Joohyung “Tom” Kim Punches Ticket to FedEx Cup Playoffs with Historic Win at the Wyndham Championship

PGA TOUR | Wyndham Championship

Titleist Brand Ambassador Joohyung "Tom" Kim made history Sunday on the PGA TOUR, making the turn at Sedgefield Country Club in 8-under 27 on his way to a closing 9-under 61 and runaway five-shot victory.

  • The 20-year-old– playing a Pro V1x golf ball and bag full of Titleist equipment, including a NEW TSR driver and fairway metal, T200 (Utility Build) and T100 irons, NEW Vokey Design SM9 wedges and Scotty Cameron putter – finished the week at 20 under par while becoming the first player born in the 2000’s to win on the PGA TOUR.
  • Kim, who joined the TOUR as a Special Temporary Member after The Open Championship, had already wrapped up his 2022-23 PGA TOUR card with last week’s seventh-place finish at Rocket Mortgage.
  • His breakthrough victory Sunday earned him immediate full-time membership, making him eligible for next week’s FedEx Cup Playoffs.

What’s in Joohyung “Tom” Kim’s Titleist Golf Bag?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: NEW TSR3 9.0° | Fujikura Atmos Black 6 X
Fairway Metal: NEW TSR3 13.5° | Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 70 X
Utility Irons: T200 2-3 | Fujikura Ventus Black Hybrid 10 TX (2), True Temper Project X 6.5 (3)
Irons: T100 4-9 | True Temper Project X 6.0
Wedges: NEW Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 52.12F, WedgeWorks 60A | True Temper Project X 6.0 (46), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (52-60)
Putter: Scotty Cameron TourType Timeless GSS tour prototype

KIM ON THE PERFORMANCE OF HIS PRO V1x, ‘GOOD VIBES’ WITH HIGH NUMBERS

  • Kim led a 1-2-3-4 finish for Titleist golf ball players at the Wyndham Championship, with Pro V1 and Pro V1x players finishing in 11 of the top 12 places on the leaderboard.
  • Kim’s victory also marked the fifth-consecutive win by a Titleist golf ball player to end the 2021-22 PGA TOUR regular season. 
  • “I’ve been using [Pro V1x] for my whole life,” he said. “For me, when I hit a shot, and it comes in the window that I see it… just that consistency of seeing that window every time, where a lot of [competitive] golf balls, sometimes you might hit a shot, and it might go a little far, it might go a little short. With Titleist being the best ball, number one in golf, it shows you that consistency.”
  • According to Kim, with his current model (2021 Pro V1x), “I felt like I could get a little bit more height with it. I could control the spin a little bit more with my irons.” He also prefers the firmer feel versus Pro V1: “Sometimes I get really sensitive with sound, so I want to hear that ball kind of coming off the face.” 
  • Earlier this season, Kim also made the switch to high number (5-6-7-8) Pro V1x’s. “Mid-year I kind of wanted to give a little bit of spice to it, change things up a bit, and went to the high numbers,” Kim said after his third-place finish at the Scottish Open. “And it’s been good so far. So after I changed to the high numbers, it’s been good vibes only. So, I’m going to keep it for a while.”

KIM CLAIMS THIRD PGA TOUR WIN FOR NEW TSR DRIVERS

  • Kim's victory Sunday with his NEW TSR driver marked Win No. 3 for the new Titleist driver models in just seven weeks since making their PGA TOUR debut at the Travelers Championship. Kim, who plays a TSR3 9.0°, joins fellow Titleist Brand Ambassadors Cameron Smith (TSR3 10.0°/Open Championship) and J.T. Poston (TSR3 9.0°/John Deere Classic) in the TOUR’S TSR winner’s circle.
  • In total, Titleist drivers have been used to win 14 events this season on the PGA TOUR, more than any other competitor.
  • Kim added his NEW TSR3 driver, along with a NEW TSR3 13.5° fairway, after a recent visit to the Titleist Performance Institute, where he worked with Titleist Tour Rep Dino Antenucci.
  • “I had been playing the TSi3 for the longest time and I thought I wasn’t going to change it, but after trying it at TPI, it was just so good that I had to put it in the bag, and it’s been working out really well. My percentage in the fairway has gone up and, yeah, it’s a keeper. Missed hits, solid hits, it just stays in the wind so well for me, that’s what I’ve had trouble with before and I thought I was going to use the ‘i’ for the rest of the season, but I put it right in the bag because I gained ball speed, gained swing speed, smash factor went up and holds it really well into the wind. So it was great.”
  • Kim on his TSR3 13.5° fairway: “In the wind, downwind, when you want to hit it up, it goes up. In the wind when you keep it low, it goes low. So it's really the perfect club for a 3-wood. 3-wood’s the hardest club to fit and they did it perfectly.”

