We recently passed the midway point on the calendar across the worldwide professional golf tours and over the course of the first half of the 2018-2019 season, Titleist has once again been the #1 ball for more players and more champions. To date this season, the game's finest players have relied on a Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball 14,084 times, more than seven times the nearest competitor with 1,718 and more than all competitors combined.
During this same time, Titleist golf ball players recorded 100 worldwide victories, more than seven times the nearest competitor with 17.
MID-YEAR HIGHLIGHTS
• Titleist Pro V1 player Chez Reavie won the Travelers Championship, marking the 100th victory this season for players trusting a Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball on the worldwide professional golf tours. Reavie’s victory continued a record of success that stretches back more than twenty years (since 1996 when we first started tracking worldwide professional tour counts and wins). In every single golf season since that time, players relying on Titleist have recorded 100 professional wins or more, an unmatched testament to the performance supremacy of Titleist golf balls and the vote of confidence given to them by the world’s finest players.
• Playing in just his fourth event since switching back to a Titleist Pro V1 golf ball, Gary Woodland fired four rounds in the 60s at Pebble Beach Golf Links, posted a 13-under-par 271 total and earned the title of "U.S. Open Champion". It was a 1-2 finish for Titleist golf ball players, as the current World No. 1 (Pro V1x) finished runner-up in his bid to defned the 2018 title.
• Jeongeun Lee6 (Pro V1x) made her first LPGA Tour win her first major championship crown, capturing the U.S. Women’s Open by two shots over three players, including Angel Yin (Pro V1x) and 2011 winner and fellow South Korean, So-Yeon Ryu (Pro V1). The 23-year old LPGA rookie closed with a 1-under-par 70 at the Country Club of Charleston en route to a fitting total score of SIX-under 278.
Patrick Cantlay | Pro V1x - The Memorial Tournament
• Beginning the day four strokes off the lead at The Memorial Tournament, Patrick Cantlay charged right out the gate, collecting five birdies on the front-nine for a 4-under-par 31. He maintained his aggressive focus after making the turn, adding three more birdies and finishing with a bogey-free, 8-under-par 64, the lowest final round by a winner in the history of the Memorial. It marked his second win on the PGA TOUR.
• Ken Tanigawa became the first player to ever win a major championship with a Yellow Titleist Pro V1, making his first professional count as he won the Senior PGA Championship, edging his former UCLA golf teammate Scott McCarron (Pro V1) by one shot.
• It was a wire-to-wire defense by the winner of the PGA Championship, who posted an 8-under-par 272 total en route to his fourth career major championship - all within the past two years and all with a Titleist Pro V1x golf ball, Vokey Design wedges and a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 SLT T10 putter. He is the first wire-to-wire winner in the PGA Championship since 1983 and he has now won four out of the last eight majors in which he’s competed.
• It was a remarkable week for Scott Piercy at the AT&T Byron Nelson [Pro V1 golf ball, TS4 driver (8.5°) , 816 H1 hybrid (21°), 718 AP2 4-iron, 680 (5-9) irons, Vokey Design SM6 gap (52°), sand (56°) and prototype lob (62°) wedges, Scotty Cameron GoLo putter]. Trusting Titleist from tee-through-green, Piercy went all 72 holes without making a single bogey. The feat is so rare, that Piercy became the first player to do so at a PGA Tour event since Charles Howell III at The Greenbrier in 2010.
• Tom Pernice Jr. (Pro V1x) aced the first hole on the par-3 Top of the Rock course at the Big Cedar Lodge on Sunday, and along with partner Scott Hoch (Pro V1x), closed with an 8-under par 46 to capture the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf. Their 23-under-par 156 was five shots clear of the next two closest teams. Hoch, at 63-years, five-months, became the oldest winner in the history of the PGA Tour Champions.
