By E. Michael Johnson
It wasn’t the Duel in the Sun but it was a duel in the sun as Cameron Smith fended off Jon Rahm birdie for birdie over the final nine to not only win the Sentry Tournament of Champions, but set an all-time 72-hole PGA Tour scoring record in relation to par at 34 under par.

Smith and Rahm each birdied Nos. 13 through 15 at Kapalua’s Plantation Course on Sunday, then parred the next two holes before matching birdies at the par-5 18th to give Smith with a one-shot margin of victory.

Without a bogey over his final 52 holes, Smith had many facets of his game working. The 28-year-old ranked second in strokes gained/off-the-tee, picking up more than 3.5 strokes on the field while also ranking fourth in driving distance at 302.6 yards. Smith’s strokes-gained mark was aided nicely by driving the green on the short par-4 14th hole, using his 10-degree Titleist TSi3 driver with a Fujikura Ventus Blue 60x shaft.

Smith also hit 86.1 percent of his greens in regulation. His irons are Titleist’s T100 in an all-black configuration, including the heads and shafts. When the Aussie did miss a green, he got up and down 80 percent of the time with his Titleist Vokey SM9 wedges—a model just recently introduced to the company’s tour staff.

Smith’s ability to get up and down is not only a testament to his short game and putting (he led the field in strokes gained/putting as well as putts per green in regulation) but also his grit.

“I’m a resilient guy,” the now four-time PGA Tour winner told Golf Digest in 2019. “It all stems from these words my dad told me. ‘Some days are diamonds, some days are duck s—.’ When things are going bad, I sometimes recall those words. It’s such a good terminology for golf, which can be so brittle. You wake up one day and can’t miss a shot and then the next day you feel like you’re playing like a 20-handicapper. Things tend to go up and down all the time and sometimes it’s helpful to just remind yourself of that.”

At Kapalua, there was a lot more up than down.

What Cameron Smith had in the bag at the Sentry Tournament of Champions:

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: Titleist TSi3 (Fujikura Ventus Blue 60x), 10 degrees
3-wood: Titleist TSi2, 15 degrees
7-wood: Titleist TS2, 21 degrees
Irons (3): Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi; (5-9): Titleist T100; (PW): Titleist Vokey SM9
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (52, 56, 60 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist 009M

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By E. Michael Johnson
Justin Thomas won the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational with a final-round 65 and with it returned to No. 1 in the world.

Thomas worked his way back to the top spot in golf by capitalising on a strong iron game that saw him rank first in strokes gained/tee-to-green and second in strokes gained/approach-the-green, picking up more than 7.5 strokes on the field with the latter. On Sunday, Thomas made six birdies, four of them coming after approach shots that came to rest inside of 10 feet.

Thomas’ iron set is comprised of Titleist’s 620 MB irons (that replaced the 718 MB’s he had been using) that he uses for his 5-through 9-iron in a split set with the company’s T100 4-iron. The grips are Golf Pride’s Tour Velvet. Thomas’ steady play led to just six bogeys for the week against 19 birdies, with only one bogey in three of the rounds.

Although Thomas was not among the leaders in driving distance (ranked T-44), he did manage to hit over 70 percent of his fairways for the week, primarily using his 9.5-degree Titleist TS3 with a Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX shaft or his TS3 3-wood. Thomas worked with Titleist’s tour team this week on tightening the dispersion in his 3-wood, resulting in a shaft change to Mitsubishi’s Tensei Blue AV Raw 85 from the Tensei Blue CK 80 he had been playing.

What Justin Thomas had in the bag at the WGC-FedEx Invitational:

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: Titleist TS3 (Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60TX), 9.5 degrees
3-wood: Titleist TS3, 15 degrees
5-wood: Titleist 915 Fd, 18 degrees
Irons (4): Titleist T100; (5-9): Titleist 620 MB; (PW): Titleist Vokey SM7
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 (52 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM8 (57, 60 degrees).
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist X5

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By E. Michael Johnson
Justin Thomas followed a solid recipe for winning the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone C.C.’s South Course: hit it far off the tee and then hit a bunch of greens in regulation. In fact, six of the prior 10 winners of the event were in the top-12 in distance and top-10 in greens in regulation. Thomas followed suit, averaging a hefty 329.3 yards per measured drive (ranked 12th) and 75.0 percent of his greens (ranked T-2) to win the last playing of the event at Firestone by four strokes over Kyle Stanley.

Off the tee Thomas uses Titleist’s new TS3 driver, a club he put in play the first week it was on the USGA’s Conforming List of Driver Heads at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock. According to Titleist tour rep JJ VanWezenbeeck, a fitting session with Thomas prior to the Players in May showed the 9.5-degree TS3 gave the reigning PGA champ better ball speeds along with a desirable launch-to-spin ratio. The numbers so good Thomas even gave the drive its own code name, playing off the TS designation. Thomas referred to the driver as “The S**t,” which in golf slang is high praise, indeed. As if further validation was needed, Thomas’ 394-yard blast on the final hole Sunday seemed to verify his code name for the club. Thomas made one modest tweak at the Open Championship, shortening the shaft one-eighth of an inch to help with centering the hit and maximizing control.

