Peter Malnati's Winning Bag | 2024 Valspar Championship
Peter Malnati surged up the leaderboard Sunday at the Valspar Championship, going 4-under on the back 9 to secure a two-stroke victory, giving him his first win on the PGA Tour in 9 years!
Malnati is known for wearing a bucket hat and being one of the only PGA Tour players to use a yellow ball, so it only makes sense that his bag has plenty of intrigue to it as well. His winning bag featured nothing but Titleist clubs, though there's a mix of generations throughout the bag, and even a unique combination in his irons.
All WITB info is courtesy of GolfWRX.
Driver: Titleist TSR3
Malnati starts his bag off with a Titleist TSR3. He sets it up at 10 degrees with a Project X Denali Blue 60 TX shaft in it. The TSR3 is a lower-spinning, highly adjustable driver, which suits whichever ball flight a player prefers, and Malnati had it dialed in en route to victory. He finished 4th in Strokes Gained Off The Tee, gaining 3.45 strokes on the field. Interestingly enough, Malnati was middle of the pack in accuracy and distance, finishing tied for 47th in fairway percentage at 51.92 percent, and 59th in driving distance, averaging 291.8 yards off the tee. But even without overpowering the course, nor hitting it down the fairway every hole, Malnati could put himself in position off the tee to score when he needed to.
3-Wood: Titleist TSi3
Moving into the fairway woods, and that’s where Malnati stays with Titleist, but goes back a generation, using the TSi3. Like the TSi3 driver, the TSi3 Fairway Wood is a highly adjustable, low-spinning option that can provide players with optimal launch conditions, and increased potential distance. It gave him another option off the tee when he was looking to shape a specific shot or take a little off, and also gave him a great option to attack par 5’s in two with.
Hybrid: Titleist 818 H2
Staying with the long game, but switching the club category, Malnati goes back a few generations for his hybrid, playing a Titleist 818 H2 Hybrid, which was released in 2017, and he plays it at 19 degrees. The 818 H2 hybrid features SureFit CG technology, which allows for precise customization of the center of gravity position, enabling golfers to fine-tune ball flight and shot shape to suit their preferences and course conditions. It also features an Active Recoil Channel 2.0, which enhances ball speed and distance by flexing at impact, ensuring consistent performance across the face. That combination gives Malnati a club to attack greens from distance with, especially since he’s not the longest player off the tee.
Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T150 (5), Titleist T100 (6-9 Irons)
We head to the irons next, where Malnati's bag takes on a unqiue setup, as he combos three different Titleist irons. He plays a T200 for his 4 iron, a T150 for his 5 iron and T100’s for his 6 through 9 iron. Malnati’s iron play was very good throughout the tournament, finishing 20th in Strokes Gained Approach to Green, while finding 47 of 72 greens in regulation, which tied for 5th best in the field. While his approach game was solid throughout, it shined brightest in Sunday’s final round, where he was 5th in the field in Strokes Gained Approach to Green, and that included some clutch shot making down the stretch to secure the victory.
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (48, 52, 56, 60 degrees)
With no traditional pitching bag in his wedge, Malnati instead opts for 4 Titleist Vokey SM9’s, playing them at 48, 52, 56 and 60 degrees. These wedges played a key part in his Strokes Gained Approach to Green and were strong from that aspect, but around the green Malnati was just average, finishing 58th in Strokes Gained Around The Green, and was actually losing strokes to the field. But while he wasn’t spectacular around the green, he did get up and down on four of his five opportunities on Sunday, which helped lead him to victory.
While Malnati was great off the tee and very good with his iron play, his putting is where he separated himself from the pack. Using his Scotty Cameron TourType Special Select Masterful Tour Prototype, Malnati finished 3rd in the field in Strokes Gained Putting, 11th in total putts, and led the tournament in putts per GIR.