It was only a matter of time before TaylorMade’s new driver for 2026 recorded its first win – and it was Jayden Schaper who delivered at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa.
We’ve been reporting on the TaylorMade Qi4D driver for a couple of months now, ever since it was spotted on the USGA Conforming List prior to the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in November.
The top three players in the world – Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Tommy Fleetwood – have all had the new driver in the bag since, as have a growing number of other TaylorMade staff players.
For Schaper, it was a TaylorMade Qi4D (9° Std-1) that helped power him to victory at Royal Johannesburg Golf Club, win number one on tour for the new model.
Meanwhile, Lauren Coughlin recorded a first win for the new Ping G440 K driver at the Grant Thornton Invitational.
Lauren Coughlin with the new Ping G440 K driver at the Grant Thornton Invitational
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Playing alongside Andrew Novak in the PGA Tour-LPGA Tour team event, the 33-year-old has clearly taken a shine to what appears to be the next iteration of the popular G440 range.
The Ping G440 K, which we believe to be a high-MOI model in similar vein to the G430 Max 10K driver, also appeared on the Conforming List last month.
As much as we love to see new equipment on tour (we’re very much looking forward to the PGA Show in Orlando in January, when we’ll be getting a closer look at loads of 2026 products), we also enjoy seeing old favorites in play.
One of the latest players to stick an old driver in the bag is former World No.1, Jason Day, who played with a TaylorMade M5 during the Grant Thornton Invitational, a model that replaced the M3 in 2019.
Jason Day was playing with an old TaylorMade M5 driver at the Grant Thornton Invitational
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The Australian was playing alongside New Zealand’s Lydia Ko in Naples, Florida, and he appears to have opted for a change at the top end of the bag, benching, for the time being at least, his Ping G440 LST.
Elsewhere, in the same event, Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson both switched to new equipment.
It was no great surprise to see the former make the move to the new TaylorMade Qi4D driver, and join the likes of McIlroy, Fleetwood,…
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