Archive for February, 2009
With the majority of attention fixed on the high profile WGC Accenture Match Play in the US, the European Tour arrived at probably the most idyllic venue of the season – the New Kuta Golf Club in Bali, Indonesia.
Competitors at the Enjoy Jakarta Indonesia Open will have pulled up at the imposing entrance to the 7,500 yard, par 72 course with high hopes of making an impact on tour and the money list. Feedback from the Titleist Tour Team is that humidity is high, potentially affecting ball flight and certainly making the long grass in the fairways damp. They also warn that any straying from the fairway leaves players deep in “serious jungle”!!!
Enjoy these pictures from New Kuta Golf Club in Bali, Indonesia.
The entrance to the New Kuta Golf Club.
Titleist ball loyalists Steve Webster and Jamie Donaldson have certainly adapted quickly to the conditions – Steve firing back-to-back 69s for a -6 total to lead by one at halfway from Jamie (68 & 71) and two others.
Seve Benson continues to show why there are high hopes for him on tour. The Titleist Ambassador is just five off the lead at -1 after 36 holes – he has had a long chat with the Titleist Tour Team this week and has booked an appointment with the club rep at the Open de Anadalucia. This will be to check his lofts, lies and spin rates and to test drivers and fairways in conjunction with the new 2009 Titleist Pro V1 golf balls.
Another Titleist staffer, Chinnarat Phadungsil has got off to a strong start with rounds of 70 and 71 to get to -3. Chinnarat is using his experience of the more grainy greens in South East Asia to put himself firmly in contention. Let’s hope he pushes on from here!
Fellow Titleist Ambassadors Scott Strange and Brett Rumford are also just five back from the lead and will be looking to push on over the weekend – both have made the hop from their trip home to the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth last week. Brett has been working hard on the range as usual, so look out for him over the coming weeks! Ever popular with the crowds, Brett even took time out to give some of the spectators a short game lesson!
The European Tour has a couple of weeks off following Bali, giving players some more time to make fine tuning adjustments to their bags after their early season experiences! The Titleist Tour Team will be back on hand to bring you more inside the ropes updates on what’s hot and what’s not on the European Tour at the Madeira Islands Open BPI on 19 March.
In the meantime, you can get more insight on the Titleist’s TourBlog in the US, covering events at this week’s WGC Accenture Match Play and the WGC CA Championship at Doral starting on 12 March.
February 27th, 2009
After a four year gap this week’s Johnnie Walker Classic returns to Perth, Western Australia and The Vines Golf & Country Club. The Vines is a first class resort situated about 25km North East of Perth in the Swan Valley. This region of Western Australia is one of the country’s largest producers of fine wine and I’m sure this week’s winner will put a little of the 235,000 euro first prize towards a few bottles.
The course is not overly long at just over 7000 yards but is protected by huge undulating greens which can become incredibly quick and the local trade wind know as “The Fremantle Doctor” generally blows early in the afternoon and makes club selection very tough. As was the case last week in Malaysia The Vines resort plays host to some truly spectacular wildlife. No round is complete without a close encounter with one of the local kangaroos.
Click here to check out the photo gallery
The Johnnie Walker classic is Tri-sanctioned between the European, Asian and Australasian Tours and is a marquee event in the schedule of the PGA Tour Australasia. Bringing the three Tours together creates a strong and diverse field and the Australian players are relishing the opportunity to go up against some of the European Tour’s big guns, not to mention two particularly high profile names from the USPGA Tour in Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim.
As you’d expect, this week’s field features a very strong Aussie contingent with Titleist ambassadors Peter O’Malley, Scott Strange and Brett Rumford all flying the flag for their home nation. Alongside the more established names is a crop of up and coming talent looking to make their mark on the big stage. One such player is Titleist Ambassador Richie Gallichan. Richie is currently lying inside the top 50 on the Australasian Tour Order of Merit and is looking to make further progress up the rankings over the coming months. Richie spent time this week working on a new Driver with Titleist Technician Brook Salmon. Richie was looking for a slightly higher ball flight from his driver and after a Trackman fitting session with Brook had found just the club. Richie’s weapon of choice is the new Titleist 909 DComp, 9.5° fitted with the Mitsubishi Diamana White Board shaft. The higher launch and spin characteristics of the 909 DComp club-head combined with the stability of the Diamana shaft gave Richie the ball flight he was looking for and the new stick seemed to be in fine working order during his opening round of 69 (-3). Sadly, a second round 74 (+2) saw Richie narrowly miss the cut but we will be watching him with interest over the coming months.
Below is a summary of Richie’s equipment and you can take a closer look in this week’s slideshow.
Richie’s Bag:
> 909 DComp, 9.5°, Mitsubishi Diamana White Board
> 906F2, 15°, UST Proforce V2
> Titleist ZB Irons, 3-PW, True Temper Rifle
> Vokey Tour Chrome Spin Milled 50°, 54° & 60°
> Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport 2
It’s great to see the Titleist Golf Ball loyalist Camilo Villegas making another start on the European Tour. The charismatic Colombian, now number 9 in the Official World Golf Rankings, will play at least 12 European Tour events this season as part of a global 2009 schedule. Camilo’s swash buckling style of play makes him a real draw for the galleries but unfortunately a rare missed cut has given the Australian public only the briefest look at one of the game’s most entertaining players. However, armed with the all new Titleist Pro V1, we fully expect Camilo to be back on form and contending for titles in the coming weeks.