10 STRAIGHT WINS FOR VOKEY WEDGE PLAYERS ON PGA TOUR

  • Playing a set of three NEW Vokey Design SM9 wedges, Kim became the 10th-consecutive winner on the PGA TOUR to have at least one Vokey in the bag.
  • Overall, Vokey wedge players have combined for 29 wins on the 2021-22 PGA TOUR, compared to eight for the nearest competitor.
  • Kim plays SM9 46.10F, 52.12F and WedgeWorks 60A models. 
  • Said Kim: “Vokey wedges, ball flight control-wise, spin control-wise, are just very, very different from [competitive models]… When you hit a shot the way you want, it comes out the way you want. That’s what you want, especially with a wedge. These as well have been a very big difference for me this year.” 

KIM ON HIS T100 IRONS, T200 UTILITIES

  • Kim carried two T200 (Utility Build) irons (2 and 3) this week at Sedgefield CC, in addition to his set of T100 (4-9) irons, hitting 17 of 18 greens in regulation during his Sunday 61.
  • Kim, on his T100's : “I’ve been a T100 player for the longest time. It’s just something I’ve always been comfortable with. It just gives you more forgiveness in the irons. I was using the previous T100s. I was playing so well with them, I didn’t really think that I was going to change, but I tested them out, put them in right away. It looks just so amazing, so simple, and when you set it up, it looks even better. It’s just spin control, ball flight control, trajectory control. … It’s something that I’ve loved, and I’ve never thought about changing to a CB or an MB. Never thought of it. So it’s, yeah…. It’s a forever thing for me.”
  • Kim, on his T200's: “The new T200s, they come out a little softer off the face and it’s really easy to flight it, high, low. I feel like that was the big difference for me, feel, just sound off the face, and penetrating flight. … Normally 2-iron, you might get a little nervous, because it looks thin, but this is just… It feels so comfortable. It looks like I’m hitting a 7-iron. It’s a trusted club. I have the [Ventus Black Hybrid 10 TX] shaft in it. But the 3-iron, I have a steel shaft. It’s the [True Temper Project X 6.5] just because I wanted to get it up in the air a little bit better. I’ve been using this for the whole year now, and it’s gotten me some good birdies. So, definitely a keeper.” 

KIM TOPS PUTTING STATS WITH SCOTTY CAMERON

  • Playing a Scotty Cameron TourType Timeless GSS tour prototype putter, Kim led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (+12.546) while making more than 487 feet of putts over the four rounds.
  • He was 12-for-16 (75%) putting from 10-15 feet this week, compared to the field average of 29.5 percent.
  •  “I’ve always putted my best with a blade,” Kim said. “I was using a mallet for a couple of years, but I’ve won a lot of my tournaments with a blade, and I wanted to come back, kind of use something natural. Scotty and Paul (Vizanko) really helped me with this piece and it looks great with the mint blue (paintfill). It’s been in the bag for a really long time now. It’s definitely one of my babies.”

DP WORLD TOUR | Cazoo Open

The leader in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee at the Cazoo Open gamed a NEW Titleist TSR3 9.0° driver, gaining more than two strokes (+2.13) per round on the field, adding to the validation and momentum of TSR drivers across the worldwide professional tours.

KORN FERRY TOUR | Utah Championship

Titleist Brand Ambassador Andrew Kozan – playing a Pro V1x golf ball and 14 Titleist clubs, including a NEW TSR3 driver – bookended the week with a pair of 8-under 63s to earn his first Korn Ferry victory.

Five birdies on the back nine Sunday helped Kozan hold off Justin Suh (Pro V1) and Patrick Fishburn (Pro V1), who fired final rounds of 63 and 64, respectively, as Titleist golf ball players finished the week 1-2-3.

Kozan led the field in birdies at Oakridge Country Club, and he got his Pro V1x up-and-down 100 percent of the time from the sand.

WINNER GAMES NEW TSR DRIVER

Kozan won in his first week playing a NEW TSR2 9.0° driver, which he used to average 325.1 yards off the tee for the tournament.

Titleist was the most played driver at the event (60), with more NEW TSR models in play (37) than any other brand’s total number of drivers.

TSR was also the most popular fairway model with a total of 33 TSR2 and TSR3 models in play. 

