Volvo China Open

April 17th, 2009

The European Tour is back in business following a break in the schedule for last week’s Masters Tournament and, whilst the players were focusing on another week of fierce competition at the Volvo China Open, it is fair to say that Angel Cabrera’s triumph at Augusta is very much the talk of the town. Angel’s victory was certainly a hot topic among the Titleist team as it marked a major victory for the recently launched 2009 Pro V1x and the third major championship in succession for a Titleist golf ball following Padraig Harrington’s Open and USPGA Championship wins in 2008. Congratulations Angel!!!!

Following the first few events of the season to be held on European soil the Tour jumped back to Asia for this week’s event in Beijing and next week’s Ballantine’s Championship held on Jeju Island, South Korea. This week’s Volvo China Open maybe missing some of the European Tour’s more recognisable players but, in one of the most cosmopolitan fields of the year, there is still plenty of talent on show including Titleist Ambassadors Paul Waring, Gregory Bourdy, Scott Strange, Carlos Del Moral and Thailand’s Chinnarat Phadungsil. And talent is certainly going to be required to post a winning score around this week’s host course, the Beijing CBD International, which features an array of water hazards which come into play on 17 of the 18 holes!!!

Click here to view the slide show.>

The new 2009 Titleist Pro V1 continues to make news at the event with yet more players making the switch to the new ball. Over 60% of Titleist golf ball loyalists in the field for the Volvo China Open are playing either the new Pro V1 or Pro V1x. This week saw one particularly notable switch as 8-time European Tour Order of Merit winner and 2010 Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie moved into the new 2009 Pro V1x.

With the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle not present at the next two European Tour events the players will now wait until the Open de Espana in two weeks time before making any significant changes to their equipment. That said, the practice days in Beijing saw the players working hard on their games and none were working harder than Titleist ambassador Carlos Del Moral. Coming off the back of a good run of form with top 15 finishes in the past two events, he continues to work hard on his game in search of his maiden European Tour victory. Carlos spent a lot of time working on his putting having received a new Custom Scotty back at the Open de Portugal two weeks ago. We profiled this new putter in our post from the event and, following a successful practice session, it has ousted his usual ‘gamer’ and gone into the bag for this week’s event. At the time of writing Carlos lies tied for 12th on level par and with just 24 putts in round one and 27 in round two the new flatstick seems to be working well.

Another player that has been working hard on their game is Titleist Ambassador Scott Strange. Scott has been back home in Perth, Australia for a few weeks and looked in great shape on the range as he continued to fine tune his swing for the event. The slide show features a great shot of Scott on his downswing and I think we’d all agree that it’s a strong position to give it a rip. Scott’s hard work seems to be paying off as he’s in contention at one under par after his opening two rounds.

That’s all from Beijing but we’ll be back next week with an update from the next week’s Ballantine’s Classic. The European Tour visits some beautiful venues throughout a season and Pinx Golf Club on South Korea’s Jeju Island is certainly one of the best. A mix of stunning topography and another excellent golf course promises to make it another great week on the European Tour.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized