PGA Glenmuir Club Professional Championship
Each week the European Tour Blog takes you a behind the scenes on the European Tour and gives you the inside scoop on what’s been happening behind the scenes. We will bring you the usual update from this week’s European Tour event, the Open de France ALSTOM, later this week but right now the blog is moving away from the European Tour to go inside the ropes at another major golf event that was held recently in the UK.
The Grand Final of the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship was held recently at the magnificent Dundonald Links, Ayrshire, Scotland. Following eight regional qualifying events played across the UK and Ireland, the tournament saw a field of 159 of the best club professionals tee it up at Dundonald for the Grand Final looking to claim the most prestigious title in the PGA calendar and a healthy first prize of £10,000.
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In support of the event, Titleist sent a team of representatives to Dundonald, along with a mobile workshop, known as the Titleist FittingWorks Vehicle (TFV). The TFV is essentially a scaled down version of the vehicle used by the European Tour team and was on-site to provide the participants at the Club Professional Championship with the same sort of service received by the European Tour pros. As you can imagine, this service proved hugely popular with the players, and our club technicians were kept busy during the Monday practice round with a number of equipment requests. Players in the main visited the TFV for re-shafts, re-grips or to have their lofts and lies checked. But by far the most common request was personalised stamping for their Vokey Design wedges. The stamping service has always been popular out on Tour and it proved just as popular with the club professionals at Dundonald.
Another key aspect of Titleist’s support of the event was to provide balls, gloves and headwear to the participants. Those players choosing to play Titleist were issued with a dozen of the 2009 Pro V1 or Pro V1x and each player was given the option of a Titleist or FootJoy glove for the event. A selection of Tour issue caps and visors were also distributed which were greatly appreciated by the players as the heavens opened and made conditions at this year’s event particularly challenging.
The event itself saw the Dundonald Links stretched out to its full yardage and conditions conspired to create a hugely challenging test for the players. Firm conditions under foot, heavy downpours and blustery winds ensured that the course came out on top with no player in the field able to post a sub-par total for four rounds. The eventual winner was James Lee, head professional from Caerphilly Golf Club, whose four round total of 291 (+3) was enough to claim victory by four strokes. James began the final round at -4 following three excellent rounds, including a stunning opening round 69 (-3). Then, in brutal final round conditions which saw only one player break par, James held his nerve to claim a hard fought victory.
This was a special victory for James, and equally special for Titleist, as he achieved this feat trusting Titleist from tee-to-green. As well as choosing the 2009 Pro V1 ball, James played a full bag of Titleist equipment including the 909 DComp driver, 906F2 fairway metal, AP2 Forged irons, Vokey 200 Series wedges and Titleist Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport 2 putter. We’d like to congratulate James on his victory and wish him the best of luck as he leads out the Great Britain & Ireland PGA Cup team against the United States later this year at The Carrick at Cameron House on Loch Lomond.
It was great to spend some time at the event and witness first hand just how good these guys are. It’s also great to see that in a championship of such magnitude so many of the players choose to play Titleist. Counts from this year’s event revealed that Titleist was again the #1 ball of the club professional with 88.1% of the field choosing to play either the Pro V1 or Pro V1x. Titleist also topped the counts in other equipment categories including drivers (45%), fairways (29.1%), utilities (34.8%), irons (35.8%) and wedges (50.8%)*.
In addition to providing equipment support to the players, the Monday practice round at Dundonald provided Titleist with the opportunity to conduct a photo shoot for an upcoming advertising campaign. The campaign focuses on the strength of the Titleist ball count at the event and features a number of the players that teed it up at Dundonald including the eventual winner, James Lee. The advert will feature in a number of monthly golf publications in the UK so be on the look out for this in forthcoming issues.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this brief hiatus from the European Tour but rest assured that the blog will be back on its usual stamping ground with an update from the Open de France ALSTOM later this week.
* Source: IFM Sports Marketing Surveys Glenmuir Club Professional Championship Survey 2009
Add comment July 1st, 2009
