The Turkish Airlines Open was a mere formality with one round left to play as Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen opened up a seven-shot lead thanks to some sublime golf over the first three days.

However it was a slow start to Sunday for the 26-year-old: level-par through 11 holes saw his lead reduced to just the solitary shot as England’s David Horsey found himself six-under after 12 and hot on Olesen’s heels. It’s at times such as these when you find out what a person is made of; and three birdies in the following four holes all but secured the Turkish Airlines Open for the talented Dane – even allowing him to drop a shot on the closing straight.

Having made just three of his last 12 cuts, this triumph was a welcome relief for Thorbjørn Olesen and means it is his third consecutive season with victory on the European Tour.

What equipment did Olesen use?

Driver: TaylorMade M1, Mitsubishi Kuro Kage XT 70 TX

Fairway Woods: TaylorMade M2, Tour AD 8X Black

Irons: TaylorMade PSi Tour, Project X 6.5 shafts

Wedges: TaylorMade TP EF, Project X 6.5 shafts

"Winning today, I feel has got me closer to being able to compete a lot better in the Major tournaments. My next goal is, of course, to win a Major and I'm going to do all that I can to prepare well for that.”

These comments were made by Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama following his victory in last week’s WGC-HSBC Champions event.

The four majors aside, there’s nothing quite like winning a World Golf Championships event. Many see it as a sign that the winner is ready to compete at the highest level, and this is certainly the case for Matsuyama.

The 24-year-old carded 29 birdies over the week to finish seven clear of Henrik Stenson and Daniel Berger on 23-under-par. To put this achievement into perspective, only Tiger Woods has managed to win a WGC event by seven shots or more – something he’s done on four separate occasions. Not bad company to hold for the new world number six.

You may have seen our earlier blog post on Rory’s switch to the TaylorMade M2 driver and metal wood (click here to read) for the event in China; well it certainly didn’t hamper the Northern Irishman as he finished in T4 to move up to second in the World Rankings. In fact, McIlroy’s average driving distance for the week was a measly 300.5 yards – putting him 4th in the field that week.

But even McIlroy was no match for Matsuyama last week, I truly impressive performance that puts him in good stead for the 2017 Majors.

What equipment did Matsuyama use?

• Driver – Callaway Great Big Bertha (9 degree)
• Fairway wood – TaylorMade RBZ (15 degree)
• Irons – TaylorMade M2 Tour (3-iron); Srixon Z945 (4-PW)
• Wedges – Cleveland RTX 2.0 (52, 56 & 60)
• Putter – Scotty Cameron Newport

Callaway Staff player Alex Noren has been in fantastic form of late and this week secured his third European Tour victory since the start of summer at the British Masters.

The Swede started the rain-delayed final day with a three-shot lead and made the perfect start with birdies at his opening two holes. At this stage things looked like a mere formality until a little wobble around the turn – bogeys at the 8th and 11th holes – saw Noren’s lead reduced to a solitary stroke. With just four holes to go, Noren showed his class with two birdies over the closing stretch to win by two from Bernd Wiesberger in second place.

The win propels Noren inside the top 20 of the world golf rankings for the first time in his career; not bad for someone who ended the 2014 season down at 653rd!

What equipment did Noren use?

• Driver – Callaway XR 16 (8.5 degrees)
• Fairway wood – Callaway XR (3-wood)
• Hybrid – Callaway Apex (18 degrees)
• Irons – Callaway Apex Pro 16 (4-9)
• Wedges – Callaway Mack Daddy 2 (47, 52, 56 & 60)
• Putter – Odyssey Works

Across the other side of the pond all eyes were fixed on the Safeway Open. Tiger Woods’ imminent return to the game was pencilled in for last week’s PGA Tour event, but a late withdrawal by the former world number one left many wondering if he will ever return to his formidable best.

Whilst reflecting, think back to last year’s Safeway Open when wire-to-wire leader Brendan Steele fell apart down the closing stretch. It’s not often that you get the chance to make up for what went before, but the American birdied his final three holes en-route to a seven-under-par 65 in California. This left Steele one clear of overnight leader Patton Kizzire and gave him his second PGA Tour victory of his career.

