Nick Taylor makes it six straight wins for Titleist golf ball players to start 2024 PGA Tour season

After opening the week with a course-record 60,  Nick Taylor (Pro V1x) made three consecutive birdies with the tournament on the line Sunday to win his fourth PGA TOUR title.

Each of those birdies came on TPC Scottsdale’s par-4 18th. The first one, Taylor’s 72nd hole, forced an  all-Pro V1x golf ball playoff  with Titleist Brand Ambassador  Charley Hoffman at 21 under. Both players birdied the playoff opener, setting up Taylor’s clinching birdie on the second extra hole. Taylor, who draws a blue line on his Pro V1x to help with alignment on his putts, rolled it in from 11 feet, 5 inches for the win.

Including the playoff, Taylor’s Pro V1x golf ball found the bottom of the cup for 26 birdies. Eleven of those came during his bogey-free first round, which he played in 29-31.

Taylor was in complete control of his Pro V1x throughout the week in Scottsdale, gaining more than five shots on the field on approach shots (+5.114/9th), while getting up-and-down on 12 of 13 attempts (92.31%), including a perfect 2-for-2 on sand saves. He hit 61 greens in regulation, ranking T2 for the event.

SIX WINS IN A ROW FOR TITLEIST GOLF BALL PLAYERS TO START 2024 SEASON

Titleist golf ball players have won every event to start the 2024 PGA TOUR season, with three wins each apiece for Pro V1 and Pro V1x:

• The Sentry:  Pro V1x player

• Sony Open:  Grayson Murray (Pro V1)

• The American Express:  Pro V1 player

• Farmers Insurance Open:  Matthieu Pavon (Pro V1)

• AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am:  Wyndham Clark (Pro V1x)

• WM Phoenix Open:  Nick Taylor (Pro V1x)

This week, Taylor also topped a leader board that featured four Titleist golf ball players in the final top 5:

1.  Nick Taylor (Pro V1x)

2.  Charley Hoffman (Pro V1x)

T3.  2022 Masters Champion (Pro V1)

5.  Sahith Theegala (Pro V1).

Over the last six weeks on the PGA TOUR, a total of 507 players have teed up a Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball, more than five times the nearest competitor (95).

WHY NICK TAYLOR PLAYS PRO V1x

– “The windows, we talk about flight windows, but also spin windows. Like any golfer, you want predictability not only your good shots, but your slight miss hits and misses. So the windows of my spin are super tight and like I said, the flight windows that you want – the low ones, if it’s a knockdown shot or into the wind, the high ones with certain shots you might need to get to a pin or not – when I look up, I see in the window that I’ve imagined when I was trying to hit it, so that’s super important.”

– “I have so much confidence in the Titleist golf ball, I am not really ever questioning it. When you’re in trouble and you have to hit through a 3 foot by 3 foot circle in a tree, that’s when you have the confidence in the back of your mind that, you know, I envision this with a 7 iron and you think it’s going to come out of that window – that’s telling in itself right there. It’s nice to have the windows, when you’re on a tee box with nothing in the way, but when you get in trouble, which we do on occasion, it’s important to have that confidence.”

– “To me (with Pro V1x) it’s a soft but clicky feel. It’s obviously two opposites there, but it gives me the variety of clickiness with the wedges that I feel like it’s getting the spin, but also with the really short shots I have the soft feel. And then with the irons and the woods, obviously it comes off kind of somewhere in the middle there. So the feel is important. It gives you confidence when it comes off the face, kind of again, the feel that you want.”

HOW NICK TAYLOR MARKS HIS PRO V1x

“I’ve always used blue for a long time. I’ll change up occasionally, but I put a C and an H by the numbers on both sides. C is for Charlie, it’s my son and Harper’s my daughter. My daughter’s 9 months old, so I had just a C for four years. I used to do a circle abbreviated to a C when my son was born and then did the C-H when she was born in May.

