Reed, Noren share lead at Farmers Insurance Open

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Veteran Danny Chia secured his sixth appearance at the prestigious CIMB Classic after defeating rising star Gavin Green with a birdie on the second hole of a sudden-death play-off at the CIMB National Championship on Friday. Overnight leader Chia battled to a final round of three-under-par 69 at TPC Kuala Lumpur after overcoming an early triple bogey with eight birdies for a tournament aggregate of eight-under-par 280. Trailing by three at the start of the day, Green forced extra time with a glorious 66 highlighted by seven birdies. After both players shot pars in the first extra hole at the par five 18th hole, Chia then claimed his third success at the qualifying tournament for the CIMB Classic with a birdie from six feet. With the CIMB National Championship, previously known as the SapuraKencana National Classic, offering a coveted spot in October’s US$7 million CIMB Classic only to the winner, the 23-year-old Green will take heart that he will likely earn a spot in the PGA TOUR tournament through the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit. Currently fourth on the money rankings, Green needs to remain in the top-10 as of October 9 to qualify for the CIMB Classic for the second successive year. The highest ranked Malaysian on the Official World Golf Ranking as of October 2 will also earn a spot in the CIMB Classic. Rookie professional Amir Nazrin Jailani finished a creditable third after signing off with a 69, which included a missed birdie attempt at the 18th hole which would have put him into the play-off while Ben Leong, who held a one-shot lead at the turn, settled for fourth position following a 70 to finish two back of the play-off duo.

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DUBLIN, Ohio – Titleist has begun its TOUR validation process at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Typically, Titleist brings new product out to PGA TOUR ranges and courses for feedback from the professionals before launching them to retail. That is exactly the case with Titleist’s new utility products, including U500 and U510 driving irons, and TS2 and TS3 hybrids. While Titleist isn’t speaking on the new designs just yet, we can speculate on a few things from the photos taken by PGATOUR.COM on Monday. Firstly, Titleist seems to be establishing cohesiveness between its hybrids and its metalwoods by giving them the familiar “TSâ€� name. In the past, Titleist gave its hybrids different nomenclature — such as the 818 H1 and H2 hybrids — than its drivers and fairways woods. Now, it seems they are fitting right into the TS family. The TS2 looks to be a more forgiving option given it’s larger profile at address, and the sleeker TS3 – likely a lower-spinning or lower-launching product – appears to have a weight port in the toe. Also, with its U500 and U510 irons, Titleist appears to be separating out utility irons from a full set of irons; this is reminiscent of its popular 712U iron of the past. In the past few years, Titleist staffers have used T-MB irons as their driving irons, but those weren’t necessarily specifically made to be driving irons since T-MB irons were offered as a full set to the public. Now, it seems the U500 and U510 irons will stand alone as driving irons. Relatively speaking, it appears the U500 has a sleeker profile than the U510, which offers a larger profile and wider sole; this could mean the U500 is lower launching and the U510 is higher launching and/or more forgiving. Based on media photos provided by Titleist above, it appears that the Project X HZRDUS Smoke shaft will be the stock offering for the new utility clubs should they hit retail in the future. As we await the possible retail release of these products, and more information from Titleist about their designs, check out the photos below taken by PGATOUR.COM on Monday. Titleist U500 iron Titleist U510 iron Titleist TS2 hybrid Titleist TS3 hybrid

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