An exciting week in the world of golf awaits us as the world’s best players head to Carnoustie ahead of the 147th playing of The Open Championship.

As usual, we’re bringing you a special edition of Callaway News in anticipation of the third Major of 2018, going into detail about the #TeamCallaway ambassadors teeing it up later this week, from first-time competitors to rising stars and previous Open winners alike. Check out our player highlights and cheer on the team with us.

You’ll also see Callaway on-screen this week as we add brand-new content to our ongoing TV campaign in sponsorship of the upcoming Major. You can preview the new Chrome Soft Golf Ball advert for the first time ^ above.

OPEN PREVIEW

The 147th edition of The Open Championship is here and we have no fewer than 21 Callaway Staffers heading to Carnoustie Golf Links to compete for the only Major held outside of the U.S.

Of the #TeamCallaway Staffers in the field, we have five-time Major winner and previous Open Champion, Phil Mickelson, as well as the 2016Open winner, Henrik Stenson.

Joining them, we have Masters Champions Sergio Garcia (2017) and Danny Willett (2016). There’s also Kelly Kraft, who makes his Open debut this week, as well as three-time top six finisher at The Open, Marc Leishman.

Check out just some of the #TeamCallaway highlights ahead of this year’s Tournament…

Check out what previous Open winners, Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson are gaming…

The Open Championship commences this week and, to commemorate the third annual Major, at its eighth playing at Carnoustie Golf Links, we’ve created two limited edition leather golf bags (staff and stand versions) with matching headcovers for driver, fairway wood and hybrid.

The design pays homage to the home of this year’s Tournament, as Scottish lore indicates that Carnoustie was once known as ‘Craw’s Nestie’, meaning ‘Crow’s Nest’.

One-two for Mizuno in the industries most comprehensive independent irons test.

Mizuno’s MP-18 SC and MP-18 MMC models saw off 14 rivals to record a remarkable one-two in the most comprehensive independent iron tests in the industry, the MyGolfSpy.com ‘Most Wanted Players Iron Test 2018’.

MyGolfSpy.com is an independent testing and review website, considered by many to be the Consumer Reports of Golf. It is the only major golf media outlet to accept no advertising revenue from golf’s biggest companies, and as such, has become the most authoritative testing voice in the industry, accruing 34.4 million readers along the way.

Putting 16 non-blade players’ irons to the test over 120 hours of testing, with twenty testers in the target handicap bracket for this kind of iron hit 9,481 shots with long, mid and short irons, generating well over 400,000 data points via the world’s most trusted launch monitor.

For the ‘Most Wanted Players Iron Test 2018’, MyGolfSpy collected a standard set of launch monitor metrics (ball speed, launch angle, spin rates, distance and more), with the winning club finishing in the statistically significant top group (based on Strokes Gained) for the highest percentage of testers.

MyGolfSpy uses a metric called TRUERank that factors in order of finish (rank), along with the percentage of golfers for whom each club was shown to be in the top group.

The Mizuno MP-18 SC topped the test to become the ‘Most Wanted Players Iron 2018’, securing 1^st place in the mid-iron rank, 2^nd in the short iron rank and 5^th in the long iron rank to return a TRUERank of 55% and finish seven percentage points ahead of its nearest rival. That nearest rival was sister model, the MP-18 MMC, which finished 2^nd in both the short and long iron ranks, and 5^th in the mid-iron rank to achieve a TRUERank of 48%.

Another Major tournament is on the horizon once again, following on from The Masters – The US Open.

This year, it is taking place at the Shinnecock Hills Golf club for the fifth time, with a truly exceptional field of players.

Here at GolfGearDirect.co.uk, we are intrigued to find out who will come out on top, so we have highlighted some of the top picks for 2018.

With that in mind, you must be wondering who is on the cards to win this year?

We take a look at the US Open favourites from the Bookies

Dustin Johnson 9/1

The world number 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Dustin Johnson is the favourite to win this years’ US Open.

