-- Team Titleist
FAIRHAVEN, Mass. (June 7, 2011) -- Steve Stricker's Memorial Victory Leads 8-Win Week for Titleist Players Worldwide.
Titleist Brand Ambassador Steve Stricker won The Memorial Tournament while putting on one of the most exciting shotmaking displays of the season.
Over the four rounds at Muirfield Village, Stricker made a hole-in-one, a total of three eagles and a pair of tricky sand-saves down the stretch, trusting his Titleist Pro V1x golf ball and bag of Titleist equipment to a one-shot victory.
It marked Stricker's 10th win of his PGA Tour career as well as one of eight victories for Titleist golf ball players last weekend across the worldwide professional tours, including Pro V1x loyalist Britanny Lincicome's final hole triumph on the LPGA and Pro V1x loyalist Steve Wheatcroft's record-shattering performance on the Nationwide Tour.
Titleist golf ball players have now combined for 66 victories across the worldwide professional tours in 2011, six times the nearest competitor with 11.
A total of 8,222 players have teed up Titleist golf balls in competition this season, more than six times the nearest competitor with 1,289 and more than all competitors combined.
At The Memorial, Stricker was the only player to post four rounds in the 60s, finishing with a 16-under 272 (68-67-69-68) total, one shot ahead of two players including Pro V1x loyalist Brandt Jobe (71-68-69-65).
On Sunday, Stricker carded six birdies over the first nine holes to make the turn in 6-under 30, before closing things out with a short-game clinic on Muirfield's back nine.
On the par-3 12th, he left himself with a treacherous 50-foot bunker shot, but hit his Vokey Design Spin Milled 254•10º (bent to 53•09º) wedge to 11 inches and tapped in for par.
On the par-3 16th, Stricker was faced with another tricky lie in the bunker and was forced to play his shot left of the pin, about 15 feet from hole. Again, Stricker rolled his Pro V1x golf ball into the center of the cup, shaking off the affects a two-hour rain delay midway through the back nine. He rolled in another 7-footer for par on the par-4 17th, giving him a comfortable two-shot cushion heading to No. 18.
"Those couple of key up-and-downs were huge for me on the back side today," Stricker said.
Stricker owned the week's highlight reels. On Friday, he hit his AP2 6-iron on the 186-yard par-3 8th hole (his 17th hole of the day) on a direct line toward the pin; his Pro V1x golf ball dropped onto the putting surface, took two small hops and fell into the hole.
The next day, Stricker made two eagles in his first five holes. On the par-4 second, Stricker used his Vokey Design Spin Milled 254•10º to send his Pro V1x 114 yards and into the cup. At the par-5 fifth, he used his AP2 3-iron to hit his second shot to 7 feet for eagle.
"You look back at all these things that happened throughout the week, the hole-in-one and obviously the eagles and a couple up-and-downs at 12 and 16," said Stricker, 44, "and you really believe that it was your week to win when all those things happen like that."
For the week, Stricker finished T-2 in Fairways Hit (80.4) and fifth in Putts per Green in Regulation (1.633).
Stricker was one of 85 players at the Memorial that trusted a Titleist golf ball for their success, more than eight times the nearest competitor with 10 and more than all competitors combined.
Of the 12 players who finished among the Top 10 and ties at the Memorial, 10 trusted a Titleist golf ball for their success, including Titleist Brand Ambassadors Rory McIlroy (5th, 11-under 277) and Gary Woodland (6th, 10-under 278).
Titleist also was first in iron sets (40); sand, lob and approach wedges (106); and putters (50).
• LPGA: Pro V1x loyalist Brittany Lincicome led a 1-2-3-4 finish for Titleist golf ball players at the Shoprite LPGA Classic, getting-up-and down for birdie on No. 18 for a one-shot victory.
Tied for the lead on the par-5 18th at Seaview's Bay Course, Lincicome pitched her third shot from the tall grass left of the green to 5 feet. She then rolled her Pro V1x golf ball in for birdie, a 5-under 66 and the fourth victory of her LPGA career.
"Everything kind of fell my way," said Lincicome, 25.
Keys to Lincicome's victory? She she played the nine par-5s in 9-under for the week and didn't make anything worse than par over her final 38 holes.
She finished at 11-under 202 (72-64-66), one shot ahead of Pro V1 loyalists Jiyai Shin (66-71-66) and Cristie Kerr (69-65-69). Pro V1x loyalist Catriona Matthew (68-67-69) finished fourth, another shot back.
Titleist was the overwhelming golf ball of choice at the event with 112 players, more than eight times the nearest competitor with 13.