• C.T. Pan (New Pro V1x, TS2/9.5° driver) earned his first career PGA TOUR title with a come-from-behind victory at the RBC Heritage. Pan is now just the second golfer from Taiwan to win a PGA Tour title, following Chen Tze-chung (T.C. Chen), who won the Los Angeles Open in 1987.
Jin Young Ko | Pro V1 - ANA Inspiration
• Titleist golf ball loyalist Jin Young Ko won the ANA Inspiration for her first major title and her second victory in three weeks. Her win marked the first major title won with the New 2019 Pro V1 golf ball.
• Corey Conners claimed his first PGA Tour title - and his first as a professional - at the Valero Texas Open. Conners was the last player to round out the Valero Texas Open field, earning his spot in a 6-for-1 playoff in Monday qualifying. He is only the fifth player in PGA Tour history to win a tournament after gaining a position through Monday qualifying and the first since Monday-qualifier Arjun Atwal raised the trophy at the 2010 Wyndham Championship.
• Kevin Kisner (Pro V1) claimed his first World Golf Championships title after posting a 3 & 2 victory in the final of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. Kisner, who finished runner-up in an all-Titleist championship match with Bubba Watson (New 2019 Pro V1x Yellow) in this event last year, won six straight matches after losing his first.
Kirk Triplett | New 2019 Pro V1 Yellow - Hoag Classic
• In March, on the PGA Tour Champions, Kirk Triplett became the first tour player to win with the new 2019 Pro V1 Yellow golf ball, winning in playoff fashion with an eagle at the Hoag Classic.
• In February, Celine Boutier of France and David Law of Scotland each relied on a Pro V1x golf ball to capture their respective women's and men's division honors at the ISPS Handa Vic Open, a unique, mixed gender tournament sponsored jointly by the European Tour, the LPGA, the PGA of Australia and Australian Ladies Professional Golf.
• Also at the ISPS Handa Vic Open, James Nitties, playing the New 2019 Pro V1x golf ball for the first time in competition, fired an opening round 8-under-par 64, which tied the 13th Beach Golf Club course record. The way he did it made history, however, by becoming the first player ever on the European Tour to officially make nine consecutive birdies in one round.
• Pro V1x loyalist Bubba Watson made a splash at the WM Open in Phoenix, becoming the first player to put a new Pro V1x YELLOW golf ball in play on Tour. The results? Several drives over 340 yards in length (including driving the green at the par-4 17th hole) and debut round of 5-under-par 66.
• At the final event on the PGA TOUR’s 2018 calendar, good friends and fellow Titleist Brand Ambassadors Brian Harman and Patton Kizzire captured the QBE Shootout, trusting Titleist golf clubs tee-to-green and the new 2019 Pro V1 and 2019 Pro V1x, respectively.
• In December, at the Australian PGA Championship, Australia's Cameron Smith became the first player to win on the European Tour with the new 2019 Pro V1x golf ball. Smith, the defending champion of the Australian major, also relied on a new TS2 driver and TS2 fairway metal to post a 16-under-par winning total, two shots clear of his nearest rival. In fact, the 23-year-old relied on Titleist clubs tee-to-green in the winning effort, inlcuding 718 T-MB and 718 AP2 irons, Vokey SM7 wedges and a Scotty Cameron Futura 5W putter.
Charles Howell III | New 2019 Pro V1 - RSM Classic
• In November, longtime Titleist golf ball loyalist Charles Howell III ended an 11-year victory drought by winning the RSM Classic, notching the first win on the PGA Tour by a player trusting the New 2019 Pro V1 golf ball. Howell, who was playing the New 2019 Pro V1 for the first time in competition, also relied on 13 Titleist golf clubs, including the new TS3 driver and two TS2 fairway metals. Despite cold and windy conditions in Round 1, Howell got off to a blazing start, firing an 6-under-par 64 on St. Simons Island. The Georgia native hit all 14 fairways and all 18 greens with his new Titleist equipment, to establish a lead he would maintain all the way into play on Sunday.
