FAIRHAVEN, Mass. (March 19, 2012) -- On the doorstep of golf's major season, Luke Donald and Yani Tseng raised trophies on opposite sides of the country Sunday, both having trusted Pro V1x golf balls to impressive comeback victories.
Donald rallied from three shots back to win the Transitions Championship in a sudden-death playoff, while Tseng leapfrogged the competition with a back-nine 31 to win the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup.
Those performances highlighted a four-win week for Titleist golf ball players around the world, as Pro V1x loyalists Julien Quesne (European Tour) and David Lipsky (Asian Tour) also found the winner's circle.
Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x players have now combined for 30 wins across the worldwide professional tours so far in 2012, six times the nearest competitor with six and more than all competitors combined.
A total of 3,384 players have teed up Titleist golf balls in those same events, more than six times the nearest competitor with 538 and more than all other golf balls combined.
• PGA TOUR: Slowly but surely, Luke Donald crept back to the top of the leader board Sunday in Tampa with a bogey-free 5-under 66 at Innisbrook's Copperheard Course. His 13-under 271 total was matched by three players, including Pro V1 loyalist Robert Garrigus.
On the first hole of the four-man playoff, Donald was faced with a difficult approach shot from the right rough, 159 yards from the pin at the par-4 18th. His Pro V1x launched toward the flag stick, hit the front of the green and stopped 6 feet from the hole.
"I didn't even see the pitchmark but it just must have carried the bunker and rolled up perfectly," said Donald. "That's the hardest green on the course. … Obviously that shot just came out perfectly."
Donald made birdie, while his three competitors made par, to earn his fifth-career PGA Tour victory. He also has won five times on the European Tour.
The round of the day belonged to Titleist Brand Ambassador Scott Piercy, who made a Sunday morning charge with a front-nine 29.
Trusting a Pro V1x golf ball and bag full of Titleist equipment, including a new Scotty Cameron Select GoLo putter, Piercy posted a bogey-free 9-under 62 to get to 12-under 272, one shot out of the playoff.
A total of 91 players relied on Titleist golf balls for their success, more than four times the nearest competitor with 22 and more than all other golf balls combined. Titleist was also No. 1 in sand, lob and approach wedges (122); and putters (55).
• LPGA: Yani Tseng rolled her Pro V1x for five birdies on the back nine Sunday to win for the second time in her last four starts.
On day filled with rain, hail and a few weather delays, Tseng closed with a 4-under 68 for an 18-under 270 total and one-shot comeback victory over two players, including Pro V1x loyalist Na Yeon Choi.
Titleist was the overwhelming golf ball of choice at the event with 91 players, more than seven times the nearest competitor with 12 and more than all competitors combined.
Of the 13 players who tied for 10th place or better, 10 trusted a Titleist golf ball for their success.
Three shots back standing on the 10th tee, Tseng birdied five of the next six holes and jumped to the top of the leader board, her 14th LPGA victory clearly in sight.
"I told myself, we have nine more holes, okay, three shots back. You still have a good chance on the back nine," said Tseng, who played the back nine in 7 under during her opening-round 65.
"Just play like on the first day, try to make birdie every hole. I played 7 under here before, so maybe I can do it again. I played 5 under, so it was pretty close."
Tseng, who captured the Honda LPGA in February, has not finished outside the top-10 in any of the four events she has competed in this season.
• EUROPEAN PGA: Pro V1x loyalist Julien Quesne fired a course-record 8-under par 64 to win the Open de Andalucía Costa del Sol, capping off his first-career European Tour victory with a career-best shot.
At Ahola GC's treacherous par-4 18th, Quesne hit 4-iron and watched his Pro V1x golf ball land 6 feet from the hole. He made the putt for birdie to post a 17-under 271 total, two shots clear of Titleist Brand Ambassador Matteo Manassero. Eduardo De La Riva (Pro V1x) finished another shot back as Titleist Pro V1x players secured the top three positions on the leaderboard.
“I’ve been dreaming about this moment since I was 10," said Quesne, who birdie four of his final five holes Sunday. "From the 15th hole I was asking my caddie to keep an eye on the scores, so I knew that if I holed my putt on 18 I would have a very good chance of winning."
“My four iron on 18 was the best shot I’ve ever hit. I’m very proud that I won shooting a 64, finishing with a birdie on 18, the toughest hole on the course. I will remember this day for the rest of my life."
Quesne was one of 90 players in the field that relied on Titleist golf balls for their success, more than three times the nearest competitor with 23 and more than all other golf balls combined. Titleist was also No. 1 in sand, lob and approach wedges (133).
• ASIAN: David Lipsky claimed his first Asian Tour title by winning the Handa Faldo Cambodian Classic in an all-Pro V1x golf ball playoff with Elmer Salvador.
Lipsky, a 23-year old rookie who won the Asian Tour's Qualifying School in January, won on the first extra hole with a chip-in birdie.
He was seven shots out of the lead going into the final round, but closed with a seven-under-par 65 to force a playoff at 15-under 273.
A total of 92 players trusted Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls for their success, more than three times the nearest competitor with 24 and more than all competitors combined. Titleist was also first in iron sets (40); and sand, lob and approach wedges (126).
