Mizuno golf ball claims first Tour win

Mizuno has produced its first Tour-played golf ball - and already it has scored its first win.

Playing on the Japan Ladies Tour, Mizuno player Akane Iijima, who also plays MX-300 irons won her first event of the season - the Suntory Ladies - using  the Mizuno MP-801X ball.

It was her fifth career win as a professional and secured her place in the British Women's Open at Royal Birkdale from July 29 to August 1.

However, Mizuno has revealed that the new ball is not currently available outside Asia and there are no concrete plans to introduce it until certain legal and patent issues have been clarified. 

A Mizuno spokesperson told Golfmagic: "Mizuno Japan has been very successful with its X8 series of balls over the last couple of years. In 2009 the 322s and 352s Tour balls were very popular with all levels of players from pros to average golfers. The 352s was especially a hit with Japan's long drive team where a large number of its competitors used it.

"In September, Mizuno released its second generation Tour Ball,  the first to use the MP or Mizuno Pro pre-fix. Two models have been released - the MP 801 and the MP 801x both with a focus on soft feel, distance off the tee and maximum spin control around the green.

"The MP 801 ball has a soft impact, high resistance cross-ribbed inner core (1) matched with an additional soft high resistance Outer core (2) . The Inner cover (3)  is made of soft Ionoma to help control the shape or deformation of the core at driver impact and create the proper amount of spin. The Outer cover (4) is a newly developed rubber elastomer that helps regulate spin and deliver soft feel.

"The MP 801 is the softer of the two tour balls and is aimed at players with a 90+mph swing speeddemanding soft feel and spin on their approach shots.

"The outer cover of the firmer MP 801x ball is a newly developed rubber elastomer that claims to reduce energy loss for those with higher swing speed (98+mph) and faster tempo."

Top Mizuno players, including Luke Donald, Chris Wood and Joanthan Byrd currently use the Titleist ProV1x ball.