Nelly Korda Goes Back-to-Back to Capture Her First Major Championship

By Zack R., Team Titleist Staff On 28 June 2021 Balls Tour Clubs

LPGA | KPMG Women’s PGA Championship

Titleist Brand Ambassador Nelly Korda lifted her first major championship trophy Sunday at Atlanta Athletic Club, making two eagles in a closing 4-under 68 that earned her a three-shot victory, moving her to No. 1 in the World Ranking for the first time.

  • Korda – playing a NEW Pro V1 golf ball, TSi1 driver, TSi2 fairways, T100 irons, Vokey Design SM8 wedges and Scotty Cameron Special Select Squareback 2 putter – tied the tournament scoring record at 19 under, including a second-round 63 (featuring a back-nine 29) that matched the lowest round ever shot at a Women’s PGA.
  • The win was Korda’s second in consecutive weeks – following her two-shot victory at the Meijer LPGA Classic, featuring a career-best 62 in Round 3 – and third overall this season, two more than anyone else on tour.
  • Over those two wins, eight rounds and 144 holes, Korda has hit 120 greens in regulation, making 47 birdies and four eagles while finishing a combined 44 under par.
  • In 11 LPGA starts this year, Korda has eight top-10’s, six top-5’s, three wins and a major.
  • Korda, who led a 1-through-8 finish for Titleist golf ball players, was the 11th-consecutive player to win on the LPGA playing a Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball.
  • Fourteen of the 15 events played this season have been won by Titleist golf ball players.

WHAT’S IN NELLY KORDA’S BAG?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TSi1 10.0° | Graphite Design Tour AD IZ 6 S
Fairway Metals: TSi2 16.5°, 21° | Fujikura Ventus Red 70 S and Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw Blue 75 S respectively
Irons: T100 (5-PW) | Aerotech SteelFiber i80cw F4
Wedges: Vokey Design SM8 50.08F, 54.10S, 58.08M | Aerotech SteelFiber i95cw S
Putter: Scotty Cameron Special Select Squareback 2 tour prototype

KORDA 2-FOR-2 WITH SQUAREBACK 2

Nelly Korda switched to a Scotty Cameron Special Select Squareback 2 model before the Meijer LPGA Classic, having won all four of her previous LPGA titles with the same Scotty Cameron Prototype Select Concept 2 tour prototype, a Newport 2 style head with a GSS insert.

  • Korda has always preferred the look of Scotty Cameron blades and has used a blade-style putter most of her career but, according to the Scotty Cameron Tour Department, she was looking for a change that could offer a different feel and help provide better distance control.
  • For players that gravitate to a blade but want to look down at a more confidence-inspiring shape, the Squareback 2 offers the best of both those worlds.
  • It sets up like Korda’s blade models of the past but is larger front-to-back so it provides a slightly more forgiving look.
  • The head is milled from a block of 303 stainless steel, and given a mid-milled face pattern, that delivers consistent sound and soft feel.

KORDA’S PRO V1

Korda switched to the 2021 Pro V1 golf ball at The Gainbridge LPGA in late February, where she was the only player to shoot all four rounds in the 60’s en route to a three-shot victory at Lake Nona.

  • “Nelly immediately felt like new Pro V1 was coming off the face a little faster and giving her the slightly higher flight and lower spin that she’d been wanting to see in the long game,” said Jeff Beyers of Titleist Golf Ball R&D. “She was also testing a new driver and loved the performance and numbers she was seeing from that combination.”

KORDA’S TSi1 DRIVER

At The Gainbridge LPGA, Korda became the first player on major professional tour to play and win with a TSi1 (or prior generation TS1) driver model.

