Patrick Cantlay and Tom Kim each won tournaments late in the 2021-22 PGA Tour season.
Cantlay did so at BMW Championship, the second of three FedEx Cup playoff events, and Kim claimed his in the final start before the FedEx Cup playoffs, the Wyndham Championship.
At the Shriners Children’s Open, each sought to get the new season off to a quick start, but it was Kim who won the final-round duel between the two, securing the victory when Cantlay made a mess of the final hole (posting a triple-bogey 7) after rallying on the back nine to draw even with three holes to play.
Incredibly, Kim didn’t make a bogey all week, putting up 24 birdies and 48 pars. As one would expect, he ranked high in strokes gained/tee-to-green (third, picking up more than nine shots on the field) and strokes gained/putting (also third, at nearly six shots better than the field average).
Kim put Titleist’s new TSR3 driver in play after a visit to the company’s Performance Institute in California, where he worked with Titleist tour rep Dino Antenucci.
“I had been playing the TSi3 for the longest time, and I thought I wasn’t going to change it. But after trying it at TPI, it was just so good that I had to put it in the bag, and it’s been working out really well,” said Kim via the company.
“My percentage in the fairway has gone up and, yeah, it’s a keeper. … I thought I was going to use the ‘i’ for the rest of the [year], but I put [R3] right in the bag because I gained ball speed, gained swing speed, smash factor went up and [it] holds it really well into the wind.”
Kim also got up and down all nine times he missed the green with his Titleist Vokey wedges, including a 60A WedgeWorks model.
“Vokey wedges, ball flight control-wise, spin control-wise, are just very, very different from [competitive models],” Kim said.
“When you hit a shot the way you want, it comes out the way you want. That’s what you want, especially with a wedge. These as well have been a very big difference for me this year.”
Whether it’s the end or beginning of a season.
The clubs Tom Kim used to win the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (Fujikura Atmos Black 6x), 9 degrees
3-wood: Callaway Rogue ST LS, 13.5 degrees
Irons (2-3): Titleist T200; (4-PW): Titleist T100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (52 degrees); Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks (60 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist TourType Timeless GSS tour prototype