• In October, one week after Titleist introduced the new 2019 Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls on The PGA TOUR, Tatsunori Nukaga became the first player across the worldwide professional tours to win with the new 2019 Pro V1x golf ball, securing the first victory of his career at the Mitsui VISA Taiheiyo Masters.
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TITLEIST CLUB SUCCESS
Winning every major equipment category – from golf balls to drivers, fairways and hybrids, irons, wedges and putters – is an achievement that had never been accomplished prior to this season on the PGA TOUR.
This week, at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Titleist accomplished it for the ninth time since January, even adding utility irons to the mix.
From week to week, the tournaments staged on the PGA TOUR demand so much of players – length off the tee, precision and shot-shaping, distance control, creativity and finesse – that it speaks volumes when players trust one golf brand across every major equipment category. When they have to put their livelihoods on the line, under the greatest competitive pressure in the game, the majority of players are making the same singular choice – Titleist.
The other events in which Titleist has been the field favorite across every major equipment category include: Travelers Championship, AT&T Byron Nelson, Wells Fargo Championship, Corales Puntacana Championship, Valspar Championship. Honda Classic, Farmers Insurance Open and Sony Open in Hawaii.
Just last week, Titleist achieved another equipment history-making first when it doubled up by also sweeping all seven categories at the Wichita Open on the newly-named Korn Ferry Tour (Web.com). This marked the second time in three weeks that Titleist was the field favorite across all major equipment categories on the Korn Ferry Tour.
For the 22nd time this season, continuing a trend of player trust and validation, Titleist is the #1 choice in the drivercategory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, with 48 Titleist models in play. Of those Titleist drivers, 42 were TS models (TS2 - 8 | TS3 - 30 | TS4 - 4).
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FIRST-TIME WINNERS THIS SEASON
Players who have captured their maiden victories on their respective tours in 2019 include:
Bronte Law | Pro V1x - Pure Silk Classic
- Bronte Law | Pro V1x - Pure Silk Classic
- Ken Tanigawa | Pro V1 Yellow - KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship
- Scottie Scheffler | Pro V1 - Evans Scholars Invitational
- Tomoharu Otsuki | Pro V1 - Kansai Open
- Sung Kang | Pro V1x - AT&T Byron Nelson
- Marcus Kinhult | Pro V1x - Betfred British Masters
- Yosuke Asaji | Pro V1 - Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup
- Peter Cooke | Pro V1x - Papua New Guinea Open
- Robby Shelton| New 2019 Pro V1 - Nashville Golf Open
- Martin Rowher \ Pro V1 - Investec Royal Swazi Open
- Max Homa | New 2019 Pro V1 - Wells Fargo Championship
- Jorge Campillo | New 2019 Pro V1 - Trophee Hassan II
- Xinjun Zhang| New 2019 Pro V1x - Dormie Network Classic
- C.T. Pan | Pro V1x - RBC Heritage
- Corey Conners | Pro V1 - Valero Texas Open
- Sadom Kaewkanjana| New 2019 Pro V1x - Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open
- JC Ritchie | New 2019 Pro V1x - Zanaco Masters
- Dan McCarthy | New 2019 Pro V1- Savannah Golf Championship
- Taihei Sato | New 2019 Pro V1x - Chongqing Championship
- Vince Covello | Pro V1x - Chitimacha Louisiana Open
- Jean-Paul Strydom| New 2019 Pro V1 - Sunshine Tour Championship
- Justin Harding | Pro V1 - Qatar Masters
- Keith Mitchell | Pro V1 - Honda Classic
- Zach Murray | New 2019 Pro V1x - New Zealand Open
- David Law | Pro V1x - ISPS Handa Vic Open
- Celine Boutier | Pro V1x - ISPS Handa Vic Open
- Rafael Campos | Pro V1 - The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic
- Adam Long | Pro V1 - The Desert Classic
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