Well, well, well, the 2024 golf season is off with a BANG!! What a weekend of golf, I’m sure you’ll agree? This week we’ll showcase the winning WITBs across Tour and also do a few deep-dives on the equipment choices our winners made.

Congratulations to this week’s winners:

• Nick Dunlap (A) -29

  • The American Express, Pete Dye Stadium Course/La Quinta Country Club/Nicklaus Tournament Course (PGA Tour)

• Lydia Ko -14 

  • Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, Lake Nona Golf and Country Club (LPGA Tour)

• Rory McIlroy -14

  • The Hero Dubai Desert Classic, Emirates Golf Club (DP World Tour)

• Jeremy Paul -17

  • The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic, Sandals Emerald Bay (KornFerry Tour)

• Kazuma Kobori -21

  • WebEx Player Series Murray River, Cobram Barooga OLD Course (PGA of Australia)

Nick Dunlap WITB

The American Express, PGA Tour

Now isn’t this the most wonderful story? An amateur fends off two PGA Tour Alphas in Justin Thomas and Sam Burns to win the Amex and become the first Amateur to win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson over 30 years ago….nice going Nick!

Although Nick will win NIL dollars due to his amateur status, his performance has paved the way for a lucrative future on the PGA Tour. I’m sure there will be a Taylormade rep trying to shore-up an equipment deal for the Alabama State student as we speak….

Nick made a big change to his bag recently by ditching the PING G430 LS Driver he was gaming in favour of the TaylorMade Qi10 LS, perhaps shaping a likely equipment deal with TaylorMade who, like most big OEMs handing out player contracts, will want their star-in-the making using their driver. Most OEMs will tolerate <14 club deals that give the player some flex to use other brands but using the Big Dog/The Chief/The Driver is often non-negotiable.

Nick has retained places for non-TaylorMade clubs in his bag with a PING G425 LST 3 wood, a Srixon ZX 3 iron and Odyssey Putter but the rest of his bag (Driver/Irons/Wedges) is locked up with TaylorMade clubs.

A notable mention must go to his Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 60 TX shaft which is up there with the Ventus Black X in terms of being one of the stiffest shafts on Tour, but Dunlap certainly has the speed to back it up averaging 180’s mph ball-speed and a staggering 331 average driving distance!

• Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS 9*, Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 60 TX

• 3-Wood: Ping G425 LST 14.5*, Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw White 85 TX

• 3 Iron: Srixon ZX 20*, Project X HZRDUS Black 105 6.5

• Irons: TaylorMade P7MC 4-9, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

• Wedges: TaylorMade MG3 48*, TaylorMade MG4 52*, 56*, 60*, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts

• Putter: Odyssey O-Works #7 Tank, Winn grip

• Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1

• Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord

Lydia Ko WITB

The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, LPGA Tour

Lydia Ko delivered an extremely accomplished performance in the opening LPGA Tour event of 2024 taking home the W at the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club. After a winless 2023, Lydia starts the season on the front-foot, and with a likely club endorsement with PING in the works’ she has certainly consolidated her commercial value for upcoming negotiations.

Lydia was with PXG for her equipment from 2017 until 2022, parting ways after their five-year deal expired. She played Titleist until early 2023, then swapped to PING woods and irons. The only things that have remained in her bag since changing from PXG are the Vokey SM9 and a Scotty Cameron putter, which she still has in the bag.

Things we love about Lydia’s bag are the PING G430 LST driver, the split-set PING i230/Blueprint irons and the tour-only TG6 Scotty Cameron putter.

• Driver: Ping G430 LST 10.5*, Mitsubishi Diamana GT 50 S 

• Fairway woods: Ping G430 Max 15* & 18* Mitsubishi Diamana GT 60 S

• Hybrid: Ping G430 22*, Graphite Design Tour AD HY 65 S 

• Irons: Ping i230 5-7, Ping Blueprint S 8-9, AeroTech SteelFiber fc 70  

• Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 46* (10F), AeroTech SteelFiber fc 70. 49* (10F), 54* (10F), 59* (08F), AeroTech SteelFiber fc 80

• Putter: Scotty Cameron TG6 

• Ball: Titleist Pro V1x 

Rory McIlroy WITB

The HERO Dubai Desert Classic, DP World Tour

Things that happen in January; short-lived abstinence from alcohol, short-lived interest in exercise and Rory contending in Dubai…

Rory was written-off by Sky Golf co-commentators Nick Dougherty and David Howell during Saturday’s broadcast as being “too-far back” which was a sure-fire way to summon a leaderboard-vaulting charge from the Northern-Irishman with a stone-cold 63. On Day 4, Cam Smith wilted, Adrien Meronk impressed and Rory dominated to win his 4th Dubai Desert Classic title.

Equipment-wise the biggest story in Rory’s bag was the switch out of his favoured low-spinning Driver/3W/5W heads in favour of the more forgiving/higher spinning Qi10 heads. Rory was gaming the Qi10 LS head coupled with last seasons preferred shaft, the Ventus TR Blue 6X, when it first hit the market but had his fitters build a Qi10 standard head combined with the Ventus TR Black 6X shaft for his first event at the Dubai Invitational. Similar switches occurred swapping out his Stealth 2+ 3W and Stealth + 5W for the new Qi10 standard heads.

• Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 8.25* loft, Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

• 3 Wood: TaylorMade Qi10 15*, Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X

• 5 Wood: TaylorMade Qi10 18*, Fujikura Ventus Black 9 X

• Irons: TaylorMade P760 4, TaylorMade Rors Proto 5-9, Project X Rifle 7.0 shafts

• Wedges: TaylorMade MG4, 46*, 50*, 54* and 60*, Project X Rifle 6.5

• Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X

• Ball: 2024 TaylorMade TP5x prototype

Jeremy Paul WITB*

Bahamas Great Exuma Classic, KornFerry Tour

*efforts were made to reach Jeremy for his very latest WITB but we have yet to receive a response, so exact WITB data might be incomplete/out of date

• Driver: Titleist TSR3 9*

• Hybrid: Titleist TSR3 19*

• Irons: T200 4, T100 5-9

• Wedges: Vokey Design SM9 46* (10F), 50* (12F), 56* (08M), WedgeWorks 60* (06K)

• Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #7CH, SuperStroke Traxion Pistol GT 2.0

• Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

• Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align

Kazuma Kobori WITB*

Webex Players Series Murray River, PGA Australia

*efforts were made to reach Kazuma for his very latest WITB but we have yet to receive a response, so exact WITB data might be incomplete/out of date

Next week we will round up the winning WITBs from the following events:

• Farmer’s Insurance Open, Torrey Pines, San Diego (PGA Tour)

• Ras Al Khaimah Championship, Al Hamra Golf Club, UAE (DP World Tour)

• Drive On Championship, Bradenton Country Club, Florida (LPGA Tour)

• Webex Players Series Hosted by Geoff Ogilvy, Rosebud Country Club Victoria (PGA of Australia)

Thanks and have a great week! Any suggestion please HMU on socials.

Peace x

#WITBweekly