Ben Curtis holds the Valero Texas Open trophy aloft and stares at the winner's cowboy boots

Ben Curtis, freak winner of the 2003 British Open, has won the 2012 Valero Texas Open after only his 4th start on Tour this season. After struggling on Tour for a few years and being on conditional status this year, this win gives him full exemption for two years, as well as a winners check for $1,116,000. Curtis shot a final round level-par 72 for a final score of -9, two clear of joint-second placed Matt Every and John Huh.

Holding a 3 shot lead going into the final round, after a 3rd round 73 that included a triple and double-bogey, Ben was steady through the first 10 holes but dropped shots on the par-4 11th and 12th holes. Five pars followed and then a birdie on the last clinched it for the Ohio resident. This win will take some pressure off his game and get Ben into a few tournaments, including The Players Championship, the Tournament of Champions and the Masters.

Let’s have a look at the clubs that were in his bag this week:

Driver: Titleist 910D3 (Aldila RIP), 8.5 °

3-wood: Titleist 910Fd, 13.5 °

Hybrids: Titleist 910H (18, 20 °)

Irons:: Titleist AP1 712 (4-PW)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Spin Milled C-C 200 (52°); Titleist Vokey Spin Milled C-C TVD (°)

Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist Newport 2

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Carl Pettersson dons the plaid jacket after his win at the 2012 RBC Heritage this Sunday. Photo – Carlos M. Saavedra / SI

Carl Pettersson romped to an easy 5 shot victory at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head South Carolina. With a final round 2-under 69 Pettersson clinched his fifth PGA Tour victory with a score of -14, and now ties with compatriot Jesper Parnevik for the most PGA wins by a Swedish player. We have no doubt that he will go on to hold that record on his own before too long.

Pettersson kept 2nd place man Zach Johnson at bay through the final day and never looked like losing his lead on a course that demands precise driving to narrow fairways and approach shots to small greens. He started Sunday with 3 birdies in the first 5 holes, almost matching his amazing Saturday run of 5 birdies from the 2nd to the 6th holes.

“It was great,” said Pettersson. “I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself, so I kind of downplayed the whole thing. But getting off to a birdie on one was great.”

Carl entered the final round only one shot ahead of Colt Knost but quickly forged a lead with his play on the opening holes. Knost struggled to a +3 round of 74 which put paid to his chance of a win, and had to settle with 3rd place. The only other contender, Zach Johnson, shot a solid 1-under 70 but just couldn’t hole the birdies to put any pressure on Pettersson.

Carl was number 1 in GIR (Greens in Regulation) which highlighted his precise driving and approach shot play and with a solid T5 in the Putts Per Round category victory was never really in doubt. He is a long time proponent of the belly putter and his putting stats show that he is comfortable with the long-stick.

Carl takes home a check for $1,026,000 for the win and a dapper plaid sports jacket that is donned by the winner in a tradition taken from The Masters tournament. He also moves up to 4th in the FedEx Cup standings with his first win since 2010 (the RBC Canadian Open).

On a side note, Luke Donald lost his No. 1 World Ranking with a poor tournament result, in which he finished tied 37th. Rory McIlroy now tops the rankings (again) and this back-and-forth for the No.1 spot looks to continue through this season.

Lets have a look at this weeks winners clubs, with Carl having a preference for Nike irons and wedges.

DRIVER: Nike VR Pro STR8-FIT (11.5°) with a Mitsubishi Fubuki Alpha shaft

FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade Burner (14.5°) with a Mitsubishi Fubuki Alpa 70 X shaft

HYBRIDS: Nike VR Pro (21°) with a UST Mamiya ATTAS 85 Hyrbid shaft

IRONS: Nike VR_S Forged (4), VR Pro Combo (5-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue shafts

WEDGES: Nike VR Pro Forged (49°, 55°, 60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue shafts

PUTTER: Nike Method prototype belly putter

BALL: Nike 20XI S

Hunter Mahan wins the 2012 Shell Houston Open by one stroke. Photo: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Hunter Mahan won the 2012 Shell Houston Open by one-stroke from Carl Pettersson to climb to the top of the FedExCup rankings. A 1-under final round of 71, for a -16 tournament score, was enough to secure Mahan’s 2nd PGA Tour win of the 2012 season and a check for a cool $1,080,000.

Expecting a Sunday challenge that never came Hunter played a solid one-under on the front nine and shot par on the back. His only real challengers on Sunday were Carl Pettersson and Louis Oosthuizen, but they came up short.

“I had to have a lot of patience,” said Mahan “I had to really be present, one shot at a time. Couldn’t start thinking too far ahead. There’s too many good players up there. . . you know, so it feels nice to kind of to win it with my mind today.”

