Mizuno Irons played by the back-to-back winner of The PGA Championship

Mizuno, the Japanese equipment manufacturer long renowned for its expertise in the manufacture of irons, is celebrating after its JPX919 Tour forged irons were used to win the U.S. PGA Championship for the second consecutive year at Bethpage Black, New York.

Mizuno, founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1906, has long held an enviable industry- and tour-wide reputation for crafting the very finest forged ‘players’ irons’ in the game at its exclusive facility in Hiroshima Japan, offering golfers the ultimate blend of looks, feel and workability.

The brand has been enjoying an exceptional few years, with countless players, both contracted and non-contracted, using Mizuno’s fabled forged irons to claim a series of impressive victories and milestones on the world’s major golf tours, including four major championships. Now, the company has reason to celebrate once more, with the same non-contracted player relying on the Mizuno JPX919 Tour irons to lift the famous Wanamaker trophy once more at Bethpage to become the first man to successfully defend the title for 12 years.

The champion hit an impressive 73.61% of Greens in Regulation (GIR) throughout the week, on a course renowned to be one of the most challenging on the major roster. An exceptional 83.33% GIR in a second-round 65 propelled him to the record books by post the lowest 36-hole score in major history. Equally impressive was his strokes gained on approach to green, where he led the field all week.

The trend for more and more non-contracted players to turn to the brand’s forged irons has become a familiar story over the past few seasons, and one that sends out a strong message about the desirability of Mizuno’s renowned irons when top professionals have free choice.

The JPX919 Tour – played by the 2019 U.S. PGA Champion – forms part of the JPX919 Series and are the second iteration of the JPX Tour series, amazingly developed with this specific player in mind, as Brand Manager, Chris Voshall, explains: “We had Luke Donald and he speaks everything MP — super soft-spoken, classy, classic, beautiful golf swing so we decided to look at who was going to become available at the end of 2015. The 2018 US Open Champion was one of the big names, and literally became the face in our head. His existing deal was through, so we set him as our target. We said, ‘Let’s design a golf club that speaks to that younger, aggressive, more athletic player.’ That was the start of the JPX Tour iron.”

Although he would then go on to sign for another brand, when he unexpectedly became a free agent again in late 2016 and his management company asked for a set to be made up in his specs, Mizuno was ready and waiting with the low-spinning, performance iron with a compact head profile, thin top line and narrow sole that it had originally created with him in mind. The rest, as they say, is history. He put his JPX900 Tour irons into play in 2017 and has since gone on to claim back-to-back US Open’s and the US PGA Championship in 2018, before switching to the JPX919 Tour and successfully defending his US PGA Championship title to claim his fourth major with Mizuno irons.

It is Mizuno’s reputation for crafting the very finest irons on the market that has attracted a growing number of non-contracted players to the brand in recent years, whether the JPX Series played by the 2019 US PGA Championship winner or the fabled MP players’ models.

With a fast turnaround on all new custom clubs, Mizuno has strived to “create the best products for consumers” for 113 years, and the JPX919 Series and MP Series adhere firmly to that original spirit and desire, while offering the best performance benefits that modern technology can bring. #nothingfeelslikeamizuno

For further information on the Mizuno’s full range of golf equipment, apparel and accessories visit: golf.mizunoeurope.com.