What equipment did Steele use?

• Driver – TaylorMade M2 (9.5 degrees)
• Fairway wood – TaylorMade M2 (15 & 21 degrees)
• Irons – Wilson FG Tour 100 (4-PW)
• Wedges – Wilson FG Tour (50 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM5 (58 & 60)
• Putter – Scotty Cameron Futura

History was made on the European Tour last week as Francesco Molinari became the first home player to win the Italian Open on two occasions. The Italian fired a closing 65 to beat Ryder Cup star Danny Willett by one in a tense final-day battle.

Molinari – a former Ryder Cup player himself – couldn’t have asked for a better start; an eagle-3 on the first followed by a birdie at the second opened up a quick two-shot advantage over the Englishman. Standing on the 13th tee, Molinari was four ahead and looked destined for victory. We all know how quickly things can change in the game of golf, and it only took two holes for Willett to close the gap to one with four holes to play. Despite some nervy moments from both players over the closing stretch, they both parred the remaining four holes to see Molinari pick up his fourth European Tour victory.

It was a good week for some of Europe’s other Ryder Cup jewels too, as Cabrera-Bello finished T12, Fitzpatrick ended the week in T15, whilst Kaymer, Sullivan and Wood all finished in T20. Finding form at just the right time? Let’s hope so!

What equipment did Molinari use?

• Driver – Nike Vapor Fly (10.5 degrees)
• Fairway wood – Nike Vapor Fly (13 degrees)
• Hybrid – Nike Vapor Fly (17 degrees)
• Irons – Nike Vapor Pro Combo (4 iron); Nike Vapor Pro (5-PW)
• Wedges – Nike Engage (52, 56 & 60)
• Putter – Nike Method

In what was the first event on the European Tour since Darren Clarke finalised his Ryder Cup Team last week, spectators and media alike were wondering how Europe’s elite would fare at the Omega European Masters.

Top 12 finishes for Westwood, Fitzpatrick and Willett provided fans with some extra hope heading into next month’s biannual battle with the Americans – we’ll forget the slight blips (missed cuts) for Sullivan and captain Clarke on this occasion.

However it was Sweden’s Alex Noren and Australia’s Scott Hend who snatched the limelight come Sunday afternoon; an extra play-off hole needed to separate the two. Hend went into the final round with a one-shot lead but found himself two behind the Swede with four holes left to play. A birdie at 15 followed by a three-putt bogey for Noren on 17 forced a play-off at Crans-sue-Sierre.

A well-timed birdie for Noren at the first play-off hole secured his second impressive victory of the summer, following his triumph at the Scottish Open in July.

What equipment did Noren use?

• Driver – Callaway XR 16 (8.5 degrees)
• Fairway wood – Callaway XR (15 degrees)
• Hybrid – Callaway Apex hybrid (18 degrees)
• Irons – Callaway Apex Pro (4-9)
• Wedges – Callaway Mack Daddy 2 (47, 52, 56 & 60)
• Putter – Odyssey Works

Englishman and Under Armour Golf UK ambassador Matthew Fitzpatrick eased to his second European Tour victory in last week’s Nordea Masters. Since turning pro off a handicap of plus four in 2014, the impressive 21-year-old has endured a very promising start to his professional career and now finds himself sitting amongst the elite inside the world’s top 35. Fitzpatrick reeled off 17
birdies in his first three rounds, giving him a comfortable five-shot lead heading into Sunday’ showdown. He never looked back as he waltzed to a three-shot victory to secure his place in this year’s Open Championship. On a course which boasts five par-5s, a good performance tee-to-green was always going to go a long way in determining how high up the leaderboard you finished.

Fitzpatrick certainly got it right this week.

Matthew played the longer holes in 10-under-par without a single dropped shot. The only way this would be possible is by hitting fairways and greens, something which the winner did time-after-time. He actually finished third in ‘Driving Accuracy’ at over 73% of fairways found for the week, and first in ‘Greens in Regulation’ with 85% of greens being hit – that’s 7 out of every 8 greens! Impressive golf.