Pettersson made a move on the front nine with a couple of early birdies on holes 1 and 4, but the a slip up on the par-4 tenth lead to a bogey. This put a dent in his momentum as he parred his way in, unable to come up with the birdies to push past Mahan. Pettersson, like Ernie Els, needed a win this week to force his way into the Masters but ultimately didn’t do enough.

Oosthuizen had a nightmare start to the final round with a double-bogey on the 5th and another double on the eighth which effectively ended his assault at the title. Shooting a +3 75 he recovered well on the back nine with 3 birdies to limit the damage and secured 3rd place on his own.

Mahan will head into The Masters high on confidence with this fifth win on Tour, and now as the highest ranked American in the world.

Hunter stayed calm on Sunday’s back nine with his Ping driver and Ping irons, but lets have a look at exactly what clubs he used this week.

DRIVER: Ping G20 (9.5°) with a Fujikura Speeder 6.2 Tour Spec shaft

FAIRWAY WOOD: Ping G20 (13°) with a UST Mamiya VTS 8X shaft

HYBRID: Ping i15 (17°) with a UST Mamiya VTS 85X shaft

IRONS: Ping S56 (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts

WEDGES: Ping Forged Anser (56°, 60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts

PUTTER: Ping Nome

BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

Tiger Woods hugs his caddie Joe LaCava after he wins the 2012 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. Photo:AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack

Tiger Woods emphatically won his first tournament since 2009 with a 5-shot victory over Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell at the 2012 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. McDowell’s final round challenge faded early on and Tiger cruised to his 72nd PGA Tour win with a steady display of solid driving and iron play.

This is Tiger’s first victory since he began with new swing coach Sean Foley and his performances have steadily improved in the last few months. Overcoming knee injuries and Achilles problems, resulting in an early retirement from The Transitions last week, Tiger has set him self up as the favorite for this years Masters.

“It was just pure joy,” Woods said. “You know, it was tough today. It was tough conditions out there, man. Wind was whipping out there. It was changing directions and intensities. Arnold did a hell of a job of getting these greens fast, and they were baked out and some of the hardest pins I’ve ever seen here.”

Woods began Sunday as the tournament leader with a single stroke advantage over 2nd placed McDowell and the lead grew immediately as a double bogey for Graeme dropped him to 3-strokes behind. A few monster putts gave McDowell some hope but Tiger kept ahead with a steady round of 70, including 4 birdies and 2 bogeys. In the end all challengers faded.

“I let him get ahead of me early,” said McDowell, “and he was very tough to get close to after that.”

One of the more interesting sub-plots was the struggle of Ernie Els to automatically qualify for The Masters, and a 3rd place finish would have sufficed. He was looking good to get the finish he desired but some poor shots on the back nine yet again cost him, just as it cost him the win at The Transitions tournament last week.

Tiger’s swing looks like it’s back in a groove and his driving was particularly impressive, he hasn’t been known as a great driver of the ball but he’s now 1st in Total Driving (according to 2012 PGA Tour stats). Another stat that bodes well for Augusta is related to his iron play, tied 1st for Greens in Regulation (GIR) at Bay Hill.

If anyone doubted that a Tiger comeback was imminent then this victory has put those thoughts to bed. Some will feel that Jack’s 18 major record now looks like it will be broken and the world’s top players will be looking over their shoulders in a couple of weeks as Woods is a firm favorite to increase his 14 major tally at Augusta.

Tiger is a long time Nike fan, so lets look at the tools of his trade this week.

DRIVER: Nike VR Tour (8.5°) with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI 6 shaft

FAIRWAY WOODS: Nike VR Pro Limited Editon (15°), SQ (19°) with Mitsubishi Diaman Blue Board 103 shafts

IRONS: Nike Forged VR-S Forged (3), VR Pro Blades (4-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100shafts

WEDGES: Nike VR (56°), VR Pro (60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts

PUTTER: Nike Method 001

BALL: Nike Tour D

Here are the Top 10 Hot List clubs that have been the most popular with GolfDigest.com users. Photo – GolfDigest.com

GolfDigest.com has published a list of the Top 10 most popular clubs with their users from their 2012 Hot List. Taylormade, Ping and Callaway clubs seem to be the most popular, and their website users showed a interest in Taylormade’s new RocketBallz and R11S line of drivers and irons.

Here’s a breakdown of the Top 10 clubs for the 2012 Hot List.

Ping i20 Irons

10. Ping i20 Irons

The heads are made from stainless steel and feature a tungsten weight in the toe for added forgiveness. The clubhead gets progressively smaller from long irons to short irons to promote control with the scoring clubs.

