Inside the Field: Valspar Championship

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It’s not uncommon for PGA TOUR players to give their golf clubs a unique touch with custom stampings. Whether it’s their initials, family members’ names or movie quotes, the paint-filled engravings can add a special flair to their tools of the trade. While Justin Thomas’ current Titleist “621.JT” irons do have his initials stamped on the hosel, the stampings aren’t the only unique feature of the clubs. The irons are actually 1-of-1 prototypes made specifically to meet Thomas’ personal preferences. He is arguably the best iron player of the post-Tiger era, having finished no worse than sixth in Strokes Gained: Approach in each of the last six seasons. His iron-play prowess was on full display in his victory at last year’s THE PLAYERS. After flirting with the cut line Friday afternoon, Thomas shot 64-68 on the weekend while displaying full control of his ballstriking. He hit the first 17 greens in the final round, as well. He used a set of stock Titleist 620 MB (muscleback) irons here last year. Those clubs were released to the public in 2019. The blade-style construction of the stock 620 MB blades featured thin soles, thin toplines, compact shapes and little offset. The problem is, however, that Thomas doesn’t want “little” offset; he wants none. As a reminder, the term “offset” refers to how far the leading edge of the face sits behind the hosel. By general rule, the more offset an iron has, the it is to square the face at impact. Many TOUR pros use irons with reduced offset to avoid hooking the ball too much, whereas amateurs tend to use irons with more offset to reduce their slice. Most golfers, though, even on the PGA TOUR, use some semblance of offset to add forgiveness. But not Thomas. Although Thomas helped provide Titleist with early feedback on the 620 MB irons, as Titleist tour rep J.J. Van Wezenbeeck explains below, he would have his gamer irons bent to remove any offset. “The biggest thing is we’re always trying to work with our TOUR pros on finding things that will help them play better,” Van Wezenbeeck told GolfWRX. “Justin’s been an important part of that feedback loop in our development of muscleback irons over the years. Throughout his career with Titleist, we’ve taken his feedback, talking to him about sole design, toe shape, etc. So, as we brought (620 MB) prototypes to him, he was able to provide feedback and he really allowed us to move that into what became the 620 MB. Based on what we looked at over time, one of the facets he likes is no offset. Not a little offset, but none. Literally zero offset, so the leading edge and the hosel are in-line with each other. That’s obviously not something preferred by all players, so what we were doing for the 620 MBs for him was bending the offset out.” The offset modifications helped provide the look and performance that Thomas needed, and he used the purposely-bent 620 MB irons to win at TPC Sawgrass last year. Bending irons, however, doesn’t always create the perfect sound, feel and most elegant overall look. Unsatisfied, Titleist sought to provide Thomas with the exact irons he wanted in all facets. “We wanted to provide the best looking, best feeling and best performing irons for one of the best iron players on Tour,” Van Wezenbeeck said. That’s when Titleist and its R&D team started working closely with Thomas to develop what would eventually become the 621.JT irons. They built a number of prototypes with differing shapes, soles, CG (center of gravity) placements, and offset to determine what truly suits Thomas’ preferences. What they settled on were irons that were essentially identical to the original 620 MB irons in terms of overall shaping, sole grinds, materials (1020 carbon), and grooves. The only true difference is the 621.JT irons have zero offset, which is just how the defending PLAYERS champ likes them. “They came to me and said let’s create (a set of irons), anything that you want to change,” Thomas told PGATOUR.COM. “Obviously I loved it, everything about (my irons) already, but the changes are so minor. … It just was about getting the best feeling iron, the best sounding iron. It’s one of those clubs that obviously you have to hit it properly for it to be that way, but one of those ones where you kind of hear it and you turn around like, ‘What is that?’…They look awesome.” Thomas started using the new 621.JT irons at the 2021 CJ CUP @ SUMMIT in November 2021, and he still has them in the bag this week to defend his title at THE 2022 PLAYERS Championship. While he is looking for his first win since last year’s PLAYERS, Thomas is ranked 26th in this season’s FedExCup thanks to four top-10s in six starts.