The 2016 US Open held at Oakmont was his first Major that he won with an excellent previous record within previous tournaments, with a T4th finish in 2014 and a T2nd in 2015.

Is he your favourite to win?

 

Rory Mcllroy 11/1

His first US Open win was in 2011 along with another 3 Major’s. He is looking good for this year since winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational

He has had many chances to win other tournaments this year, showing his track record is looking better for this year than 2017, including two seconds, a T3, T5 and T8th.

 

 

Jordan Spieth 11/1

The winner of the 2015 US Open and was third in The Masters 2018.

However, Jordan Spieth needs to improve his putting abilities, where he is currently 186th in the PGA Tour’s Strokes Gained.

With that in mind, he consistently is fancied to win at the Majors.

Do you think he’ll improve?

 

Justin Thomas 15/1
From being the number 1 golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking, he now falls 2nd behind Dustin Johnson.

He came very close to winning last year at Erin Hills, finishing at a tie for 9th.

Similar to Jordan Spieth, his putting does need some work, however he is the most prolific winner on tour.

One to keep your eye out for!

 

Jason Day 15/1

His track record for previous US Open’s prove that he has a chance this year, with 5 top 10s in 7 US Open appearances.

For 2018, he has already won the Farmers Insurance Open and Wells Fargo Championship.

With two runner-ups in previous US Opens, do you think he will triumph this year?

 

 

Tiger Woods 16/1

The Tiger is back!

The 42 year old holds the 14-time Major winner. This year marks the 10 year anniversary of his last US Open victory in 2008.

For 2018, he has had an impressive comeback with a T2nd at the Valspar Championship and T5th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

 

 

Justin Rose 16/1

Rose is currently 3rd in the world, recently having the chance to become number 1.

Since the 2013 US Open, he has has 15 top 10 finishes and has won four times since October 2017.

Some may agree that he is at the best form of his life, so only time will tell if he can reach the number 1 spot!

 

 

The US Open starts Thursday the 14th June, so get glued to your screens and find out who will win this years Major!

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Odds are for illustrative guidance only.

This week at Callaway Golf Europe, we’re all delighted with the news that we’ve maintained our position as Europe’s #1 Hard Goods and Ball Brand for the calendar year to date. This success has been built on the combination of great performing product, outstanding support from our partners, plus visibility and success on Tour… and this weekend was no exception.

Shop: Callaway XR Speed Driver

At the Italian Open and the U.S. Women’s Open, the Callaway product range was again leading the way. Rogue Sub Zero was the #1 Driver Model in Italy (with Rogue Standard #2) while, across the pond, Rogue was #1 at Shoal Creek with an impressive 47 models in play.

Following yesterday’s final qualifiers for the 2018 US Open in eight days‘ time, we have several more Callaway Staffers in the mix hoping to seal a Major victory (including James Morrison who headed qualifying from Walton Heath).

#1 ON MAJOR WORLDWIDE TOURS

Rogue achieved more success on Tour this weekend, with Rogue Sub Zero the #1 Driver Model in the field at the Italian Open. Just as per the BMW PGA Championship last weekend, a Callaway Driver was also the #2 Driver Model in play with Rogue Standard.

As well as topping the model count in the Drivers category, Rogue was also the #1 Fairway Wood Model at Gardagolf CC, while our new X Forged UT and X Forged ’18 Irons captured the #1 Irons and #1 Utility Irons categories.

Over on the LPGA Tour, Callaway was the #1 Driver Model and the #1 Fairway Wood Model at the U.S. Women’s Open. Incredibly, of the 47 Rogue Drivers in the field, 40 were used by non-staffers who chose to play the model based on its performance alone.