Street Price: $800

Clubs: 3-9, PW, UW, SW, LW. Shafts: CFS (Soft R, R, S, X-Stiff)

Taylormade RocketBallz & RBZ Tour Woods

9. Taylormade RBZ Fairway Woods

The purpose of the deep, narrow sole slot is to help the face flex more at impact (as close to the USGA limit as possible) to increase ball speed. Despite the club’s large face, an extremely thin, webbed crown helps position the CG low and slightly forward. The goal is to create more ball speed while reducing spin.

Street Price: $250

Lofts: 15.5°,17.0°,18.0°,21.0°,24.0°

Callaway RAZR X, RAZR X Tour & RAZR X Forged Irons

8. Callaway RAZR X Irons

Callaway’s RAZR technology places 30 grams in the back cavity to push the center of gravity (CG) low and deep. This helps golfers launch the ball high with speed because of stronger lofts than previous Callaway irons.

Street Price: $700

Clubs: 3-9, PW, AW, SW, LW.

Ping G20 Drivers

7. Ping G20 Driver

Designed with a low-density titanium, the G20 saves weight that is repositioned for stability and a lower CG. A lightweight, high-balance-point shaft shifts seven grams into the clubhead to enable the golfer to deliver more mass at impact at the same swing speed.

Street Price: $300

Lofts: 8.5°,9.5°,10.5°,12°

Taylormade RocketBallz Irons & Combo Sets

6. Taylormade RocketBallz Irons

The 3-, 4- and 5-irons are made from 455 Carpenter Steel and feature a hollow construction to maximize distance. The large face is very thin (as little as 1.8 millimeters in some spots) to optimize springlike effect.

Street Price: $700

Clubs: 3-9, PW, AW, SW, LW.

Callaway RAZR Fit Drivers

5. Callaway RAZR Fit Driver

This is the first Callaway driver to offer adjustable weights and a rotating hosel. Users can change the center of gravity (CG) with the sole weights and adjust the face angle using three hosel settings. The face has been redesigned to save weight (four grams) and improve off-center ball speed.

Street Price: $400

Lofts: 8.5°,9.5°,10.5°,11.5°

Taylormade R11S Drivers

4. Taylormade R11S Driver

The three areas of adjustability include a rotating hosel with eight settings, two movable weights and a soleplate with five positions. The 80 combinations (32 more than last year’s R11) cover a range of 3 degrees of loft, 6 degrees of face angle and four millimeters of CG movement.

Street Price: $400

Lofts: 9.0°,10.5°

Taylormade RocketBallz / RocketBallz Tour Drivers

3. Taylormade RocketBallz Driver

With an emphasis on speed through lightweight shafts and a thin crown, both versions feature the company’s trademark adjustable hosel with eight loft/lie angle settings. The standard model has a draw bias and weighs 299 grams. The deep-face Tour version sits neutral.

Street Price: $300

Lofts: RBZ 9.5°,10.5°,HL; RBZ Tour 9.5°,10.5°

Taylormade R11 Irons

2. Taylormade R11 Irons

A weight port is used to achieve precise swingweights and CG locations in each iron. The set features compact short irons and long irons with wider soles.

Street Price: $700

Clubs: 3-9, PW, AW, SW.

Titleist 910 D2 Drivers & Titleist 910 D3 Drivers

1. Titleist 910D2/D3 Driver

There are 16 settings on the two-way adjustable hosel that’s designed to manipulate loft and lie angle independently to better isolate launch characteristics for individual players. The line now includes a sub-55-gram shaft option and the highest loft on a Titleist driver in 15 years.

Street Price: $400

Lofts: 8.5°,9.5°,10.5°, 12° (D2 Only)

Luke Donald hits from the rough to setup a birdie to win the 2012 Transitions Championship on the 1st playoff hole. Photo credit – David Walberg / SI

Luke Donald retook the World No.1 spot with a 4-man playoff win at the 2012 Transitions Championship at the Innisbrook Resort – Copperhead course in Palm Harbor, Florida. Luke lost the top spot to Rory McIlroy two weeks ago but he showed the bulldog spirit with a 5-under final round 66 to force his way into a four-man playoff.

Showing a steely nerve on the first playoff hole, his stellar 157 yard 7-iron from a poor lie in the right rough cleared the front greenside bunker by inches and rolled to around 6 feet from the pin. Jim Furyk, Bae Sang-Moon and Robert Garrigus all hit the green in two but missed their birdie putts. Donald stepped up and held his nerves to calmly stroke his ball into the hole for the winning birdie.

