There have been some notable equipment trends throughout 2025 and, at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, one brand finds themselves in the bag of 100% of the field.
Golf Pride are known for producing some of the best golf grips money can buy and, at Yas Links, it is reported that at least one of their grips is in play by the 72 players teeing it up at the first DP World Tour Play-Off event.
Among those are Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, who have both used Golf Pride grips for a considerable amount of time.
You may like
In terms of McIlroy, he has the MCC, which is a multi-compound grip made up of rubber and cord. He has it in the black and white colorway, which you can spot on all of his clubs except the putter.
Fleetwood, meanwhile, has the Golf Pride BCT on his driver and fairway wood, as well as the Iomic X-Grip on his 4-9 irons. He has a mix of both grips when it comes to the wedge department.
According to the figures, a total of 577 Golf Pride grips are being used by players in Abu Dhabi, meaning more than half the clubs in use have Golf Pride grips on them. The company leads the brand count in terms of grips on drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, utility irons, irons and wedges.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Grips aren’t the only interesting gear aspect spotted in Abu Dhabi, as new TaylorMade Qi4D drivers were spotted for the first time in competitive play.
Both Ping and TaylorMade drivers were spotted on the USGA’s conforming list at the start of the week and, at Yas Links, McIlroy and Fleetwood were just some of the players who put the Qi4D driver and fairway woods into play.
As of writing, though, it’s Aaron Rai who is the 54 hole leader, with the Englishman carding rounds of 66, 64 and 66 to sit 20-under, one clear of Fleetwood and Nicolai Hojgaard.
Searching for a second Rolex Series title, Rai has produced a masterclass in tee-to-green play, hitting all 14 fairways and 18 greens in regulation on Saturday. In fact, for the first two rounds, he hit 83.3% and 94.4% of greens, such was the quality of his iron play.