The Callaway Rogue Drivers have proven themselves on Tour, with Staffers Phil Mickelson, Michelle Wie, Sergio Garcia, and many others, finding the winners circle in 2018. But how does Rogue perform against its competition for the amateur golfer? GolfWRX and MyGolfSpy put that to the test in their 2018 Fitters Choice, 2018 Member’s Choice and Most Wanted Reviews features, and these are some of the highlights:

• Rogue was voted the best driver of 2018 in the Fitters Choice survey and said to be “extremely forgiving, very long, fits the broadest demographic of players”
• Rogue Sub Zero was voted by members as the best driver of 2018 and dubbed “the real deal”
• Rogue Sub Zero awarded the most-wanted driver for golfers with ‘moderate swing speeds’ (90-104) and ‘high swing speeds’ (105+)
• Rogue Draw received 63% of the vote for the questions “What would you recommend to a 12-handicapper who slices?”​ and “What driver would you recommend to a better player who wants low spin?”

ODYSSEY TOPS THE LPGA LEADERBOARD

Odyssey continues to dominate across the worldwide Tours and, this weekend, it was the #1 Putter Brand on the European Tour and LPGA Tour. It was at the U.S. Women’s Open at Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club where Odyssey really stole the show though, finishing 1-2-3 at the top of the leaderboard.

Back on the European Tour, Odyssey also maintained its status as the #1 Putter Brand on Tour with 43% of golfers choosing to put an Odyssey flatstick in the bag.

U.S. Women’s Open — Hyo-Joo Kim and EZONE GT hit 91% of fairways to force thrilling four-hole playoff.

 

Shoal Creek, Alabama — Hyo-Joo Kim shot her way back from a seven-shot deficit the USGA U.S. Women’s Open this past weekend, hitting the fairway more than 91% of the time and sinking some impressively long putts, to force a two-hole playoff, which became four before a winner was decided. 

 

At the end of the first nine of the final round, Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand appeared to have things locked up, as she led the pack by seven shots. But due to a pair of bogeys and one triple bogey she opened the way up for Kim, who shot an impeccable 5-under with her EZONE GT series of clubs, to end the day tied and force a two-hole aggregate playoff. 

 

 

Kim would go on to birdie the first hole and bogey the second, leaving both women tied and forcing sudden death. They both parred the next hole, but on the fourth playoff hole, Kim hit only her second bogey of the day, opening the way for Jutanugarn’s victory. 

 

 

Hyo- Joo has already been in the spotlight back in 2014 when she broke the record for the lowest round (inclusive off men’s and women’s tours) in a major with a first round of 10-under (61) on her way to claiming her first major at the Evian Championship. 

In Hyo-Joo Kim’s bag: 

Woods: EZONE GT 

Irons: EZONE GT Irons

 

COBRA PUMA GOLF Pro DeChambeau Captures Second PGA TOUR Win with
COBRA Golf’s KING Forged ONE Length Irons in the Bag

COBRA PUMA GOLF athlete Bryson DeChambeau is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, capturing his second win at this weeks’ Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.

DeChambeau emerged from a crowded leaderboard on Saturday, shooting a third-round 66, to take a one-shot lead headed into the fourth round.

He continued his steady play Sunday, shooting a 1-under 71 to tie the lead, eventually winning the event on the second playoff hole!

DeChambeau who tied #1 in strokes gained total and sand saves, #1 in scrambling and #5 in driving distance this week, won with full bag of COBRA Golf equipment including a KING LTD Driver and KING Forged ONE Length irons, and dressed head to toe in apparel, accessories and footwear from PUMA Golf including the celebrated PWRADAPT Leather golf shoes.

Since signing with COBRA PUMA GOLF in early 2016, DeChambeau has become known for his scientific approach to the game, his unique style, and his use of ONE Length irons.

He worked with COBRA Golf’s R&D team to launch its first sets of ONE-length irons, including the new KING F8 ONE Length and the KING Forged ONE irons he currently has in the bag.

With Tour proven performance, these irons are optimised for performance providing the soft feel, distance and precision demanded by the best golfers. The KING FORGED ONE LENGTH TM utilises a 5-step forging process that ensures precise iron shaping, a more refined grain structure, along with unparalleled feel for better players.

