball model.

What’s in Jordan Smith’s Titleist Golf Bag?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: NEW TSR3 8.0°
Irons: T100 3-4 and 620 MB 5-9
Wedges: Vokey Design SM8 46.10F, 50.08F, 54.10S, WedgeWorks 60T

BACK-TO-BACK WINS FOR TSR ON DP WORLD TOUR, WINNER RANKS FIRST IN STROKES GAINED: OFF THE TEE

  • Gaming a NEW TSR3 8.0° driver (Kaili White 70-TX shaft), Smith ranked first in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+1.14), averaging 299.5 yards while hitting 64.3% of his fairways.
  • Sunday’s finish marked back-to-back wins for TSR drivers on the DP World Tour, following Yannik Paul's victory at last week’s Mallorca Golf Open after switching to a NEW TSR2 8.0° driver.
  • With Smith’s victory, TSR drivers have now won 19 times across major worldwide professional tours since their debut at the Travelers Championship in June.

SUNSHINE TOUR | Vodacom Origins of Golf Final

Titleist ball player Combrinck Smit (Pro V1x Yellow) emerged victorious from a sudden-death playoff to capture his first career win on the Sunshine Tour.

  • Smit made birdie on the par-5 18th to force overtime with Jake Redman (Pro V1x), before sealing the victory with a par on the first extra hole.
  • It marked the seventh straight win for Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf ball players on the Sunshine Tour, as 24 of the 28 events played this season have been won with a Titleist golf ball.

AMATEUR | Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship

The winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship trusted his Pro V1x golf ball, NEW TSR driver and full bag of Titleist equipment to a one-shot win at Amata Spring Country Club in Chonburi, Thailand.

  • Closing in even-par 72 to finish the week at 13 under, the 21-year-old Australian champion overcame a three-shot deficit with nine holes to play, playing holes 11-15 in 4 under to climb to the top of the leader board.
  • In addition to the AAC Trophy, the winner earned invitations to the 2023 Masters Tournament and the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. 

What’s in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion’s Titleist Golf Bag?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: NEW TSR3 10.0° | Project X HZRDUS Black Gen 4 60 TX
Fairway Metal: NEW TSR3 15.0° | Project X HZRDUS Black Gen 4 80 TX
Utility Iron: T200 3 | Graphite Design Tour AD Hybrid DI-95 X
Irons: T100 4-9 | KBS Tour 120 X
Wedges: Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 50.12F, 56.10S, WedgeWorks 60T | KBS Tour 120 X (46-50), KBS Tour 610 130 (56-60)
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5 tour prototype putter

AMATEUR | East Lake Cup

The world’s fourth-ranked amateur, Gordon Sargent, claimed the individual stroke play title after closing with a 4-under 68 at East Lake Golf Club.

  • Sargent, who won the 2022 NCAA Division I Individual title in May as a freshman, also helped his team to their second victory of the fall season. 

What’s in Gordon Sargent’s Titleist Golf Bag?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: NEW TSR3 9.0° | Tensei 1K Pro White 60 TX-Flex
Fairway Metal: NEW TSR3 16.5° | Tensei 1K Pro White 80 TX-Flex
Utility Iron: T200 3 (Utility Build) | Ventus Black HB 10 TX-Flex
Iron: T100 4, 620 CB 5 and 620 MB 6-9 | Dynamic Gold X100
Wedges: Vokey Design SM9 46.10F | Dynamic Gold X100, Vokey Design SM9 52.08F, 56.10S | Dynamic Gold S300, and Vokey Design SM8 WedgeWorks 60T wedge | Dynamic Gold S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron 009M prototype

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