Into the greens, Thomas utilises a split set of irons, with Titleist’s A718 P2 serving as his 4-iron while the company’s 718 MB make up the bulk of the remainder of his set. His pitching wedge—as is increasingly the norm on the PGA Tour—matches his other wedges as opposed to his irons, as it is Titleist’s Vokey SM6 model. The 46-degree club has the company’s F grind and 8 degrees of bounce. The grips are Golf Pride’s Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord 58 round with one wrap of two-way tape underneath.

What Justin Thomas had in the bag at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: Titleist TS3 (Mitsubishi Diamana BF 60TX), 9.5 degrees
3-wood: Titleist TS3, 15 degrees
5-wood: Titleist 915Fd, 18 degrees
Irons (4): Titleist AP2; (5-9): Titleist MB; (PW): Titleist Vokey SM6
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM5 (52 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM6 (56, 60 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist X5

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By E. Michael Johnson
Georgia Hall, a 22-year-old from England, made her first win on the LPGA a memorable one as she captured the Ricoh Women’s British Open for not only her first LPGA win, but a major held in her homeland at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

Hall opened with a birdie at the par-3 first and it proved to be a harbinger as she produced six birdies during a final-round 67 that gave her a two-shot win over Pornanong Phatlum. Hall was relentless in her play, opening with 48 straight holes without a bogey before finally making one on the 13th hole in the third round. For the week she made just three against 20 birdies.

Hall hit an impressive 72.2 percent of her greens in regulation with her split set of Callaway Apex 3- and 4-irons (which she added to the bag this week) and her Callaway X Forged 18 5-iron through pitching wedge. Her Callaway Mack Daddy wedges also helped keep her card relatively clean as she was a perfect seven-for-seven in sand saves.

She used her Callaway Rogue fairway wood to reach the par-5 15th in two, setting up a birdie to bring things even with Phatlum, then took the lead alone when she used her Odyssey White Hot RX Rossie putter to roll in a 20-footer for one final birdie at the 16th. The putt brought to mind a comment Hall made after the third round when she said, “I holed a lot of putts, a lot of 20-footers, as well.”

One last one on Sunday gave the home fans something to cheer about.

What Georgia Hall had in the bag at the Ricoh Women’s British Open

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: Callaway Great Big Bertha Epic (Fujikura Evolution), 9 degrees
3-wood: Callaway Rogue, 15 degrees
Irons (3-4): Callaway Apex; (5-PW): Callaway X Forged 18
Wedges: Callaway Mack Daddy 4 (50, 54, 58 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey White Hot RX Rossie

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By E.Michael Johnson
Justin Thomas won the Dell Technologies Championship for his fifth win of the 2016-17 PGA Tour season and in the process became the frontrunner for player of the year.

Although Thomas displayed his usual prowess off the tee (307.8-yard average) and accuracy with his irons (70.83 percent greens in regulation), it was his work on the greens that proved useful at TPC Boston. Using a Scotty Cameron by Titleist Futura X5 mallet that he first put into play at last year’s Barclays, Thomas posted a 1.117 strokes gained/putting mark for the week and a 1.740 on Sunday.

In speaking with Thomas shortly after his win at the PGA Championship, Thomas recounted how he got the putter as a result of a visit to Scotty Cameron’s Studio.

Related: Justin Thomas shows he’s more old-school with his equipment

“Anytime you go to the Studio and work with Scotty, you learn something new every time,” he said. “It’s an unbelievable experience. It’s really fun. You walk out of there with more knowledge than when you go in there. I feel like I leave having something good to work on with my putting and my mechanics. It’s not just looking at different putters. You’re looking at what putters are going to give you the best roll and bring out your best stroke, what’s the right weight. I was struggling a little bit with my stroke last year and I wanted to try something different. I just kind of picked that putter [the mallet-style Futura X5] up and it felt kinda good.

“This was a totally different look for me. I’ve used a Newport 2 style for basically my entire life. I had used a Cameron Fastback model during my year on the Web.com Tour for about 85 percent of the season but other than that it’s been a Newport 2, so it was a completely different look.”

And obviously, a pretty good look at that.

Here’s what’s in the bag of Justin Thomas:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: Titleist 917D2 (Mitsubishi Diamana BF60 TX), 8.5 degrees
3-wood: Titleist 917F2, 15 degrees
5-wood: Titleist 915Fd, 18 degrees
Irons (4): Titleist 716 CB; (5-9): Titleist 718 MB prototype; (PW): Titleist Vokey
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM5 (52, 56 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM6 (60 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist Futura X5

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