The set is comprised of constant length irons that have been re-engineered for 7-iron weighting and are designed with optimised geometries, to provide consistent trajectory and distance gapping from long irons to wedges.

Details of the COBRA Golf Clubs in DeChambeau’s bag:
Driver: KING LTD PRO 8.5° | Ture Temper HZRDUS T1100 75x | 45.5
FWY: KING LTD 3/4 Fwy; 14.5 degrees | True Temper HZRDUS Black | 85x @ 43
FWY: F8+ Baffler 5wd | 17.5 degrees | True Temper HZRDUS Black | 85x @ 41”

Irons: COBRA KING ONE Length Utility (4 & 5) | Forged ONE Length | 6-P | True Temper X7 | 37.5″ for all

Wedges: COBRA KING V Grind | 50° | KING WideLow Grind 55° and 60° | True Temper
X7 | 37.5″ for all

DeChambeau’s PUMA Golf apparel, accessories and footwear are from the brands 2018 Spring Summer Collection showcasing fresh, fashionable patterns, a versatile color palette and cutting-edge technical elements, that are designed to enhance on-course performance and provide looks that turn heads whether golfers are in bunkers or at the bar.

IGNITE PWRADAPT Leather Shoes feature revolutionary and proprietary PWRADAPT
Technology for more traction with every move. Additionally, the shoes deliver
sophisticated style and crazy comfort with a premium leather upper combined with a
mesh hybrid bootie lining for excellent fit.

The Pounce Aston Golf Polo: A signature PUMA Golf piece loved by the Bryson, the
Aston Polo boasts subtle tonal high and low stripes and comes in a variety of color
options.

And his signature TOUR Driver Cap: Dapper and distinctive, the Driver Puma Cap can be styled for any on or off-course occasion. Features include a moisture-wicking performance sweatband to protect sweat from affecting your game and a classic brim designed to shield your face from the sun.

Who would have thought Spikeless golf shoes would be more popular than traditional? Not many, but it’s happening.

Spike marks are less of a problem, greenskeepers are happier and spending your Sunday afternoon unclogging dirt from your shoes, is thankfully a thing of the past.

Within the last 2-3 years, the spikeless, and dare I say it… ‘trainer style‘ golf shoe, has now been rightfully accepted by the majority of golfers worldwide.

Taking inspiration from award-winning Italian designs, the Duca del Cosma bring you a sophisticated and fashionable touch on the traditional style golf shoe in 2018.

Under new ownership since 2016, Duca del Cosma has a wealth of market experience behind them, to combine innovation with heritage designs.

 

“Golfers who try them comment that our shoes are extremely comfortable from the very first time they wear them,”

“We pride ourselves on being the brand that pioneered the spikeless golf shoe and we continue to move forward with new shoe technologies, as well as an exceptional range of colours and design styles,” Tony Eccleston, Duca del Cosma 

Leading styles for Men include the Camelot, Kuba and La Spezia designs, while the Ladies collection also boasts a stylish range including the Palm Springs , Porto Ercole and Olbia models.

The design, detail and quality of the Duca del Cosma range is matched with advanced technology.

A waterproof ‘microfibre’ system acts like a breathable protective ‘sock’ within the shoe.

The waterproof ‘membrane’ keeps your feet dry during play and is supported by a soft PU sole insert to provide that extra comfort for those long rounds.

Ladies Porto Ercole – White/Sand

Duca del Cosma’s innovative SKY-FLEX technology is featured on the outsole. Built around an ergonomic design, Sky-Flex provides the ultimate grip during your swing for the best possible strike.  The shoe also features special channels that allow bend and flex, to offer a natural roll-off motion on your feet.

Duca del Cosma’s 2018 Men’s and Ladies range is available Online and In-Store at Golfgeardirect from May 2018