Titleist, Mizuno golf clubs that won The Open

After winning the 2022 Players Championship, Australia’s Cameron Smith moved from No. 11 to No. 6 on the Official World Golf Ranking. Simply winning that event against the strongest field in golf would have made for a great year, but on Sunday, his win at the 150th British Open at St. Andrews made his season historically significant. He woke up Monday morning ranked No. 2 in the world, a major winner and only the second golfer in history to win the Players Championship and British Open in the same year, joining Jack Nicklaus.

Golfweek talked with PGA Tour reps from Titleist to learn about the gear that Cameron Smith used at St. Andrews, what he looks for in his clubs and to discover any changes he made in preparation for this season’s final major. Here’s what we learned.

DRIVER: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Blue 6X shaft

Cameron Smith tees off on the 18th hole during the final round of the 150th Open Championship golf tournament at St. Andrews Old Course. (Photo: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports)

Heading into this season, Cameron Smith had been using a 45-inch, 10-degree Titleist TSi3 fitted with a Fujikura Ventus Blue 6X shaft, and he used that club to win at TPC Sawgrass. While the stated loft was 10 degrees, Smith had SureFit adjustable hosel in the D4 setting, which keeps the lie angle the same but increases the loft by .075 degrees, so the playing loft was 10.75.

The TSi3 has a track to hold a moveable weight in the back of the head that allows golfers and fitters to shift the center of gravity location and set the club up with either a fade or a draw bias or create a neutral weight distribution. Smith put two weights in the track, one in the toe and one in the heel, according to J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, Titleist’s director of player promotions.

“It was about increasing the dynamic loft, to make the shape of a TSi3 act like a TSi2,” Van Wezenbeeck said. By adding more weight to the back of the head in both the heel and toe areas, the dynamic loft increases, along with the stability.

Before the start of the PGA Championship, Smith switched shafts in his driver, going from a Fujikura Ventus Blue 6X shaft to a Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 6X shaft. The TR version of the Ventus Blue shaft is slightly stiffer than the standard Blue, and produces less spin and a lower flight. It fits between Ventus Blue and Ventus Black, the stiffest, lowest-spinning and lowest-flying Ventus. Smith also had Titleist…