Titleist is on a Small Roll...

Back in the day, one of my buds had a saying.... "I'm on a small roll". To the world, that meant "I managed to get a girl to talk to me more than once in a 72 hour period without slapping my face" - however, to Jim it meant " I am having a great deal of success with something that is my primary focus in life".

Well, based on the results thus far in 2010 on the PGA Tour, the folks at Titleist are "on a small roll"... Check This Out...

Event	Winner	Irons	Ball
Northern Trust Open	Stricker	Titleist 755	Pro V1
Farmer's Insurance Open	Crane	Titleist AP2	Pro V1x
Bob Hope Classic	Haas	Titleist CB Forged	Pro V1
Sony Open	Palmer	Titleist AP2	Pro V1
SBS Classic	Ogilvy	Titleist MB	Pro V1

No question, this is a pretty impressive showing. I've previously written about Titleist, and given them some grief for losing young players soon after they join the pro ranks (Danny Lee, etc.). However, in addition to the impressive list above, they have done a kick a$$ job in the last year snagging some real young guns....ponder this list:

• Rory McIlroy
• Rickie (Aerosmith) Fowler
• Michael Sim
• Nick Watney

They also migrated Geoff Ogilvy over from sister company Cobra (can Camilo,Ian, and JB be next ??). Hat's off to Titleist for keeping the pedal to the metal and setting the standard among the Tour players. Another thought provoking factoid:

- 2010 Results - 5 Winners, All played Titleist Irons and Balls

- 2nd half of 2009: 21 Winners, 4 played Titleist Irons, 9 Played Titleist Balls

For the Math nerds among us, that means that Titleist has improved their iron's success rate by more than 500%, and have ALREADY had more different Winners in 2010 than they had in all of 2009 ( 5 vs. 3). In addition, their ball success rate has improved by more than 2X.

Just curious about a couple of things...

(1) I wonder how long it will be until a ball made by anyone ELSE wins a 2010 event ? My guess... March.

(2) Could the new grooves have anything to do with Titleist's dominance thus far ? Are their balls performing better with the new grooves ? Are their "new grooves" somehow better ?

(3) Is this the Tiger effect ? (sorry, could not ignore that....)

And you thought Bushwood never did any real research....take THAT Waggleroom !

Sunday Doral Observations - Phil TCB

A few random observations for those of you who could not catch the final round of the WGC at Doral

- Tiger Woods (once again) displays amazing patience: Jimmy Roberts, immediately following Tiger's round asks him "how high is this on the frustration meter" ? Tiger. always cool, handles the question with class. (FWIW, the dude shot 7 under - not the winning score, but clearly a strong showing for his second event back)
- Jeev Singh is pretty much unflappable. He had a lot of chances to get really frustrated and he never seemed to bat an eyelash.
- Jim Furyk is ON FIRE on the last 6 holes...I am gonna attribute that to his change to a more stylish color palette this year (no more beige, thank God)
- Phil and Nick Watney are trading punches like two heavyweight boxers - it's really great entertainment. They are both playing some balls out golf...and looking a little worn out on the last few holes after a slugfest in the middle of the round.
- Watney has hit some magical shots today - ones which TW would envy...but he has also hit some I haven't seen since....I played Friday afternoon - some real stinkers for sure...
- Those are some REALLY FUNKY looking bunkers....and they are eating Watney up. Seriously, for a PGA player, his bunker shots are weak.
- Phil has a pretty good RIGHT handed swing - better than most you see in your weekend foursome.
- The NBC crew is pimping "Celebrity Apprentice" hard, and nary a mention of Natalie Gulbis being on the show...huh ???
- I get it that Rory is the next Sergio(or Tiger,Jack, Ben,Arnold, etc.), but damn he hit some ugly shots this week. The rough around the greens seemed to especially confuse him.
- Hard to figure the greens in South Fla not being in better condition than they are this week - lots of brown spots for a marquee track.
- For the ladies, Camilo is rockin' a RED belt today - matching his red shirt - Tigeresque, no ?
- To the dude who yelled "Go in the water" when Phil hit his tee shot on #18 - you suck - I hope you are making some new friends in the county jail tonight...
- #18, Phil leads by one - both he and Watney split the fairway with their tee shots. Both safely on (the fringe)....and PHIL WINS !!!!