Texas Children's Houston Open

Memorial Park Golf Course



Winner's Bag

The clubs Abraham Ancer used to win the 2021 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

1333072903

Sam Greenwood

Abraham Ancer summed up his win Sunday at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational when interviewed by CBS immediately after. “That was really crazy,” he said. “We re-regrouped, hit a couple putts and played 18 in my mind on the range. … Golf is crazy.”

Certainly, it was this year at TPC Southwind. Ancer prevailed in a three-man playoff with Hideki Matsuyama and Sam Burns. On the second playoff hole, he stuffed a pitching wedge from 145 yards to five feet, only to watch Burns knock his approach slightly inside him. When Matsuyama’s lengthy birdie try missed, Ancer rolled his in then exhaled when Burns—who had putted like a madman all round (six made putts from outside 10 feet on the day)—horseshoed his attempt, giving Ancer his first win in 121 starts on the PGA Tour.

Ironically, it was Ancer who played the most pedestrian final round of the threesome. Matsuyama came from nine strokes back at the start of the day, and Burns from eight back, while Ancer shot a nondescript three-birdie, one-bogey 68 that included a relatively meager 65 feet of putts made.

Still, Ancer was solid all week and that’s what matters. The man who represented Mexico in the Tokyo Olympics, and became the fourth golfer from his country to win on tour, ranked T-5 in greens in regulation, fifth in strokes gained/approach-the-green, fourth in strokes gained/tee-to-green and first in scrambling.

Ancer’s irons are far from run of the mill. Ancer plays Miura’s TC-201 irons, a model not well known in the United States. The Miura brand, however, holds high regard in Japan.

Ancer's irons (which have Mitsubishi’s MMT 105 TX graphite shafts) are designed and forged in the company’s Himeji, Japan factory and have a shallow cavity, sharp topline and minimal offset for a blade-like appearance at address. The long irons feature heightened toe and heel weight for added forgiveness, with a lower center of gravity for higher ball-flight. A slightly higher CG in the short irons provides a lower, more controlled trajectory on shorter shots.

Kind of like the shot he hit into the final playoff hole.

The clubs Abraham Ancer used to win the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

Driver: Callaway Epic Speed D (Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Blue 60 TX), 8.5 degrees

3-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max, 15 degrees

5-wood: TaylorMade M2 2017, 18 degrees

Irons (4): Srixon ZX; (5-PW): Miura TC-201

Wedges: Miura HB-10 (52); Artisan prototype (56, 60 degrees)

Find the right club for your game with our new Hot List interactive: