May 5, 2025

 Notches First Victory of the Year as PGA Championship Approaches

CARLSBAD, Calif. (May 5, 2025) – The world’s No. 1 golfer used Nippon Shaft’s N.S.PRO MODUS³ Hybrid Tour X-flex shaft in his utility iron enroute to an 8-shot victory at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, his first win of the season.

The 28-year-old Texan shot a 31-under-par total with rounds of 61-63-66-63—253 to win at TPC Craig Ranch outside Dallas. The victory was especially meaningful because it was the first time he had won the tournament that he was invited to play as a teenager.

Although this was his first victory of the year, the victor has six top 10 finishes in nine starts this season, including a fourth-place finish at the Masters, where he was defending champion, and has not finished worse than T-25. The win sees the world’s top-ranked player coming into form just two weeks before the PGA Championship, the second major of the year.

“Nippon Shaft congratulates the world’s No. 1 player on his first victory of the season at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, ” said Hiro Fukuda, sales and marketing for Nippon Shaft. “We are proud that he relied on our N.S.PRO MODUS³ Hybrid Tour X-flex shaft in his utility iron to win his first tournament of the year. Nippon Shaft’s breakthrough hybrid technology in shaft design combines the best qualities of steel and graphite so that tour-level players and everyday golfers can get the best out of their games.

More than 300 players on the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, European Tour and Korn Ferry Tour use Nippon Shaft’s MODUS³ series steel shafts to help gain their desired distance, accuracy, and trajectory.

Nippon Shaft products are available globally either as stock or custom shafts in many of the world’s top iron brands.  Details of these can be found at www.nipponshaft.com

Based in Yokohama, Japan, Nippon Shaft is the No. 1-selling steel shaft in Asia.  Nippon Shaft is a privately-held subsidiary of NHK Spring Co. LTD, a Japanese automobile parts manufacturer.  Nippon Shaft’s North American headquarters is in Carlsbad.