“I'm just trying not to cry.”
These were the words of Titleist Brand Ambassador Greg Chalmers shortly after he captured the Barracuda Championship on Sunday for his first career PGA Tour title.
“It means an awful lot to me. And this tournament, historically, has been fantastic for either helping someone or resurrecting someone who is in a deep hole or kicking someone on to another level that was already on their way to another level. So for me this tournament was huge. Can't thank the people here enough. Barracuda and the people here at Montreux Country Club, because it's just been -- it's an absolute phenomenal leg up to me.”
Chalmers, 42, capped his victory with an eagle on the final hole for a six-point victory in the modified Stableford scoring event. The win, which came in Chalmer’s 386th PGA Tour start, earned the left-hander a two-year tour exemption and a spot in the British Open at Royal Troon.
“Yeah, tenacity helps,” Chalmers said. “Just relief and a little bit of you just never know what's going to happen. Now to get status back here on the PGA TOUR, I get to go play the British Open and I get to play some great events I'm looking forward to it.”
THE COUNTS: Titleist was the most relied upon golf ball at this year’s Barracuda Championship with 96 players trusting a Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball, eight times the nearest competitor with 12.
Titleist was also the top choice this week at the event in the hybrids (26) and irons (38) categories. Titleist Vokey Design Wedges also led the way in the approach, sand and lob wedge (190) category as did Scotty Cameron putters in the putter (58) category.
The win was the 18th for Titleist on the PGA Tour this season, three times the nearest competitor with 6.
Chalmers topped a leaderboard where 10 of the 11 players who placed among the top 10 and ties relied upon Titleist golf balls for their success – including each of the top six finishers.
With five wins across the worldwide professional tours this season, Titleist now has 103 golf ball victories.
Chalmers relied upon the new 917D2 (8.5°) prototype this week to become the first player to win with the new driver. He first put the new model in play last week at the Web.com's Air Capital Classic.
“In golf you’ve always got to think there’s something good coming around the corner,” said Chalmers. “Thanks to Titleist I’ve got that new driver, the 917, and I gained some yardage and I started driving it straighter. I drove it beautifully. I really did drive it nicely so a big thank you to them.”
Statistics backed up Chalmers’ comments as he finished 6th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (3.888). He improved his Driving Accuracy each day by hitting 10 of 14 fairways on Thursday, 11 on Friday and 12 each on the weekend for a total of 45 of 56 or 80%. He averaged 297 yards off the tee for the week, including 315 yards per drive on Sunday.
Titleist began the seeding process for the new 917 prototype drivers on the PGA TOUR at last week’s Quicken Loans National. This week, 20 of the 34 drivers in play at the Barracuda Championship were of the 917D2 or 917D3 variety. Titleist Brand Ambassador Ben Martin finished T7 this week playing the new 917D3 prototype driver.
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Let's take a closer look at the winning setup that Greg trusted to enter the winner's circle in Reno:
Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: 917D2 (8.5°) prototype
Hybrid: 816H2 (19°)
Irons: 716 CB (3-9)
Wedges: Vokey Design SM6 pitching (46°), gap (50°) and lob (58°)
Congratulations, Greg!
#TeamTitleist