“That shot just came out perfectly,” Donald said. “You never quite know out of the rough. Sometimes it comes out soft and sometimes it comes out a little hot. That one, just when it was in the air, looked good to me.”

Any number of players had a chance of winning the tournament in regulation play with Garrigus birdieing the last two holes for a 64 and setting a target of -13. Bae holed a six footer on the last for a 68 to setup a playoff, with Furyk’s 69 grabbing the fourth spot.

It was good to see the South African veteran Ernie Els in the final day mix and he was leading at 14-under at the 16th. But a wayward tee shot meant he missed the par-3 17th green for a bogey, and then pulled a 4-foot par putt on 18 to miss the playoff by 1 shot. A finish like that will hurt for a few days.

After Donald’s first PGA Tour win of 2012 he will now take two weeks off before the Masters and must be one of the favorites after this performance. His great short game, bunker play and putting will be an advantage in Augusta and his relatively short driving will not be too much of a hindrance.

Let’s have a look in Luke’s bag for this week’s win, and we can see that the new Taylormade RocketBallz clubs feature combined with trusty Mizuno irons.

DRIVER: TaylorMade RocketBallz (9.5°) with a ACCRA XC65 shaft

FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade Rocketballz (15°) with an ACCRA XC75 shaft

HYBRID: Mizuno Hi Fli CLK (17°) with an Aldila NV Hybrid 85 X shaft

IRONS: Mizuno MP-59 (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300 shafts

WEDGES: Mizuno MP T-11 (54°, 60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300 shafts

PUTTER: Odyssey White Hot XG #7

BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

If you’ve been watching any recent PGA Tour event on CBS or the Golf Channel you will have no doubt seen commercials were Callaway has been promoting their new RAZR line of drivers, woods and irons. The commercials have taken place at several casino’s in Las Vegas making use of the amazing sights of the gaming city.

The commercials have featured Callaway’s PGA stars including Phil Mickelson, Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey, Alvaro Quiros and JB Holmes. They are seen hitting balls with Callaway RAZR Fit drivers and RAZR irons to demonstrate the distance and accuracy of Callaway’s clubs.

Callaway’s most recent commercial promotes the new HEX Black Tour golf ball at the Mirage Casino. Leftie hits Callaway’s latest Tour ball with his RAZR Fit driver out to a small target over 300 yards away. Well known for his skillful short game Big Phil almost holes out an approach shot to a tiny green with his Callaway RAZR X Tour irons.

The video above shows how Callaway shot the commercial and integrated the Mirage’s famous volcano and lava flow as an obstacle for Phil to avoid. Fiery explosions follow the HEX Black Tour ball to its target for an exciting commercial.

The ad reminds us that the shots are a “Fictionalization” that should not be attempted. So remember, the next time you’re in Vegas don’t whip out your trusty 5-iron on The Strip.

Here’s the final ad in all it’s neon and fire glory.

Golf Channel beauty Win McMurry has discovered her RocketBallz Factor is 27. We’ve all seen Taylormade’s advertizing campaign promoting the RocketBallz range of RBZ drivers, RBZ irons and RBZ fairway woods. The main focus of these ads is the “RocketBallz Factor”, a magic number that is a measure the yardage gain when using a RBZ club.

Taylormade attended the 2012 PGA Show Demo Day in Orlando, Fl, and gave everyone the chance to find their RocketBallz factor. Sporting a cute orange skort and a barefoot swing style, Win first hit an old model Taylormade Burner 3-wood out to an average of 159 yards, then switched to the RBZ 3-wood and banged it out to 186 yards average. This meant the new RocketBallz 3-wood went 27 yards further, hence her RocketBallz Factor is 27.

“So I’m hitting it a lot farther with the RBZ, in fact 27 yards farther”, said Win and she continued “pretty nice gain there in distance!”

Win McMurry has graced the Golf Channel since 2010 and reports for Golf Central, serves as a contributor on the “Grey Goose 19th Hole” and also hosts a web exclusive called “Gone with the Win”.

Justin Rose Wins the WGC Cadillac Championship with Taylormade clubs. Photo Credit David Cannon/Getty Images.

Justin Rose held his nerve in the final round on Sunday to win the WGC Cadillac Championship, his biggest win of his career so far. Finishing with a 2-under par 70, Rose had a 16-under total which was one shot clear of Bubba Watson who placed second. In addition to all the glory, Rose won a healthy $1.4 million and moved to No.7 in the world.

Watson was the overnight leader heading into the final round but some poor driving on the front nine led to a final round 74 despite some good recovery shots on the final stretch. Needing a birdie on the last to force a playoff with Rose, Bubba was unable to convert an amazing approach to 10 feet.

