Satoshi Kodaira, five shots in arrears of Si Woo Kim starting the day, fired a final-round 66 to erase the deficit and then won the RBC Heritage with a birdie putt of 25 feet on the third hole of a playoff with Kim.
After exchanging pars on the first two extra holes, Kodaira – who has won six times on the Japan Golf Tour, including a pair of Japan Tour ‘majors’ – hit an 8-iron on the par-3 17th at Harbour Town Golf Links and drained the putt to win the tournament and earn membership on the US PGA Tour. The putt was made with a Scotty Cameron by Titleist prototype.
Harbour Town is one of those courses where the statistics don’t always reflect the play. With its small greens, the Pete Dye-designed course rarely coughs up eye-opening greens in regulation figures, making Kim’s 68.06 percent mark relatively impressive. In fact, Kodaira led the field in proximity to the hole on his approach shots for the week.
Kodaira’s bag is not one you see from a typical tour player as it is nearly filled with sticks from PRGR, which is a big brand in Japan, but known for little more in elsewhere than signing Corey Pavin at one time and producing pretty good utility irons. Now as Kodaira prepares to play the US Tour full-time, he has an opportunity to raise awareness of the brand on a weekly basis going forward.
What Satoshi Kodaira had in the bag at the RBC Heritage
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: PRGR RS prototype (Graphite Design Tour AD DI-6S), 10.5 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade M2 2017, 15 degrees
5-wood: PRGR ID Nabla Black, 18 degrees
Irons (3): PRGR ID Nabla RS; (4-PW): PRGR Forged
Wedges: PRGR ID Nabla Tour (52 degrees); Fourteen RM 22 (60 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist prototype