“I use this to line up on 99 percent of my putts. I’ve used this line on really any putt from distance, 3 feet all the way up to 72 feet like the Canadian Open. Again, it gives me a general area of where I’m trying to aim, gets me tighter and it gets me just focused on speed. I feel like once I have the line down, I’m not really considered or worried about where I’m aiming, so I use a line in all putts.”

WM PHOENIX OPEN CHAMP WINS WITH 12 TITLEIST CLUBS INCLUDING DRIVER, IRONS, WEDGES

The 2024 WM Phoenix Open champion earned his fourth PGA TOUR title on Sunday with 12 Titleist clubs in his winning setup:

– Titleist, the most played driver on the PGA TOUR, was again the top choice this week at TPC Scottsdale, with 49 players (37%) gaming a Titleist driver compared to 26 (20%) for the nearest competitor. The champion gamed a TSi3 10.0 model, leading the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+2.216) in Thursday’s opening round en route to his course-record 60.

It was also an all-Titleist driver playoff, with Charley Hoffman playing a TSR2 8.0 driver.

– The champion’s winning setup also included several new additions, including a full set of NEW T-Series irons and NEW Vokey SM10 wedges.

He made the move to the NEW T-Series models (T200 4 iron, T100 5-9) to start the season at The Sentry, having played prior generation T-Series models in 2023. He added three SM10 wedges (46.10F, 54.14F, 58.04T) for the first time at The American Express.

This week in Scottsdale, he ranked T2 in Greens in Regulation (61/74, 82%) and 1st in Scrambling (12/13, 92%). He gained over seven shots on the field between his approach play (+5.114, 9th) and his shots around the green (+2.093, 14th) combined.

Coming down the stretch, the champion hit several clutch approaches with his short irons and wedges that led to five birdies in his final six holes:

No. 15: 81 yards to 3 ft, 3 in.

No. 16: 166 yards to 5 ft, 8 in.

No. 18: 141 yards to 9 ft, 6 in.

Playoff hole No. 1: 125 yards to 14 ft, 10 in.

Playoff hole No. 2: 141. yards to 11 ft, 5 in.

He gained over three shots on the field with his approach shots alone on Sunday (+3.155, 3rd) and was a perfect 4-for-4 in Scrambling in the final round.

Hoffman also gamed NEW T-Series irons and NEW Vokey SM10 wedges, which he used to rank 2nd in SG: Approach (+6.981) for the week.

– Between the WMPO champion and Hoffman, there were a total of 26 Titleist golf clubs in the playoff:

WITB | WM Phoenix Open Champ:

Titleist Pro V1x golf ball

TSi3 10.0 driver | Atmos Tour Spec Blue 6 X

TSi2 15.0 fairway | Atmos Tour Spec Blue 7 X

TSR2 21.0 hybrid | Tour AD DI-95 Hybrid X

NEW T200 4 iron | Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

NEW T100 5-9 irons | Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

NEW Vokey Design SM10 46.10F, 54.14F, 58.04T wedges | Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

WITB | Charley Hoffman:

Titleist Pro V1x golf ball

TSR2 8.0 driver | Tensei 1K Pro Orange 50 TX

TSR2+ 14.5 fairway | Tensei CK Pro Orange 80 TX

TSR3 18.0 fairway | Tensei CK Pro Orange 80 TX

913Hd 20.0 hybrid | Motore Speeder HB 9.8 Tour Spec X

NEW T100 4-9 irons | NS Pro Modus3 Tour 105 X

NEW Vokey Design SM10 46.10F, 50.12F, 56.14F, WedgeWorks 60L | NS Pro Modus3 Tour 105 X (46, 52); NS Pro Modus3 125 Wedge (56); Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)

Scotty Cameron Phantom X 8 tour prototype putter

KORN FERRY TOUR | Astara Golf Championship

Kevin Velo (Pro V1)  made three straight birdies to close out his first career Korn Ferry Tour victory in extra holes. Velo, 26, birdied the par-4 17th and par-5 18th to post 22 under and force a sudden-death playoff with  Brian Campbell (Pro V1x). One more birdie down the 18th gave Velo the win in his 30th career KFT start.

