Abraham Ancer Claims His First Win On the PGA TOUR at the St. Jude Invitational

By Zack R., Team Titleist Staff On 9 August 2021 Balls Tour Clubs

PGA TOUR | WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

Abraham Ancer emerged from a three-way playoff at TPC Southwind, rolling his Pro V1 golf ball in for birdie on the second extra hole to claim his first PGA Tour victory.

  • Ancer hit his approach from 148 yards to 6 feet, 1 inch to set up the winning putt.
  • “This means the world to me. This was my dream since I was 10 years old, to win on the PGA TOUR,” said Ancer, who posted four rounds in the 60’s, including a flawless 8-under 62 in Round 2, to make the playoff at 16 under.
  • For the week, Ancer was fourth in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (+8.6), fifth in SG: Approach (+4.4) and sixth in SG: Around the Green (+2.9).
  • He also led the field in Scrambling (85.7%).
  • With the win, the 30-year-old Ancer jumped to No. 11 in the Official World Golf Ranking and No. 12 in the FedEx Cup standings.
  • He now has six top 5’s this season.

ANCER ON PRO V1 PERFORMANCE

“I’ve done quite a bit of testing and I’m just sold,” Ancer said of his Pro V1 golf ball earlier this season at the Valspar Championship. “The ball performs in every aspect of the game. Around the greens, it feels the way it should feel – soft, you can put a lot of spin on it. And then on the longer irons, the spin rates for me are perfect. I can't find that anywhere else. The window the ball takes off of the club – I hit it, I don’t even have to look for it. I know exactly where it's going to be. And that, for me, it’s huge.”

“Consistency, especially in professional golf, your ball has to perform and be consistent. You can’t be hitting your pitching wedge 135 with the same swing and then hit it 140. That’s the difference between a birdie and bogey. For us, that’s the most important thing. And with Pro V1, I know exactly if I make the same swing the ball is going to be flying the number it’s supposed to be flying. So, for me, that’s probably the most important thing.” 

ZALATORIS PUTS PHANTOM X 11 IN PLAY

  • Will Zalatoris put a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 11 tour prototype in play this week at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
  • Zalatoris, who had been working with Scotty Cameron Tour Rep Drew Page to build an arm-lock version of the Phantom X 11, spent time testing the putter following the Open Championship (while recovering from the injury that forced him to WD from Royal St. George’s) and brought it with him this week to Memphis.
  • He put the putter – featuring a prototype black topline for added alignment – in play at TPC Southwind, finishing the week ninth in Strokes Gained: Putting (+3.8).
  • He entered the week ranked 150th in that statistic. 
  • “Players just love the way the 11 sits on the ground,” Page said. “Will’s putter has the same single bend shaft configuration, it’s just longer to accommodate the arm-lock stroke. When you put it down, it doesn’t open, it doesn’t close, it just sets up so easily.”

ZALATORIS, HIGGO ADD NEW T200’S

  • Will Zalatoris also put a NEW T200 3-iron in the bag this week, replacing his U•500 model.
  • During testing, Zalatoris commented that it was easier to launch, and it allowed him to hit a variety of shots. 
  • Said Zalatoris: “It’s just so versatile. I mean, I hit one that I was trying to keep down low and hit it at a five-degree launch and then brought one up to 13. So if we’re playing somewhere and I’ve got to keep something under the wind, I’m able to bring it down low, and if I’m hitting something into a par-5, I’m able to throw it up high and be able to stop it on a green. And that’s exactly what I’m looking for.”
  • Garrick Higgo also moved from a U•500 model to a NEW T200 2-iron, noting he likes the increased launch and forgiveness in T200, according to J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, Titleist’s Director of Player Promotions.

WORLD NO. 14 ADDS U•505

  • The world’s 14th-ranked player, winner of the 2020 Mayakoba Golf Classic, switched to a NEW U•505 3-iron in Memphis after putting a U•500 model in play in Tokyo last week.
  • With the U•505, he liked the increased forgiveness and his ability to draw the ball, Van Wezenbeeck said.

SIMPSON ADJUSTS SETUP, ADDS ANOTHER VOKEY WEDGE

  • Webb Simpson added a fourth wedge to his setup this week, working with Vokey Tour Rep Aaron Dill to dial-in the yardage gaps at the short end of his bag.
  • Simpson has regularly played 54° and 60° Vokey wedges in addition to his 620 MB pitching wedge.
  • This week in Memphis, he replaced his 54° with 52° and 56° Vokeys.
  • To accommodate the new wedge – with the help of J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, Titleist’s Director of Players Promotions – Simpson removed his 620 MB 6-iron, weakened his 5-iron two degrees (moving from 27* to 29*), strengthened his 7-iron 1 degree (from 35* to 34*) and added loft to his hybrid (moving from 24.25* to 25*).
  • His new wedge setup is Vokey SM7 52.08F, 56.14F and SM5 60.06K. 
  • “Webb had a pretty big gap between his MB pitching wedge (47°) and that 54°, which would often force him to throttle back on his pitching wedge or hit hard on the 54°,” Dill said. “This third wedge just tightens all that up and makes it a little bit easier now to let [caddie Paul Tesori] know that if they lay up to certain yardage that’s in that uncomfortable zone between that pitch and sand wedge, now they’ve got a club that fills that gap.”

WORLD NO. 18 SWITCHES TO SCOTTY CAMERON PUTTER

  • The world’s 18th-ranked player, winner of the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, switched to a Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless Tourtype SSS putter at TPC Southwind, moving to the Newport 2-style model from a competitive mallet putter.
  • He tested the putter for the first time Wednesday morning, after seeing Scotty Cameron Tour Rep Drew Page with it on the putting green at TPC Southwind.
  • “He immediately loved how much freedom he had in the stroke, how he was able to release the putter and feel the toe swing, which he hadn’t felt in years,” Page said. “He rolled a bunch of putts, we worked on making sure he was starting the ball online on the left-to-righters and downhill left-to-righters, where someone who’s been playing a face-balanced mallet with a lot of MOI might struggle when switching to a blade, but everything checked out and he was hitting every putt with a bunch of confidence.” 

