PGA TOUR | The Masters Tournament

Longtime Pro V1 golf ball player Scottie Scheffler became a Masters champion Sunday, claiming major championship No. 1 in his first-career start as World No. 1.

• Scheffler – who plays a Pro V1 with high play numbers (5-6-7-8) – closed in 1-under 71, ending the week as the only player to shoot all four rounds under par and post double-digits under par (10 under).
• He made 21 birdies over the four days at Augusta National, including consecutive birdies on Nos. 14 and 15 Sunday, posting rounds of 69-67-71-71 to win by three shots.
• It was his second-consecutive victory on the PGA TOUR, following his win two weeks ago at the WGC-Dell Match Play, and fourth in his last six starts, beginning with his breakthrough victory at the WM Phoenix Open in February.
• Only one other player in PGA TOUR history has four wins in a season including a major and World Golf Championship.
• Key to Scheffler’s round was his chip-in for birdie on the par-4 third hole. From 29 yards left of the green, Scheffler chipped his Pro V1 into the top of the steep slope. It hopped two or three times, before hitting the brakes and dropping into the hole.
• “It’s really important to trust your golf ball and know exactly what it’s going to do,” Scheffler said early last year after making his switch to the 2021 Pro V1 model. “Because if I change the shot a little bit, it’s going to skip... maybe three times or I’m going to try and hit it to where it skips six or seven times. And so it’s really important for me to have that trust in the Pro V1 to where I know it’s going to do exactly what I want it to do.”
• “I would say what is most pivotal was getting that ball up-and-down,” Scheffler said of the shot. “To have it go in was obviously off the charts, but my main goal was just to get up-and-down, and see it go in was definitely special.”

SCHEFFLER ON HIS PRO V1

• Scottie Scheffler has played a Pro V1 golf ball in every event he’s teed it up as a member of the PGA TOUR.
• He transitioned to the current Pro V1 model at the beginning of last season in Kapalua.
• Said Scheffler: “I found the new (2021 Pro V1) to be a little bit faster and a little bit softer cover. I was nipping it a little more around the greens, and then I picked up a couple miles per hour with the driver, so it was a good change. The aerodynamics were also better. The ball was more stable in the wind, but I could still put the amount of curve that I needed to put on the golf ball. A lot of times when the wind’s blowing really hard, you’ve got to really hold the ball against the wind as well. So you still need to be able to put some curve on that golf ball and control it with it also being stable in the wind. And I found that the new ball was a little bit better and a little bit more stable.” 

CHAMPION’S KEY CLUB – VOKEY DESIGN K GRIND LOB WEDGE

• The Masters champion played three Vokey Design wedges, including the WedgeWorks 60.06K model he used to make a pivotal birdie on the par-4 3rd Sunday, chipping in from 29 yards left of the green.
• For the week, he finished T-2 in Scrambling (69.6%).
• When asked after the round what he saw as his biggest strength this week, he said: “I had a lot of nice up-and-downs… If I was to pick one part of my game that excelled the most, I would say it was probably my lob wedge. Even today, I had some really good up-and-downs in the beginning of the round and then just kept myself in position.” 
• The Masters champ began making the transition to Vokey wedges from competitive models toward the end of 2020.
• He played a full set of three Vokeys for the first time at the 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, using 60A and 60T grinds for most of that season.
• He asked Vokey Tour Rep Aaron Dill to make him a 60K after trying one being used by the reigning Olympic champion, and put it in play for the first time at the 2021 Tour Championship.
• “He’s been hooked ever since,” Dill said. “He loved how it popped golf balls out of the sand. He loved how when he was in the rough it felt like it was gliding through the grass faster than some of the other wedges he’s used.
• “He sort of traps everything. If you look at how he hits shots, most of his shots are low with a lot of spin. So he has a lot of shaft lean. He’s got a descending blow, but I think for most shots, he just really wants to feel it cut, but also slide at the same time. And with a little bit wider sole, you get that sensation a lot of times. I think that’s really what he’s hoping for is just those two feels.”
• The K grind is among the most popular of all the available Vokey options, especially with amateur golfers who favor its wide, cambered sole, providing maximum forgiveness on greenside shots and out of the bunker.

Masters champ’s wedge setup:

Vokey Design SM8 50.12F, 56.14F and WedgeWorks 60.06K. 

MASTERS CHAMP NOW 4-FOR-6 WITH SCOTTY CAMERON PUTTER

• The Masters champion is now 4-for-6 since switching to his new Scotty Cameron Newport 2-style putter.
• He first put the new Special Select Timeless Tourtype GSS tour prototype model in play at the WM Phoenix Open, where he claimed his maiden PGA TOUR victory while leading the field in putts per green in regulation (1.66) and ranking second for the week in Strokes Gained: Putting (+6.49). 
• This week at the Masters, he finished fifth in putting, averaging 1.53 putts per green in regulation.
• The World No. 1 added the new putter to his bag following a December trip to the Scotty Cameron Putter Studio, where he worked with Scotty Cameron Tour Rep Brad Cloke.
• He had previously been using a Newport-style Super Rat 1 tour prototype. (Newport is the softer, rounder counterpart to the Newport 2.) 
• “He just wanted to switch things up a little bit and give himself a slightly different look heading into 2022,” Cloke said. “Prior to visiting us in the Studio, he’d been messing around with an older Newport 2 Timeless he had at home. He’d added bunch of lead tape to the sole to try and get it to a similar swingweight as his Super Rat. He really liked the profile but the feel wasn’t exactly where he wanted it, so we went to work on building him a new setup with adjustable weighting.”
• He played his first two events of the season with the Newport 2 Timeless tour prototype as he waited for his new Special Select Timeless Tourtype GSS – with a finished length of 36 ¼ inches, and two 25g adjustable weights in the sole – to be ready.
• The new putter arrived at his doorstep the week before the WM Phoenix Open. 
• Sunday’s win also marked the 12th victory for Scotty Cameron putters this season on the PGA TOUR, more than any other brand.

CHAMPION’S PUTTER GETS NEW SHAFT, GRIP

• While the World No. 1 has now won four of his last six events with the same Special Select Timeless Tourtype GSS putter, this week’s Masters-winning version had a new shaft and grip that were installed Wednesday morning on the Titleist Tour Van by Scotty Cameron Tour Rep Drew Page.
• The World No. 1 asked Page to look at the putter first-thing Wednesday morning, having noticed that “it felt off,” according to Page. “I put it in the loft/lie machine and it was significantly off – not by just one degree, but by multiple degrees both ways, which doesn’t happen very often,” Page said. “That’s when I checked the shaft and could see that it was bent.”
• J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, Titleist’s Director of Player Promotions, who Page asked to give it a second look, confirmed there was damage.
• Page texted the news to the World No. 1, and received the go-ahead to replace the shaft along with new Scotty Cameron Dancing Cameron Cord grip. 
• “Getting his swing weight correct can be a bit tricky,” Page said. “But we got everything dialed in, and after a few minutes on the putting green he said everything felt great.” 

PGA TOUR AUSTRALASIA | The National PGA Classic

Derek Ackerman – playing a Titleist golf ball and full bag of Titleist equipment – closed in 4-under 68 for a two-shot victory.

• It was the first professional victory for Ackerman, 25, of San Francisco, who earns a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

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