“The progression is really, really nice,” said Rose, who has 10 worldwide wins. “The only thing that really is the next level up is a major – not to say that I’m at that stage in my career where I’m only focusing on the majors. I think there’s a lot more for me to do in the game than to get to that point. But no doubt, I feel my game is getting ready for that.”

Rory McIlroy continued his stellar form heading into the Masters with a 3rd place finish after an excellent charge up the leaderboard with a final round 67. Rory forced his way into contention but a couple of bogeys on the 14th and 18th put paid to the chance of a back-to-back win.

Deposed world no.1 Luke Donald needed a good result at the Cadillac Championship to grab the top spot back from Rory but was unable to get the win with a -12 finish, tied for 6th.

One of the big stories of the final day was the withdrawal of Tiger Woods at the 12th hole of the final round due to a “leg injury” which was later confirmed to be an Achilles problem. This is a double blow for the former world no.1 as the Masters’ is just 3 weeks away and he was starting to show some excellent form after shooting some good rounds in the 60′s through the last couple of weeks.

Another notable performer, for the wrong reasons, was Sergio Garcia who had some horror holes over the weekend. After an incredible 31 on the front nine on the first day he slump to a 8-over 44 on the back nine of the same round. A confidence gaining round of 68 on Saturday lead into a final round that included an eagle on the 1st but followed that with a 12 on the par-4 3rd, hitting 4 into the water. He rallied with 5 birdies and 3 more drop shots for a final round total of 76.

Rose has now won four times on the PGA Tour including the Memorial, the AT&T National, the BMW Championship. The Cadillac Championship is the 31-year old’s first World Golf Championship title, which is made all the more sweeter as the Worlds Top 50 players were in attendance.

Justin is a Taylormade stalwart, and these are the clubs that were in his bag for his WGC win, but notice the trusty 60° Cleveland wedge in addition to the new Taylormade ATV wedges.

DRIVER: TaylorMade R11 (8.0°) with a True Temper Project X 7.0 shaft

FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade RocketBallz (15°) with a True Temper Project X 7.0 shaft

HYBRID: TaylorMade Rescue (19°) with a KBS FST Hybrid shaft

IRONS: TaylorMade Forged Tour Preferred MB (4-PW) with KBS Tour C-Taper shafts

WEDGES: TaylorMade ATV (52°, 56°) Cleveland 588 (60°) with KBS Tour C-Taper shafts

PUTTER: TaylorMade Ghost Tour Corza

BALL: TaylorMade Penta TP5

Rory McIlroy Wins Honda Classic and becomes World No.1 Photo:David Walberg / SI

Rory McIlroy has become the latest British World No.1 after a two shot victory at the Honda Classic held at the Champion Course at PGA National.

Shooting a Sunday round 1-under par 69, for a -12 winning total, McIlroy held off a final round charge from Tiger Woods who shot an amazing 62 in the breezy conditions. Coming from 9-shots back, Woods ended in a tie for second with veteran Tom Gillis. Lee Westwood also finished Sunday with an excellent round, a 63, to leave him in 4th spot.

Rory becomes the 2nd youngest World No.1, after Tiger, and is the first Irish (Northern or otherwise) player to ascend to the top of the rankings.

“I didn’t know that I would be able to get here this quickly,” McIlroy said.

McIlroy struggled from tee to green but his short game, including his excellent putting, kept him ahead of the chasing pack. He held his nerve through the Bear Trap with great up and downs from bunkers on the par-3 15th and 17th holes.

Greame McDowell commented that it was Rory’s putting that saw him through a tough closing round, and predicts more to come from his close friend.

“I think he has a huge amount more belief than he had two years ago,” McDowell said. “Yes, he was not a standout closer two years ago because he didn’t have the putting ability. Now he has the putting ability and he’s starting to win regularly, like we all knew he could.”

Finishing with a par on the 18th hole McIlroy had shown the world that he had recovered from the disappointment of losing the World Matchplay Final only the week before.

2012 Honda Classic Final Leaderboard

Let’s see what clubs Rory used to secure his first 2012 win on the PGA Tour.

DRIVER: Titleist 910D2 (8.5°) with a Fujikura Rombax 7V05 shaft

FAIRWAY WOODS: Titleist 906F2 (13°, 18°) with Fujikura ZCom Pro 95 shafts

IRONS: Titleist 712MB (3-9) with Project X 6.5 shafts

WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design (46°, 54°, 60°) with Project X 6.5 shafts

PUTTER: Titleist Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport GSS prototype

BALL: Titleist Pro V1x