PGA TOUR | Barracuda Championship

The winner of the Barracuda Championship trusted a Pro V1 golf ball to his first PGA TOUR victory, posting a 50-point total in the modified Stableford scoring event for a five-point victory.

  • The winner, who birdied 18 to finish with a 16-point final round, led a 1-through-12 finish for Titleist golf ball players.

AMATEUR | U.S. Women’s Amateur

Playing a Pro V1 golf ball, the winner of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship posted a 2-and-1 victory in Sunday’s all-Titleist golf ball final to complete an improbable run at Westchester Country Club.

  • The champion, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Kentucky, who had not played any competitive golf since her qualifier on July 8 due to a stress fracture in her ribs, entered the match-play portion as the No. 63 seed after surviving a 12-for-2 playoff in stroke-play qualifying.
  • She is only the third No. 63 seed in history to win a USGA title since seeding began in the mid-1980s.
  • “I touched a club about four, five days before, and doctors didn't even really want me to play in this,” she said. “I was like, I don’t really see myself giving this opportunity up. I qualified – it is what it is. Soon as this is over I’ll probably sit out two or three weeks until the season starts. So I came here not packing enough clothes, golf balls neither, but it’s been great.”

CHAMPION PLAYS FINAL FIVE MATCHES WITH SAME PRO V1

  • The winner of the U.S. Women’s Amateur used the same Titleist Pro V1 golf ball, imprinted with a University of Kentucky logo, to win her final five matches and raise the Robert Cox Trophy.
  • “It was my second ball, I started with one in stroke play, it was really old because it wasn’t new when I started with it, and I didn’t bring enough Wildcat golf balls,” the winner told Golf Channel on Saturday. “I have some Titleist golf balls in my bag but there’s no UK logo, so I just find it’s easier to recognize my ball if there’s a UK logo, so this was the last newest ball I had...”
  • All four of the U.S. Women’s Amateur semifinalists played a Titleist golf ball. 

EUROPEAN TOUR | Hero Open

Titleist Brand Ambassador Grant Forrest birdied his final two holes Sunday in St Andrews to win by one shot and claim his first European Tour victory.

  • Forrest, the 2010 Scottish Boys and 2012 Scottish Amateur champion, closed in 6-under 66 at Fairmont St Andrews to become the first Scotsman to win on home soil since 2012.
  • Forrest – gaming a Pro V1 golf ball and 14 Titleist clubs, including a NEW T200 iron he put in play for the first time this week – made 11 birdies in his third round Saturday to post 62 and tie the lead heading into Round 4.

FORREST SWITCHES TO NEW T200 2-IRON

Grant Forrest put a NEW T200 2-iron in play for the first time this week, replacing his 718 T-MB after working with European Tour Rep Liam McDougall on Wednesday afternoon in St Andrews.

  • According to McDougall, Forrest loved the feel of the NEW T200 and was seeing more consistent flight with a better start line. 

WHAT’S IN GRANT FORREST’S BAG?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TSi3 9.0°
Fairway Metal: TSi3 15.0°
Utility Iron: NEW T200 2-iron
Irons: 620 MB 4-9
Wedges: Vokey Design SM8 46.10F, 50.08F, 54.10S, 60.08M
Putter: Scotty Cameron R&D Proto Concept 1 tour prototype

KORN FERRY TOUR | Utah Championship

Titleist Brand Ambassador Joshua Creel won for the first time on the Korn Ferry Tour, posting a 7-under 64 Sunday for a two-shot victory over three players.

  • Creel, who lost the same tournament in a playoff two years ago, pulled away with four birdies in his final eight holes Sunday, including one on 18, for a final back-nine of 31.
  • He made only one bogey in his final 50 holes.
  • Among the group tying for second were fellow Titleist Brand Ambassadors Peter Uihlein and Hayden Buckley.
  • Buckley closed in a tournament-best 10-under 61. 

CREEL BREAKS THROUGH WITH NEW T-SERIES IRONS

Joshua Creel put NEW T100•S (6-PW) and NEW T200 (4-5) irons in play the first week they were available to him last month at the TPC Colorado Championship.

  • In his breakthrough win this week in Utah, Creel led the field in Greens in Regulation (89%), hitting 17 of 18 greens in both the first and final rounds.

WHAT’S IN JOSHUA CREEL’S BAG?:

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: TSi2 8.0°
Fairway Metal: TSi2 15.0°
Hybrid: 818H2 19.0°
Irons: NEW T200 4-5 and NEW T100•S 6-PW
Wedges: Vokey Design SM8 49°, 53°, WedgeWorks 58° prototype
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 11 tour prototype 

SUNSHINE TOUR | Vodacom Origins of Golf - De Zalze

Titleist Brand Ambassador George Coetzee won the opening tournament of the 2021 Vodacom Origins of Golf Series at De Zalze Golf Estate, closing with a 69 for a three-shot victory.

  • “I’m heading over to the European Tour for about a 10-week trip,” he said. “It’s always nice to get a win on home soil before leaving.” 

WHAT’S IN GEORGE COETZEE’S BAG?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: TSi3 10.0°
Fairway Metal: TSi3 16.5°
Utility Iron: 712U 2-iron
Irons: 620 CB 4-PW
Wedges: Vokey Design SM8 50.08F, 56.08M, 60.04L

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