Horschel Wins First Title with Titleist

(Fairhaven, MA) - There are many exciting ways to achieve victory, and this weekend five players trusted a Titleist golf ball for their winning success across the worldwide professional tours.  Included amongst the wins were pair of breakthrough championship performances, a team effort, and a playoff-ending eagle.

PGA: At the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Billy Horschel outlasted the weather and outperformed the field with a final round 8-under 64 for his first career PGA Tour victory.  Horschel maintained his composure through two final round weather delays and sealed the win with a 27-foot birdie putt on 18, edging playing partner and fellow Pro V1x golf ball loyalist D.A. Points, who also birdied the hole, by one shot.

Although it marked Horschel's first win, he had been knocking on the door with three top 10 finishes in his past three tournaments — tying for second to Points in Houston, tying for third in San Antonio and tying for ninth at the RBC Heritage a week ago.  He has made a PGA Tour-leading 23 straight cuts.

Notes:  Jason Dufner made a switch to a new 34-inch center-shafted Scotty Cameron by Titleist Futura X prototype putter prior to Saturday’s third round and promptly fired a 5-under 67, his best round of the week.  Dufner tested the putter early in the week and again in the rain-shortened pro-am.  The high-MOI prototype putter is the conventional-length version of the model Adam Scott used to win the Masters … The Futura X prototype putter is milled from aluminum and includes a balance bar and four tungsten weights that are positioned under four adjustable stainless steel weights in the far four corners of the putter giving it an extremely high resistance to twist at impact.  Cameron also took the putter one step further by adding more stability to the face with perimeter weighting.  The finish is called “Frozen Titanium” and helps knock down glare … With his T8 finish at the Zurich Classic, Titleist Brand Ambassador Jimmy Walker made it four top 10’s and six top 25’s this season in 11 events this season.  Walker has been even or under par for his last 15 tournaments and hasn’t missed a cut since July last year.

Titleist was the most relied upon golf ball in the field of 156 with 104 players (67%), more than six times the nearest competitor with 17.  Titleist also was the overwhelming top choice in the wedge (147/40%) and putter (56/36%) categories.

EUROPEAN: Titleist Brand Ambassador Brett Rumford posted a dramatic eagle on the first hole of a three-way sudden death playoff that included fellow Pro V1x loyalist Peter Whiteford, to win the Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea.  The win marked the fourth European Tour title for Rumford and his first in six years.  He closed with a 4-under 68 to finish regulation at 11-under par.  The threesome returned to the 18th hole, a par 5, and after Rumford saw his opponents fail to reach the green in two, he fired a brilliant approach to four feet, making the eagle putt for the win.

“It was an absolute roller coaster ride of emotions out there this afternoon," said Rumford following the win.  "Obviously my last five holes yesterday and front nine today got me in a great position to take this tournament.”

Rumford, who finished his third round with five consecutive birdies, took that run to seven when he converted a 20-foot putt on the first green and then fired his approach to five feet at the next.  After carding three consecutive pars, a bunker shot to three feet at the sixth sparked a run of four straight birdies.

Titleist Brand Ambassador Romain Wattel (Pro V1x, 913D3 driver, 913F fairway metal, 913H hybrid, MB irons, Vokey Design SM4 wedges, Scotty Cameron 009 prototype putter) finished fourth at 9-under par, with World No. 7 Louis Oosthuizen (Pro V1x) a shot further back.

What’s in the Bag:  Pro V1x golf ball, 913D2 (8.5) driver, 913Fd (15) fairway metal, 712U 2,3 and 4 utility irons, CB (5-9) irons, Vokey Design SM4 pitching (48) and sand (54) wedges, and Spin Milled lob (60) wedge.

Titleist was the most relied upon golf ball in the field of 156 with 94 players (60%), more than four times the nearest competitor with 22.  Titleist also was the overwhelming top choice in the utility club (76/36%), iron (50/32%) and wedge (170/46%) categories.

CHAMPIONS: The duo of Titleist Brand Ambassador Brad Faxon (Pro V1x, 913D2 driver, 913Fd fairway metal, 913H hybrids, CB irons, Vokey Design SM4 sand wedge, Spin Milled lob wedge, Scotty Cameron prototype putter) and Pro V1 loyalist Jeff Sluman captured the Liberty Mutual Insurance Legends of Golf, the Champions Tour’s annual two-man better ball competition, following a final-round 7-under 65 and 23-under total.

Titleist was the most relied upon golf ball in the field of 66 (33 teams) with 50 (76%) players, more than eight times the nearest competitor with 6.  Titleist also was the top choice in the irons (17/26%), wedge (50/36%) and putter (16/24%) categories.

LATINOAMERICA: Jose de Jesus Rodriguez entered the winner’s circle for the first time in his career when his Pro V1x golf ball dropped for a birdie on the second hole of a three-way, sudden death playoff at the Roberto De Vicenzo Invitational Copa NEC.

Rodriguez closed with a 4-under par 68 en route to a 17-under 271 total.  After all three playoff participants made par on the first extra hole, the 18th at Club de Golf Uruguay, and advanced to the short par-4 eighth, the second extra hole, Rodriguez drove the green and two-putted for birdie and his first career win on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica.

WORLDWIDE WINS: With three more official victories this week, players trusting a Titleist golf ball have won 46 tournaments across the worldwide professional tours in 2013, more than four times the nearest competitor with 11 and more than all other competitors combined.

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