Here’s what Fitzpatrick had in his golf bag…

• Driver – Callaway Big Bertha Alpha (10.5 degrees)
• Fairway woods – PING G 3-wood & 5-wood (14.5 degrees & 20.5 degrees)
• Irons – PING i25 (3-5 irons); PING S55 (6-9 irons)
• Wedges – PING Tour Gorge (47 degrees); Vokey SM5 (54 & 58 degrees)
• Putter – Yes

The term ‘journeyman’ gets batted around a lot, but that’s exactly what last week’s PGA Tour winner, William McGirt, is. By his own confession he’s been around the block, but the 36-year-old’s career will never be the same again after his sudden-death playoff win at the Memorial Tournament. It was a very steady scorecard for McGirt on Sunday, mixing one birdie with 17 pars to record a one-under-par 71 and tie Jon Curran at the top of the leaderboard. And it was a similar story in the playoff as both Americans went to head-to-head. Pars for both on first playoff hole meant a second was needed. Both Curran and McGirt missed the green at the second time of asking, and once Curran failed to get up-and-down, McGirt was left with a seven-footer for the win. This was McGirt’s maiden Tour victory in his 165th start, upstaging a star-studded field in the process.

Here’s what McGirt used en-route to victory…

• Driver – TaylorMade M2 (8.5 degrees)
• Fairway woods – TaylorMade M2 (13 degrees); TaylorMade M1 (17 degrees)
• Irons – Srixon Z-U45 (2 & 3 irons); Srixon Z-745 (5-PW)
• Wedges – Cleveland 588 RTX 2.0 (54 & 60 degrees)
• Ball – Srixon Z-Star

Travelers Championship

Russell Knox boosted his credentials for a place in the European Ryder Cup team after securing his second win of the season at the Travelers Championship in America. Having started the day three back from the overnight leader, the Scot carded his fourth sub-70 round of the week - including a clutch par-save from the greenside bunker at 18 – to win by one from American Jerry Kelly.

It’s not often that the main talking point from a Sunday has nothing to do with the winner, but Jim Furyk’s final-round exploits rather overshadowed Knox’s success. Starting the final round at one-over-par, Furyk went on to make 10 birdies and an eagle for a sensational 12-under-par 58. The 46-year-old American is the first player to achieve such a feat on the PGA Tour.

With the Ryder Cup taking place on American soil next month, both Furyk and Knox are looking like they’ll be dependent upon a captain’s pick to make their respective teams. As far as the European team goes, Knox could prove pivotal to the team’s chances having been based on the PGA Tour in recent years and winning twice this season. Watch this space.

What equipment did Knox use?

• Driver – TaylorMade M2 (10.5 loft)
• Fairway wood – Callaway Big Bertha (16 loft); Cleveland Launcher (19 degrees)
• Hybrid – Cleveland Launcher (20.5); Cleveland Mashie (23)
• Irons – Srixon Z-545 (5-iron); Srixon Z-745 (6-9)
• Wedges – Cleveland 588 RTX 2.0 (54 & 60)
• Putter – SeeMore

Aberdeen Asset Management Paul Lawrie Matchplay

To win one European Tour event is a dream to many, and the reality is that most golfers won’t even achieve that. But back in 2000 when Anthony Wall won his first event at the tender age of 24, many assumed he’d go on to win several more. Well, roll on 16 years and the Englishman has just clinched his second title at the 2016 Aberdeen Asset Management Paul Lawrie Matchplay event.

After driving into the trees at the first during the final, Wall subsequently found himself two down through the first two holes. But the 41-year-old battled hard to overcome the favourite, Noren, on the final green of this taxing tournament. On what must be a welcome break for many players, matchplay golf always throws up a few surprises and not many would have predicted Wall to get to the latter stages, let alone go on to win the event.

But the Wilson Staff ambassador mixed 29 birdies with two eagles over an enthralling week to capture his second European Tour victory.