For the week in Bogota, Velo carded four sub-67 rounds (64-67-64-66) and made 25 birdies (T2 in the field). Velo and Campbell’s 72-hole scores of 261 (22 under) apiece set the new tournament scoring record. After prevailing in the playoff, Velo is projected to jump 47 spots to No. 2 in the Korn Ferry Points List.

CRISTOBAL DEL SOLAR SHOOTS LOWEST ROUND IN PGA TOUR-SANCTIONED HISTORY

Cristobal Del Solar  tapped in his  Pro V1x for par and a 13-under 57 in Round 1, making history by carding the lowest round ever in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event. Del Solar made six birdies in his first eight holes before making an eagle on No. 9 to go out in 27. He added three more birdies and an eagle on his way in to finish off the historic round.

Del Solar began the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season playing a competitive golf ball brand. In late May at the AdventHealth Championship, Del Solar made a mid-season move to Titleist, switching to a Pro V1x Left Dash.

Two months later, Del Solar worked with Jeff Beyers of Titleist Golf Ball R&D, looking for more spin at the bottom end of his bag. He moved to 2023 Pro V1x at the Price Cutter Championship and went on to record his then-best finish on the Korn Ferry Tour – a solo 5th at the NV5 Invitational – in his next start.

“Cristobal really liked Left Dash but we thought he could benefit from a little bit more spin with his short irons and wedges,” Beyers said. “He tried 2023 Pro V1x and it was a pretty easy change for him. The numbers were great. He played really well, made a late season push to get his TOUR card and now he’s off to a great start this year.”

2023 Pro V1x is engineered with a high gradient dual core design that delivers lower long game spin for increased distance and a more consistent flight – helping golfers hit the ball longer and straighter while maintaining the Drop-and-Stop greenside control that Pro V1x players rely on to play their best.

POTGIETER BECOMES YOUNGEST PLAYER TO SHOOT 59

Titleist Brand Ambassador  Aldrich Potgieter became the youngest player to break 60 in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event after carding a 59 in Round 2. Potgieter, 19, birdied his final three holes (Nos. 7-9 at Country Club de Bogota – Pacos) to post 11 under on his Friday round. He ended the day with 10 birdies and an eagle.

Just two weeks ago, Potgieter became the youngest champion in Korn Ferry Tour history, as he claimed the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic. He gamed his  Pro V1x golf ball  and  14 Titleist clubs in accomplishing both feats.

WITB | Aldrich Potgieter

Pro V1x Golf Ball

TSR3 9.0 driver | Fujikura Ventus Black 60 X

NEW U·505 2 iron | Mitsubishi MMT Hybrid 90 TX

NEW T200 3 iron | Mitsubishi MMT Hybrid 100 TX

NEW T100 4-PW irons | True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Onyx X100

Vokey Design SM9 50.08F, 54.10S, WedgeWorks 60T wedges | True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Onyx X100 (50-54), Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Onyx S400 (60)

Scotty Cameron Futura 5W putter

LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR | Magical Kenya Ladies Open

Shannon Tan tapped in her Titleist Pro V1 in Kenya on Sunday to make history becoming the first Singaporean to win on the Ladies European Tour. The 19 year-old shot a final round of -3 (70) at Vipingo Ridge, to win by four shots over fellow Titleist Golf player, Alessandra Fanali. This is Tan’s second professional victory, but first since turning professional after securing her LET card at Q-School in December last year.

SUNSHINE TOUR | Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open

Mikael Lindberg (Pro V1x) made birdie on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to close out his victory at Royal Cape Golf Club. Lindberg carded rounds of 65-67 over the weekend to reach 16 under before sealing the win on his third trip around the 18th hole.