  • Korda, who plays a TSi1 10.0° (Graphite Design Tour AD IZ 6), now has three wins with the ultra-lightweight, high-launching model.
  • Korda put TSi1 in play following a trip to the Titleist Performance Institute in early 2021.
  • “She loved the shape of the TSi1 and was swinging it with a lot of confidence,” said J.J. VanWezenbeeck, Titleist’s Director of Players Promotions. “Initially, we were very close with TSi2 and she was gaining up to 5mph additional ball speed. But she has a slight tendency to miss on the heel and Stephanie Luttrell (Titleist’s Director of Metalwood Product Development) suggested the TSi1 head – with its CG properties being closer to face center – could help improve strike location and provide the extra forgiveness she needed on those swings. TSi1 was never going to be the obvious choice with her 150mph ball speed, but in going through the fitting process we were able test all of the options and determine the optimal setup that is getting her 10-15 additional yards with better accuracy.”

PGA TOUR | Travelers Championship

Harris English birdied the eighth hole of an all-Titleist Pro V1 playoff to earn his second PGA TOUR victory of the season and fourth title of his career.

  • English, who started off 2021 with a playoff win at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, and earned his best finish in a major (3rd) at last week’s U.S. Open, outlasted Kramer Hickock in the tournament’s longest-ever playoff (and second-longest playoff in PGA TOUR history).
  • English closed in 5-under 67, rolling his Pro V1 in from 28 feet for birdie on TPC River Highlands’ 18th green to finish the week at 13 under par.
  • Hickock also birdied the 72nd hole, sinking an 8-footer to force the playoff.
  • Over the first 72 holes, English hit 75% (54 of 72) greens in regulation, finished eighth in Strokes Gained: Around the Green (+2.863) and T4 in Scrambling (78%) and was a perfect 4-for-4 in sand saves.

ENGLISH ON HIS PRO V1

“(With Pro V1) I feel like I can hit the spinny chip, the one-hop-and-stop grab, and then I can take a pitching wedge and bump and run. I feel like I can hit every shot around the green that is called for out on the PGA TOUR, and I like the trajectory of it coming out lower." 

“I have total trust in the golf ball that I’m playing. With the Pro V1, I mean, I’ve practiced with it every day. I have Pro V1’s back home at Sea Island that I hit balls with, that I chip and putt with. I have 100 percent confidence in the ball that I know it’s all on me, I have to execute. In those key moments coming down the stretch on the back nine, trying to win a tournament, I have total confidence in my golf ball to where it’s not even on my mind if the golf ball is going to perform. I know if I do my part, if I execute, if I see the shot and can hit the shot, I know the ball is going to perform just how I think it should and be super consistent. And that's what I think Titleist and the Pro V1 in general is best at is consistency." 

RUNNER-UP PLAYS TSi METALS, VOKEY WEDGES, PHANTOM X PUTTER

The runner-up at The Travelers Championship, who earned his best-career finish on the PGA TOUR, played a Titleist TSi3 9.0° driver (Fujikura Atmos Black 6 X) and TSi2 21.0° hybrid (Graphite Design Tour AD IZ 85 Hybrid X), Vokey Design SM8 52.08F (@51), 56.10S (@55) and WedgeWorks 60.06K wedges (True Temper Dynamic Gold S400) and a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 6 putter.

  • For the week, he finished fifth in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+4.307), hitting 84% (47of 56) greens in regulation, and second in Strokes Gained: Putting (+7.508).

NEW TITLEIST IRONS DEBUT ON PGA TOUR

The Travelers Championship marked the start of the tour seeding and validation process for the NEW Titleist T-Series T100, T100•S, and U•505 utility iron, with the NEW T200 models expected to join the family on tour in the coming weeks.

  • This week in Hartford, six players put new models immediately in play, including Cameron Smith (NEW T100 5-9 irons) and Hank Lebioda (NEW T100 5-9 irons), who posted his best finish of 2021 (T5).
  • The process continues this week, and in the coming weeks and months, across the worldwide professional tours. 

EUROPEAN TOUR | BMW International Open

Viktor Hovland – playing a 2021 Titleist Pro V1 golf ball – earned his first European Tour title with a two-shot victory in Germany.

  • Hovland, who shot an 8-under 64 in Saturday’s third round, closed out the victory with a 72nd hole-birdie, posting a 2-under 70 to finish at 19 under.
  • Hovland is the first Norwegian winner in European Tour history, having already earned same distinction on the PGA TOUR.
  • With the win, Hovland moved to No. 13 in the World Ranking.