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SYDNEY, Australia – American golf fans are clearly tickled pink right now given the youth movement on the PGA TOUR. As Tiger Woods faced his injuries over the last four years, the likes of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas emerged into super-stardom, and the production line keeps churning out youthful stars. Last season on TOUR, 20-somethings Thomas (5 wins), Spieth (3), Xander Schauffele (2), Cody Gribble, Mac Hughes, Hudson Swafford, Rickie Fowler, Russell Henley, Wesley Bryan, Daniel Berger, Brooks Koepka, Kyle Stanley, Bryson DeChambeau and Grayson Murray all took home victories. Clearly, the future is bright in the good old U-S of A. In modern times, Australia has long had the next best representation of players on the PGA TOUR. Since Greg Norman blazed his way to the top in America, Australia has had a solid core of TOUR players bringing success down under. Ian Baker Finch, Wayne Grady, Steve Elkington helped lead in Norman’s time. Then others like Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby emerged. Soon after, Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley were leading the charge. And then Jason Day took things by the throat. In all this time, you’d routinely find eight to 12 Australians at most TOUR events. But Day recently turned 30, officially taking him out of the “young gun” category. And as he, and others, age there is a real possibility other countries will come and take their mantle. South Korea’s and China’s numbers are strengthening. More English players tend to want to play both in Europe and the US. So who is ready to step up and become the next generation of Aussie stars? Cameron Smith is now the leader of the 20-something Australians. At 24 and with a Zurich Classic title (with Jonas Blixt) under his belt, he is paving the path. With two top-five finishes during the fall series, Smith appears set for another good year. But he’s the only Australian on TOUR under 30. Behind him, the hopes lie on the likes of former U.S. Amateur champion Curtis Luck, former U.S. Junior champion Min Woo Lee, highly touted teenager Ryan Ruffels, British amateur runner up Dylan Perry and the likes of Brett Coletta, Karl Vilips and Cameron Davis. They’ve shown plenty of talent, but have been unable to take the next step towards stardom. “We do have a lot of young talented players here that just haven’t blossomed yet and I think once they do, we will have a good stable of players on the PGA TOUR,â€� Day said after surveying the youngsters in the field at the Australian Open. And he’s counting on it for selfish reasons also. Day still remains driven to become Australia’s greatest ever golfer and the more competition coming through, the better. The 16-year-old Lee, the brother of LPGA winner Minjee, recently out drove Day at a junior clinic. The teenager joked Day might already be scared of him. With a laugh, Day admitted he might be. And talked of the plethora of kids on the range pounding the long ball out there. “Just the sound of the ball coming off, when I was a kid, you’d never really hear that too often and now you go down the range and you just hear every kid sounds like it’s going a very long way,â€� Day said. “When I hear that and look at that, I know that I’ve got to do a lot more to try and keep up or stay in front of them. That gives me extra motivation.â€� Luck had a shot at a TOUR card in the Web.com Finals this year, but was unable to convert. Ruffels has had multiple chances in TOUR events. but failed to garner enough non-member points to forge ahead. The 22-year-old Davis has played in one TOUR event and finished T15, contending throughout. He will attempt to breakthrough at Web.com Tour q-School final stage next month. “There’s me and at least another five or six guys that are really coming through strong at the moment,â€� Davis claims. “It’s really Golf Australia and all the state programs, the players are getting stronger and stronger. It’s just a matter of time before they step out into those waters and see how good they are, because the scores they’re shooting at amateur tournaments are awesome and they’re putting themselves up there in professional tournaments as well. “I don’t see why (Aussies) can’t (replicate the U.S. success),â€� he added. “I feel like their best golf will win tournaments over there.â€� Over the next season or two the others will slowly get their chances. Lee, Ruffels and Vilips are still teens and have time on their side. They all do really – except the standard has now been lifted thanks to the Americans. And of course, other international stars like Hideki Matsuyama and Jon Rahm. Vilips and Lee are already confident kids. Lee’s U.S. Junior win proved his pedigree as did his recent near miss at the Asia-Pacific Amateur. Vilips has been a standout in junior tournaments across the USA where he’s based. He is working with Spieth’s Australian coach Cameron McCormick. Day wants the young Aussies to back themselves. He famously came out saying he wanted to take down Woods in his early days and was handed some backlash. But he says you have to be confident to beat the best. “My biggest thing is if you have dreams and aspirations to do big things and do great things and you want to voice them, then go ahead and voice them,â€� Day, who is just the third Australian behind Norman and Scott to reach world No.1, said. “I’ve always been pretty honest with media and how I’ve been feeling, what I’ve wanted to achieve in my life, because to a certain degree, if I say it, then it kind of makes me accountable, and I need to work harder to try and achieve those goals.â€� The Australian Open has been a launching pad before. Norman was paired with Jack Nicklaus as a young man in the event with the Golden Bear telling him he should take his game to the USA. Aaron Baddeley went back-to-back in 1999-2000 to kick start his career. Perhaps the next wave of stars will emerge this weekend.

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