What's in Andrew Kozan's Titleist Golf Bag?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: NEW TSR2 9.0°
Utility Iron: T200 Utility Build (2), U500 (3)
Irons: T100 irons (4-9)
Wedges: Vokey Design SM9 (46.10F, 50.12F, 54.10S, 60T);
Putter: Scotty Cameron Teryllium T22 Newport Tour Prototype

ASIAN TOUR | Mandiri Indonesia Open

Titleist Brand Ambassador Gaganjeet Bhullar, playing a Pro V1x golf ball and full bag of Titleist equipment, captured his 10th-career victory on the Asian Tour, closing in 7-under 65 to win by two shots

The only player to post all four rounds in the 60s, Bhullar led a 1-through-7 finish for Titleist golf ball players. 

What’s in Gaganjeet Bhullar’s Titleist Golf Bag?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: TSi2 9.0°
Hybrid: 816H1 19.0° and TSi2 21.0°
Irons: T100 4-9
Wedges: NEW Vokey Design SM9 48.10F, SM8 54.12D, 60K
Putter: Scotty Cameron Select Roundback tour prototype

PGA TOUR CANADA | Quebec Open

Ryan Gerard (Pro V1) picked up his first win on PGA TOUR Canada in Quebec, going wire-to-wire in just his fourth tournament since turning professional.

Gerard finished the week at 16 under to win by one shot, topping a leaderboard that featured seven Titleist golf ball players in the top-8 positions.

SUNSHINE TOUR | Vodacom Origins of Golf

Titleist Brand Ambassador George Coetzee claimed his fifth-career victory on the Vodacom Origins of Golf series, carding a final round 5-under par 67 to win by two shots.

Coetzee, who opened with a tournament-best 61 in Thursday’s first round, led a 1-2-3-4-5 finish for Titleist golf ball players.

COETZEE WINS WITH NEW TSR DRIVER

Coetzee won using a NEW TSR3 10.0° driver, claiming one of three wins for TSR driver players Sunday around the world.

Joohyung "Tom" Kim used a TSR3 9.0° to win his first PGA TOUR title, while Andrew Kozan used a TSR2 9.0° model to earn his breakthrough win on the Korn Ferry Tour.

What's in George Coetzee's Titleist Golf Bag?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: NEW TSR3 10.0°
Fairway Metal: TSi3 16.5°
Utility Iron: 712U (2)
Irons: 620 CB 4-PW
Wedges: NEW Vokey Design SM9 50.08F, 56.08M, 60.06K

AMATEUR | Titleist is #1 Ball, Most Played Equipment Brand Tee-to-Green at Elite Amateur Series

Over the course of this summer’s Elite Amateur Series – which began in mid-June at the Sunnehanna Amateur and culminates this week at the Western Amateur – Titleist was the #1 golf ball and top choice of the game’s best amateur golfers in every major equipment category.

Complete trust of Titleist from tee-to-green continues to be the theme on many of the game’s biggest stages, from the PGA TOUR to the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship, European Amateur and U.S. Junior Amateur. 

Throughout the Elite Amateur Series – which comprises seven of the most prestigious amateur events in the United States, leading up to this month’s U.S. Amateur Championship – Titleist was the overall most played ball (83%)driver (41%), fairway metal (42%), hybrid (36%), utility iron (61%), iron (44%), wedge (58%), and putter (34%).

At the Western Amateur,  Titleist was again the most played brand across all major equipment categories: 

  • A total of 122 players (79%) teed up a Pro V1, Pro V1x, Pro V1 Left Dot or Pro V1x Left Dash golf ball at Exmoor Country Club more than six times the nearest competitor (12) – including every player in the Top 11 heading into match play.
  • The Western Amateur marked the beginning of the seeding and validation process for the NEW TSR metals, with players getting their first opportunity to play the new models in competition. A total of 37 players put NEW TSR drivers immediately in play, including the stroke-play medalist (TSR4 8.0°). Titleist was the overall most played driver at the event, with more than half of the 63 (41%) Titleist models in play being TSR2TSR3 or TSR4
  • Titleist was also the most popular choice in fairway metals (64/39%) and hybrids (13/41%).
  • Titleist accounted for well over half the utility irons in play with 63 (64%), more than four times the nearest competitor. T200 (Utility Build) irons made up 46% of all utility irons this week, making it the field’s most popular model (45).
  • Titleist irons were in the bags of 68 players (44%) at Exmoor CC, with more T100 (36) models in play than the nearest competitor’s total number of iron sets (31).
  • There were 260 Titleist Vokey Design gap, sand, and lob wedges in in play (57%), more than all other brands combined, with NEW SM9's leading the way (189/41%).
  • On the greens, more players relied on Scotty Cameron putters (47/30%) than any other brand.

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