Winners' bags: Blades Brown's Apex MBs, Sakuma's B63

Blades Brown won in Los Cabos with Callaway Apex MB irons from 2021, every one set stronger than standard, and an Odyssey Double Wide putter. Shuri Sakuma has won four times since Ping's tour staff suggested a Scottsdale B63 in July.

Blades Brown won the World Wide Technology Championship with 2021 Callaway Apex MB irons from the 5 to the pitching wedge, and each one is set stronger than the loft in Callaway’s specification table. GOLF.com published the lofts from Brown’s spec sheet after his playoff win on Sunday: 25.5°, 29.2°, 32.9°, 36.3°, 40.5° and 45°. Callaway’s figures for the same heads are 26°, 30°, 34°, 38°, 42° and 46°, so the 8-iron is 1.7° strong.

Shuri Sakuma, who won the Toto Japan Classic by four shots, also plays muscleback irons (Ping’s Blueprint T) and has won four times since changing putters in July. We could not find a club list for Jon Rahm’s win at Yas Links or for Ana Peláez, who won the Aramco China Championship on the Ladies European Tour, so neither is included.

Brown has kept his 2021 irons

Brown is 19. GOLF.com says his equipment “has barely changed” since its writer first met him in late 2023, and names four new clubs: the Quantum Triple Diamond driver, the Quantum Ti 3-wood, updated Opus SP wedges and the putter. The Apex MB 21 irons run from the 5-iron to the pitching wedge. Above them are a 2024 Apex TCB 4-iron at 22.7° and an X Forged utility iron stamped 19° and set at 19.5°.

The lies are all upright of Callaway’s standard, by between 0.2° and 0.7°, and the 7-iron and 8-iron are both at 62.7°.

From the 5-iron to the 8-iron the gaps are 3.7°, 3.7° and 3.4°; the 9-iron and pitching wedge are 4.2° and 4.5° above the club before. His first wedge, a 50° Opus SP bent to 49.75°, is 4.75° above the pitching wedge, the biggest step between any two of his clubs below the 4-iron.

Club	Model, loft and shaft
Driver	Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (9°), MCA Kaili White 70 TX
3-wood	Callaway Quantum Ti (15°), Fujikura Ventus Red 8X
Utility iron	Callaway X Forged UT (19°, set at 19.5°), MMT 100 HY TX
4-iron	Callaway Apex TCB 24 (22.7°), Project X 6.5
Irons	Callaway Apex MB 21 (5–PW, 25.5° to 45°), Project X 6.5
Wedges	Callaway Opus SP (49.75°, 54°, 58°), True Temper Dynamic Gold S400
Putter	Odyssey Ai-ONE Double Wide CH (2°, 34.5in)
Ball	Callaway Chrome Tour Dot

GOLF.com and Golf Digest disagree on the driver shaft. The table follows GOLF.com, whose list gives head weight, length and sole weights; Golf Digest names a Fujikura Ventus Red 8X, the shaft GOLF.com and Golfweek both put in the 3-wood. GOLF.com says Brown can produce about 190mph of ball speed with the driver “when he wants”.

Brown was second in strokes gained putting at El Cardonal and picked up about nine shots on the field, according to Golf Digest. The Ai-ONE Double Wide CH is a wide blade with a crank hosel from Odyssey’s 2024 range. Odyssey lists it with a 360g head, a 70° lie and 3° of loft, so Brown’s has a degree less loft than stock. It is 34.5in long; Odyssey’s standard lengths are 33in, 34in and 35in. Odyssey’s US site had it at $249.99 on 9 November, down from $299.99.

Ping suggested Sakuma’s putter

Sakuma won the season-opening Daikin Orchid Ladies in March with a Ping Scottsdale DS72. Ping’s Japanese tour staff wrote on the company’s site that she lost her feel on the greens after that win. She put a Scottsdale B63 in the bag at the Meiji Yasuda Ladies in July, according to Golf Digest Online (GDO). “I had been struggling with my putter for a long time, so I tried various putters,” she told GDO in August.

Ping says she had not asked for a different shape. Its tour representative proposed models for a slight-arc stroke rather than adjusting the DS72, and she chose the B63, a mid-mallet descended from the B60 she used when she topped the JLPGA’s final qualifying in 2020. The DS72 and the B63 both have Ping’s Pebax insert. Ping lists the B63 with a 350g head, 3° of loft and a 34in standard length; Sakuma’s is 32in.

With the B63 she has won the Nitori Ladies in August, the Tokai Classic in September, the Mitsubishi Electric Ladies on 1 November and the Toto Japan Classic a week later.

Her irons changed more slowly. Ping says she put the Blueprint T in from the 8-iron to the pitching wedge first and extended it to the 6-iron as she got used to it. GDO’s list from the Daikin Orchid in March has Blueprint S heads in the 6 and 7. Ping gives her lie settings as 2° upright for the i240 4-iron and 1° flat for the Blueprint T heads, and says the lies were adjusted to help her draw the ball after she found it hard to hold greens and tended to miss right. She carries no 5-iron. Ping says she was 13th on the JLPGA in greens in regulation in 2025 and first at the end of August this year.

GDO published this list from the Toto Japan Classic without iron lofts.

Club	Model, loft and shaft
Driver	Ping G440 LST (9°), NS Pro Regio Formula MB+ 55, S
Fairway woods	Ping G430 Max (14°, 21°), NS Pro Regio Formula MB+ 55, S
Hybrid	Ping G430 (25°), NS Pro prototype
4-iron	Ping i240, NS Pro Modus3 Hybrid GOST
Irons	Ping Blueprint T (6–PW), NS Pro 850GH, S
Wedges	Ping s259 (50°, 54°), NS Pro prototype, S; s259 (58°), NS Pro Modus3 105
Putter	Ping Scottsdale B63
Ball	Titleist Pro V1x (2025)

Ping says her 9° driver is set 1.5° up in loft. The 3-wood and hybrid are both a degree stronger than in GDO’s lists from the Nitori Ladies, the Tokai Classic and the Miyagi TV Cup Dunlop Ladies Open, which have them at 15° and 26°. In Japan the Blueprint T has been on sale since 8 February 2024 at ¥36,300 a club with a steel shaft.

Winners' bags: Blades Brown's 2021 Apex MBs, Shuri Sakuma's B63

Brown has kept his 2021 irons

Ping suggested Sakuma’s putter

Sources

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Brown has kept his 2021 irons

Ping suggested Sakuma’s putter

Sources

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Mizuno Pro S-4 vs S-3: same lofts, more offset in the long irons

Miura x Curry irons: 300 sets, $5,000 and a 6-iron bent to 30°

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