Next week sees the world’s top 64 players head out to Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain, USA for the WGC World Match Play event. A number of Titleist ambassadors such as Robert Karlsson, Adam Scott and Martin Kaymer will be in the hunt for one of golf’s most prestigious prizes alongside fellow Titleist ambassador Rory McIlroy. Rory will be playing in a WGC event for the first time following his meteoric rise up the world rankings over the past 12 months. Rory is no stranger to match play having played in the Walker Cup as an amateur and, with a 2009 European Tour stroke average of 68.55, his credentials as a potential winner of the event are very much apparent. With such strong representation from our Titleist ambassadors, not to mention the return of world #1 Tiger Woods after injury, all eyes will be on Dove Mountain for what promises to be a fascinating event.
Those players outside of the world’s top 64 will be moving onto Bali for the Enjoy Jakarta Indonesia Open. The absence of the world’s top 64 gives a real opportunity to those players in the field and Titleist will be strongly represented by the likes of Mikko Ilonen, Brett Rumford, Robert Dinwiddie and Scott Strange. The Tour team will be on site at New Kuta Golf Club for another week of fierce European Tour competition.
February 20th, 2009
Following a week-long hiatus, the European Tour is back in full swing this week at the Maybank Malaysian Open. This week’s venue is Saujana Golf Club located on the outskirts of the bustling city of Kuala Lumpur. Following three events on the desert courses of the Middle-East, the rolling parkland-style layout at Saujana offers a very different test for the players. Alongside the typical hazards of a parkland course, Saujana is also home to a variety of venomous snakes, not to mention monkeys with a penchant for robbery – added incentive to find the fairway if ever it was needed!!!
Click here for this weeks photo gallery
Australian Titleist ambassador Scott Strange was in town this week and spent some of his practice time catching up with the Titleist Team. The 2008 Wales Open Champion has had a mixed bag of results this season and was looking to test some new equipment ahead of the Johnnie Walker Classic back in his homeland next week. After some work with the new 909 drivers, Scott took a 909D2 out for the Pro-Am. A combination of more distance and improved consistency saw the driver go straight into the bag for this week’s event. Unfortunately, Scott missed the cut, but, having hit over 70% of his fairways at an average distance of well over 290yards, he will undoubtedly draw positives from his driver game and look for better results in upcoming events.
Another player touching base with the Titleist team was Englishman Robert Dinwiddie. Robert took advantage of the break last week to visit club technician, Karl Arthur at the Titleist Tour workshop based in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, UK. Karl spent time checking and fine tuning Robert’s equipment in preparation for the coming stretch of tournaments in Asia and Australasia. In addition to these checks, a new 909F3 fairway was built for Robert with a Fujikura Pro 95 X-Flex shaft following successful testing of the club in recent weeks. Robert was looking for a stronger flight from his fairway and the combination of the deeper face 909F3 head, low loft and heavy weight Fujikura shaft delivered just that.
One of the more amusing moments of the week came courtesy of Titleist ambassador Gregory Bourdy. An emergency call was made to the UK based Tour workshop prior to the team leaving for Kuala Lumpur after the Frenchman somehow bent his AP2 4-Iron. Of course, a new one was assembled and delivered to Gregory prior to the start of this week’s event, but the big question was how the original club came to be damaged. When questioned, Gregory simply smiled and said he had placed the club gently back in his bag but his caddy’s demeanor suggested otherwise. Gregory simply laughed it off, checked the new one and said it was perfect!!!
Young Titleist staffer Chinnarat Phadungsil from Thailand is another player making a change to his equipment. Phadungsil will be a new name to many but, having gained his European Tour card at Q-school in late 2008, is definitely one to watch. Chinnarat is well know on the Asian Tour and became its youngest ever winner in 2005 at just 17 years of age. With the Titleist Team on hand in Malaysia this week Chinnarat took the opportunity to order a new 909F3 fairway (15°, Fujikura Rombax 7Z08 X-Flex) and 909H hybrid (19°, Aldila VS Proto 80 X-Flex) and will be taking these out to test on his return to Bangkok.
Next week the Tour heads down under for the Johnnie Walker Classic at the The Vines Resort & Country Club in Perth. The Vines is widely regarded as one of the finest golf resorts in Australia and will offer both a beautiful setting, as well as a fine test of golf. The event will be a rare opportunity to see charismatic Colombian, and Titleist ball loyalist, Camilo Villegas on the European Tour and he is sure to be among the favourites going into the event. Keep it locked to the Tour Blog for updates from inside the ropes from the event.
February 13th, 2009
Titleist Brand Ambassador Rory McIlroy captured his first professional title in wire-to-wire fashion at the Dubai Desert Classic. The 19-year-old North Irishman shot a final round 2-under 70 for a 19-under 269 total and a one-stroke victory.
It was another strong week for Titleist equipment players on the European Tour, with Brand Ambassadors Robert Karlsson and Martin Kaymer continuing their solid starts to the 2009 season with matching fourth place finishes, three shots behind McIlroy.
The win elevates McIlroy to 16th in the Official World Golf Ranking, and makes him the seventh youngest winner in European Tour history.
Titleist was the most played golf ball at the Dubai Desert Classic with 68 players, almost triple that of the nearest competitor (25).
Here’s what Rory had in the bag in Dubai:
February 4th, 2009
