PGA TOUR | Sony Open in Hawaii

Nick Taylor came up clutch once again with his Pro V1x golf ball on Sunday, closing out his fifth PGA TOUR victory with an eagle-birdie-birdie finish.

• Two shots off the lead playing the 72nd hole, Taylor chipped his Pro V1x in from 59 feet for eagle on Waialae’s par-5 18th to finish regulation at 16 under and force a playoff.
• He birdied the 18th twice in extra holes, getting up-and-down both times to close out the title.
• Over the four days in Honolulu, he made 21 birdies and an eagle (including his two playoff birdies), closing out the week with a pair of 5-under 65’s.
• He was in total control of his golf ball, leading the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (+8.232), with more than 5 ½ of those shots coming from his approach play (+5.853, 4th). He also ranked 4th in Greens in Regulation percentage (61/74, 82%) and gained 1.511 strokes on the field around the greens (17th). 
• Taylor’s last three PGA TOUR wins have now been won in a playoff, playing those combined eight playoff holes in 7 under par.
• Last season, Taylor won the WM Phoenix Open after forcing a playoff with a 72nd hole-birdie and then playing the two extra holes in birdie-birdie.

WHY NICK TAYLOR PLAYS PRO V1x

• “The windows, we talk about flight windows, but also spin windows. Like any golfer, you want predictability not only on your good shots, but your slight mishits and misses. The windows of my spin are super tight. The flight windows that you want – the low ones, if it's a knockdown shot or into the wind, or the high ones with certain shots you might need to get to a pin or not – when I look up, I see it in the window that I’ve imagined when I was trying to hit it, so that’s super important.”
• “I have so much confidence in the Titleist golf ball. When you’re in trouble and you have to hit through a 3 foot by 3 foot circle in a tree, that’s when you have the confidence in the back of your mind that, you know, I envision this with a 7-iron and you think it’s going to come out of that window – that’s telling in itself right there. It’s nice to have the windows, when you’re on a tee box with nothing in the way, but when you get in trouble, which we do on occasion, it’s important to have that confidence.”
• “To me (with Pro V1x) it’s a soft but clicky feel. It’s obviously two opposites there, but it gives me the variety of clickiness with the wedges that I feel like it’s getting the spin, but also with the really short shots I have the soft feel. And then with the irons and the woods, obviously it comes off kind of somewhere in the middle there. So the feel is important. It gives you confidence when it comes off the face.”

HOW NICK TAYLOR MARKS HIS PRO V1x

• “I’ve always used blue for a long time. I put a C and an H by the numbers on both sides. C is for Charlie, it’s my son, and Harper's my daughter. I used to do a circle, abbreviated to a C when my son was born, and then did the C-H when she was born.
• (On why he marks his ball with a straight blue alignment line) “I use this to line up on 99 percent of my putts. I’ve used this line on really any putt from distance, 3 feet all the way up to 72 feet like the Canadian Open. Again, it gives me a general area of where I’m trying to aim, gets me tighter and it gets me just focused on speed. I feel like once I have the line down, I’m not really considered or worried about where I’m aiming, so I use a line in all putts.”

TEN MORE PLAYERS MAKE MOVE TO 2025 PRO V1 AND PRO V1x 

• On Monday in Hawaii, Kevin Streelman played 2025 Pro V1x for the first time in competition, posting a 7-under 65 at Kapolei Golf Club to earn one of the four spots available in the Sony Open’s Monday qualifier. 
• On Thursday at Waialae Country Club, Streelman was one of 10 players who teed up 2025 Pro V1 and Pro V1x for the first time on the PGA TOUR.
• That list included Gary Woodland, who led the field in SG: Off the Tee (+4.289) with his NEW Pro V1, and Mac Meissner who gained more than six shots (+6.043/2nd) on approach with his NEW Pro V1x.
• Ludvig Åberg, Wyndham Clark and Will Zalatoris were among seven players who gamed ‘25 models for the first time last week at The Sentry.
• More than 60 players have now teed up 2025 Pro V1 and Pro V1x on the PGA TOUR since they debuted last fall.
• In total, 105 players (73%) played a Titleist golf ball this week in Honolulu, seven times the nearest competitor (15).

TITLEIST IS THE MOST PLAYED DRIVER AT SONY

• Titleist, the most played driver on the PGA TOUR for each of the last six seasons, was the most played driver this week in Hawaii, with 43 percent of the field (62 players) gaming a Titleist at the top end of their setup. 
• That included nine players who moved into NEW GT models to begin the 2025 season.
• Forty-five players gamed GT2 or GT3 driver models.

NEW SCOTTY CAMERON NEWPORT 2, FASTBACK MODELS GETS FIRST TOUR STARTS

• Scotty Cameron’s next generation blade and mid-mallet putters officially launched on the PGA TOUR, with competitors in Hawaii being introduced to more than 10 new prototype head and neck configurations.
• Titleist Brand Ambassador Rafa Campos made the early move to a new Newport 2 model last week at The Sentry, needing only a few putts on the practice green before putting it in the bag.
• This week, the OWGR No. 43, who has finished inside the top 5 in Strokes Gained: Putting five of the last six seasons, put a new Fastback model in play.
• He finished the week T16 and gained 5.459 strokes on the field (8th), averaging 1.65 putts per GIR (6th).

PGA TOUR OF AUSTRALASIA | WebEx Players Series Perth

Jordan Doull (Pro V1x) made birdie on both playoff holes, the first to extend and the second to clinch his first career PGA Tour of Australasia title.

• Doull shot a final round 5-under 67 to post 17 under for the week before claiming the title in extra holes.