Austrian Golf Open

September 18th, 2009

First off on the Blog this week we must start with a quick look back to last weeks Mercedes-Benz Championship in Cologne where James Kingston claimed his second European Tour title with a playoff victory over Denmark’s Anders Hansen. James is a long-time Pro V1x loyalist and a quick look through his bag also reveals a healthy smattering of Titleist product including a 906F4 fairway, 909H Hybrid, AP2 irons, Vokey Design Spin Milled sand and lob wedges and a Scotty Cameron putter. We’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate James on an excellent victory.

Following a week in Cologne, Germany the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle has made the journey south-east to the Austrian capital of Vienna where the Fontana Golf Club plays host to the Austrian Golf Open. As at Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof in Cologne last week the Fontana Golf Club is dominated by water. The dreaded drink is in play on 10 of the 18 holes meaning that accuracy is paramount to any player looking to contend this week.

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As mentioned in last weeks Blog the players are now starting to take delivery of new Vokey Design C-C (Condition of Competition) wedges which conform to the new R&A groove rulings due to come into force on the European Tour in 2010. It is critical for the players to have access to the new wedges well in advance of the 2010 deadline to allow for thorough testing during the off-season and hopefully a smooth transition into the new grooves. For the most part players will continue to play their Spin Milled wedges in European Tour competition right up to the January 1st deadline. There is however one exception. Titleist Ambassador Scott Strange has bucked this trend by putting the new C-C wedges straight in the bag. Scott hasn’t got any worries over his playing privileges for 2010 and believes that putting the new C-C wedges in play ahead of time will give him a distinct advantage come the turn of the year. Scott’s wedges made their debut in Cologne last week and the early signs are very encouraging as he posted a highly creditable top-25 finish with a scrambling percentage of 67% and a sand save percentage of 60%. It will certainly be interesting to see how Scott’s short game statistics stack up in the coming weeks and this should give us an early insight into how big an impact the new groove ruling is likely to have on the players next year. Watch this space!!!

Titleist Ambassador Michael Hoey is fast becoming a regular on the Tour Blog as he looks to fine tune his equipment. Michael has recently switched to the new Titleist MB irons and last week placed an order for a new Kombi Long putter and Spin Milled Vokey. This week in Vienna Michael was back working with the Tour Team on a new 909 fairway metal. Michael was looking for a #3 wood that would carry around 260 yards (aren’t we all!!) in order to fill a yardage gap between his hybrid at 230 yards and driver at 290-300 yards. Titleist Tour Representative Mattias Jelver set to work assessing Michael’s requirements versus his current “gamer” and, after trying a couple of different loft and shaft combinations, found the appropriate specification. Michael took away a 909F2 13.5° fitted with the Fujikura Rombax 7Z08, X-Flex shaft and having tried it during his practice round the current gamer was ousted and the new weapon is in the bag for the event.

Alongside a new fairway wood for Michael Hoey two other Titleist Ambassadors also checked in with the team to work on their driver setups – namely Brett Rumford and Pablo Larrazabal.

Brett was keen to work with Mattias as he has been struggling with his driver of late. Shots have been missed both left and right whilst Brett also felt he was developing a little too much spin. Following a session with the Trackman launch monitor Brett’s observations were confirmed with the data clearly indicating excessive spin from his current driver, particularly on mishit shots. Following some successful fittings in recent weeks with the new Aldila RIP shaft Mattias decided to try this with Brett in order to provide some extra tip stability. A 70 gram, X-flex version of the shaft was fitted to a 909D2 9.5° head identical to that of his current driver. The reaction from Brett was hugely positive and he loved the feel of the shaft with the D2 head. It was certainly going well in practice and the new big dog is getting its first taste of tournament action in this week’s event.

Pablo Larrazabal was also keen to try some new driver options in Vienna this week. Pablo is well known for his aggressive approach to the game and he certainly doesn’t hold back with the driver meaning that he benefits from a shaft with a strong, stable tip section. He felt that his current 909D2 9.5° fitted with a Grafalloy Comp NT 85, X-flex shaft was lacking a little consistency and was therefore keen to try some new shaft options in an attempt to tighten up his shot dispersion. There was no shortage of high quality shaft options to choose from for Pablo but again the Aldila RIP won the day, this time the 80 gram, X-flex version of the shaft. Pablo was certainly happy with the new specification on the range and Mattias was pleased to report that Pablo hit every fairway in his first 9-holes during his Tuesday afternoon practice session.

It’s interesting to see how certain shafts become a popular fit among the players and the new Aldila RIP in conjunction with the 909 driver heads certainly seems to be a combination that is working well on Tour. We’re expecting interest in the RIP shaft to continue as its reputation as an excellent compliment to the 909 driver heads spreads around the players.

With the second round well underway in Vienna at the time of writing a number of Titleist Ambassadors are well in contention for a strong finish over the weekend. The highest placed is currently Soren Hansen who, after two top-ten finishes in his last two events including a third place finish in Cologne last week, will be looking to contend for the title. Back-to-back rounds of 67 (-4) to start the week certainly have Soren in strong position, currently in a tie for fourth. Soren is in good company with a number of other Titleist players occupying spots inside the top-30, including Sweden’s Martin Erlandsson, Australian Brett Rumford and Englishman Seve Benson. We wish our boys well for the weekend.

For now, It’s goodnight Vienna for the Tour Blog but don’t forget, if you have any questions regarding life on Tour or you simply want to comment on anything written in the Blog you can post these in the comments section below. We’re keen to give the people what they want so any input from our regular readers is always welcome.

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