• NATIONWIDE TOUR: Pro V1x loyalist Steve Wheatcroft finished off the most dominating performance in Nationwide Tour history in style, making eagle on the 18th hole at the University of Maryland Golf Course to win the Melwood Prince George's County Open by a Nationwide Tour-record 12 shots.
"I'm absolutely over-the-top ecstatic. I've been out here for five years and never won," he said. "I wanted to make that next step and I wanted to do it in a big way."
Wheatcroft, 33, shot a final-round 7-under 64 to finish at 29-under 255 (66-60-65-64).
In total, he rolled his Pro V1x golf ball in for 31 birdies, including 11 birdies in a bogey-free 11-under 60 in Round 2 in which he needed just 19 putts.
With the win, Wheatcroft also set records for both lowest 72-hole total (255) and largest margin of victory (12), as well as largest 36-hole lead (seven) and the largest 54-hole lead (eight). He also moved to No. 2 on the Nationwide Tour money list.
Wheatcroft was one of 109 players in the field that trusted a Titleist golf ball, more than six times the nearest competitor with 18 and more than all competitors combined.
Titleist also was first in iron sets (41); sand, lob and approach wedges (147); and putters (73).
• CHAMPIONS TOUR: Pro V1 loyalist Bob Gilder rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to claim a one-stroke victory at the Principal Charity Classic.
Gilder, 60, finished the three rounds at Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa, at 14-under 199 (68-66-65), finding the winner's circle for the first time since 2005. It was his 10th Champions Tour victory overall.
"It's just been a long time," Gilder told the Associated Press. "You put in a lot of work as you get older. You kind of wonder if you can do it again."
Titleist was the overwhelming golf ball of choice at the event with 53 players, more than four times the nearest competitor with 13. Titleist also was first in iron sets (22); and wedges (73).
• SUNSHINE TOUR: Titleist Brand Ambassador Justin Harding earned his second-career South African Sunshine Tour, closing with a 2-under 70 at Royal Swazi Spa golf course for a one-shot victory at the Lombard Insurance Classic.
Harding, who finished at 14-under 202 (64-68-70), took the lead for good with a birdie at the par-5 17th, rolling his Pro V1x golf ball in the hole from 6 feet.
"It was hard work out there,” Harding said. “I had a bad start, but I managed to hang in there… I managed to make the one extra putt when I needed it.”
Titleist was the overwhelming golf ball of choice at the event with 56 players, four times the nearest competitor with 14 and more than all competitors combined.
• KOREAN TOUR: Titleist Brand Ambassador SoonSang Hong captured the Subaru Classic for his third-career victory.
Hong finished the week at 8-under 276, two shots ahead of Pro V1 loyalist HyukJae Choi.
Of the 12 players who finished among the top 10 and ties, 8 relied upon Titleist golf balls for their success, including 4 of the the top 5.
Titleist was the most played golf ball at the event with 104 players, more than six times the nearest competitor with 17 and more than all competitors combined.
• JAPAN TOUR: It was a Titleist Pro V1x 1-2-3 finish at the Japan Golf Tour Championship, where Pro V1x loyalist J.B. Park fired a final-round 3-under 68 to earn his first-career win.
Park finished the tournament at 6-under 278 (77-68-65-68) at the West Course at Shishido Hills Country Club., edging fellow Pro V1x loyalist Daisuke Maruyama by one shot. Pro V1x loyalist Brad Kennedy finished third, another two shots back.
The Japan Golf Tour Championship is the second major championship of the year on the Japan Golf Tour. The victory also earned Park a spot in this summer's World Golf Championship event at Firestone.
Titleist was the overwhelming golf ball of choice at the event with 60 players. Titleist also was the top choice in hybrids (44); and sand, lob and approach wedges (103).
• CANADIAN TOUR: Pro V1x loyalist Jose de Jesus Rodriguez won his second-consecutive Canadian Tour event at the Times Colonist Island Savings Open, closing with a bogey-free 4-under 66 for a two-shot victory.
Rodriguez, who won the Mexican PGA Championship last month in a playoff, posted a 13-under-par 267 total at at Uplands Golf Club in Victoria, B.C., playing his final 34 holes of the tournament without a bogey.
"I played extremely well today and it feels great to win this event," said Rodriguez, 30. "This win means so much to me and gets me closer to my dream of playing on the PGA Tour."
• EUROPEAN TOUR: Titleist was the overwhelming golf ball of choice at the event with 96 players, more than four times the nearest competitor with 22 and more than all competitors combined.
• NCAA MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP: Titleist was the overwhelming golf ball of choice at the event with 108 players, more than four times the nearest competitor with 26. Titleist also was first in iron sets (49); sand, lob and approach wedges (153); and putters (58).