The newest version of golf’s most popular ball made it to the PGA Tour last week.
The Tour is in Las Vegas this week for the Shriners Children’s Open, where Titleist has traditionally introduced its next-generation Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls. Twenty-two years ago in the desert, Billy Andrade became the first player to win with a Pro V1, and thousands more wins have followed all around the world.
But Titleist let it be known Monday that its 2023 models were put in play at the previous week’s Sanderson Farms Championship by MJ Daffue, Garrick Higgo and Gary Woodland. The three had tested the balls during the prototype stage and asked to use them at The Country Club of Jackson.
Courtesy Titleist
Daffue made an ace with a Pro V1x four holes into his first round, while Higgo led the field in birdies with a Pro V1 while finishing third, one shot out of a two-man playoff won by Mackenzie Hughes.
This week in Las Vegas, plenty more players will be putting the new models to the test during practice at TPC Summerlin and likely playing with them come tournament time.
“The Pro V1 and Pro V1x, as a whole, are the best balls in golf so it’s hard to say, ‘How are you going to possibly make that ball better when it’s already the best?'” said Jordan Spieth, who has played a Pro V1x for all three of his major championships and 13 PGA Tour wins.
Titleist has introduced updated Pro V1 and V1x balls every other year for almost 20 years; these latest ones will likely go on sale to the public in early 2023.
Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls were also used by the winners of all four men’s major championships in 2022: Scottie Scheffler (Masters, Pro V1), Justin Thomas (PGA Championship, Pro V1x), Matt Fitzpatrick (US Open, Pro V1x) and Cameron Smith (British Open, Pro V1x).
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