The Acushnet Company’s new 2023 Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls each made their PGA Tour debut last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship – a week earlier than expected. The company’s tour seeding process for 2023 Pro V1 and Pro V1x had been scheduled to begin this week at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.
In the days leading up to Sanderson Farms, however, Titleist tour reps received multiple requests from Garrick Higgo, M.J. Daffue and Gary Woodland – each of whom had done extensive testing during the prototyping process – asking to put the new balls in play as soon as possible.
The final Pro V1 and Pro V1x prototypes, manufactured at Titleist Ball Plant 3 in New Bedford, Mass., were delivered overnight and arrived Tuesday morning at The Country Club of Jackson in Titleist’s white box prototype packaging.
On Thursday, Higgo (Pro V1), Daffue (Pro V1x) and Woodland (Pro V1x) became the first three players to game the 2023 models in competition. Four holes into his first round, Daffue’s NEW Pro V1x rolled into the cup at the 182-yard par-3 4th for an ace. Playing his NEW Pro V1, Higgo led the field in birdies (24), closing in 4-under 68 Sunday to finish one shot out of the playoff.
Photo Courtesy of The Acushnet Company