HOVLAND’S SWITCH TO 2021 PRO V1

Viktor Hovland teed up the 2021 Pro V1 golf ball for the first time in late April at the Zurich Classic.

  • He decided to make the switch after using the ball on the range and during short-game practice at TOUR events, having noticed faster ball speeds with the driver and more control into and around the green.
  • Said Hovland: “I think around the greens, I was able to get more spin, which is huge when you’re playing greens that are firm and fast. I don’t care how high you are launching it, you need spin to get the ball to stop. So, that was a big thing. But then as well with the driver, I started to notice the ball speeds were a little higher, and it wasn’t like it was just coming off hotter with more spin. It was faster and, if anything, maybe spinning a hair less with the driver. So overall, I picked up a couple of extra yards, which is nice. And then with the longer irons going into greens, I didn’t feel like it was under spinning or anything. It still maintained that very similar look as what I’ve been used to. So I thought it was great.”
  • “At the end of the day, you need to hit the shot. But it helps when you have a ball that can optimize what you’re doing. If you can put the same swing and get another extra couple of yards off the tee, that’s huge because you literally just got better like that.”

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS | SENIOR PLAYERS Championship

Playing a Pro V1x golf ball, U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker closed in even-par 70 to secure a six-shot victory and his third senior major championship.

  • Stricker – who opened with a tournament-best 7-under 63 –  finished sixth or better in Driving Distance (6th), Driving Accuracy (T6), Scrambling (2nd), Greens in Regulation (T3), and Putts Per GIR (6th) en route to his second victory of 2021.

KORN FERRY TOUR | Live And Work In Maine Open

Titleist was the most played golf ball with 71% of the field trusting either a Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball model.

  • TSi drivers continue to be the field favorite with all 46 Titleist drivers in play being a TSi2, TSi3 or TSi4 model.
  • More players chose Titleist irons than any other brand, with T100 being the most popular model in play with 21.
  • Half of the wedges in play (227) were Vokey Design wedges.

PGA TOUR Latinoamérica | Banco del Pacifico Open

After starting the day trailing by six shots, Conner Godsey – playing a Pro V1x Left Dash golf ball, TSi2 driver and full bag of Titleist equipment – birdied the first hole of a playoff to earn his first PGA TOUR Latinoamérica victory.

  • Godsey, who closed in a Sunday-best 7-under 65 to make the playoff, hit his T100 pitching wedge to 10 feet on the first hole of sudden-death and rolled in the birdie putt for the win.

WHAT’S IN CONNER GODSEY’S BAG?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash
Driver: TSi2 9.0
Fairway Metal: TSi3 15.0°
Hybrid: 816 H2 19.0°
Utility Iron: U•500 (4) utility;
Irons: T100 (5-PW)
Wedges: Vokey Design SM8 (52°, 56°, 60°) wedges
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport 2 tour prototype putter

FORME TOUR | L&J Golf Championship

Samuel Saunders became the first winner on the Forme Tour, claiming the tour’s inaugural event in an all-Titleist golf ball playoff.

  • Saunders, who closed in 5-under 67 to finish the week at 16 under, rolled his Pro V1 golf ball in for par from 6 feet on the first extra hole to top Trevor Werbylo (Pro V1x), who was making his professional debut.
  • Werbylo posted a final-round 66 to make the playoff. 

FORME TOUR BEGINS

The Forme Tour was created for current PGA TOUR Canada members as a result of restrictions and other COVID-19-related issues at the U.S.-Canadian border.

  • For 2021, PGA TOUR Canada members will be given access to the Forme Tour, allowing them the ability to compete in a series of U.S.-based events between June and September.
  • The Forme Tour will continue to provide Official World Golf Ranking points and is planning an eight-tournament schedule played during the summer.
  • The top-five points earners earn 2021-22 Korn Ferry Tour membership along with others advancing to the second and final stages of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament.

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