Callaway Golf Clubs and Balls Surge to Victory At Three Global Events

April 29, 2002 at 6:32 PM EDT

Rocco Mediate, Jim Thorpe and Dean Wilson are All Winners Using the Company's CTU 30 Ball and Big Bertha Hawk Eye VFT Titanium Driver

CARLSBAD, Calif., Apr 29, 2002 (BW SportsWire) -- Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) clubs and golf balls generated a worldwide winning spree yesterday. Callaway Golf Staff Professionals Rocco Mediate, Jim Thorpe and Dean Wilson all won on their respective tours, each relying on the power and precision of the CTU 30(TM) Red ball and the Big Bertha(R) Hawk Eye(R) VFT(R) Pro Series Titanium Driver. Mediate used this potent combination to earn a three-stroke victory at the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic, his fifth PGA Tour title. Meanwhile, Thorpe won the Countrywide Tradition on the first playoff hole, earning the first major championship title of his Senior PGA Tour career, and Wilson was triumphant at the Tsuruya Open on the Japan Golf Tour.

Callaway Golf now has 13 golf ball wins across the world's six major professional tours combined in 2002 -- the second-highest total of any golf ball manufacturer this year. Combined with Cristie Kerr's victory at the Longs Drugs Challenge last week, the CTU 30 Red ball has recorded four victories over the last two weeks. Callaway Golf is also No. 2 in golf ball usage across the PGA, Senior PGA, LPGA, Buy.com, PGA European and Japan Golf tours combined, as 19.4 percent of all balls put in play on those combined tours this year have been made by Callaway Golf. The Company's new HX(TM) golf ball is the No. 2 ball model in play at 10.7 percent, and the CTU 30 is No. 3 at 8.3 percent through April 28.

Using his Hawk Eye VFT Pro Series Titanium Driver and CTU 30 Red ball in gusty winds at Greensboro, Mediate averaged 297.6 yards in driving distance while posting a 16-under-par score of 272. "You didn't know what the wind was going to do, but I just trusted my driver," Mediate said. "The driver swings I made coming down the stretch were the best driver swings I've ever made in that type of situation, because I didn't miss a fairway. The best drive I hit all day was on 18. I hit it just where I was looking."

Mediate also tied for third at the event in greens hit in regulation, using his Steelhead(TM) X-14(R) Irons to hit 66.7 percent of the greens. The victory vaults Mediate to 6th on the PGA Tour money list with $1,487,000 in earnings. In all, Mediate used 11 Callaway Golf(R) clubs in his victory and the top four finishers at the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic each used fairway woods made by Callaway Golf.

Thorpe birdied the first hole of a playoff to win the Countrywide Tradition, the first major of the year on the Senior PGA Tour. Coupled with Annika Sorenstam's win at the Nabisco Championship, Callaway Golf Staff Professionals have won two of golf's three major championships contested thus far this year. Thorpe's victory was keyed by distance off the tee and accuracy into the greens, as he averaged 287.9 yards in driving distance with his Hawk Eye VFT Pro Series Titanium Driver while hitting 68.1 percent of the greens in regulation. Thorpe used 13 Callaway Golf clubs, including two new Big Bertha Steelhead III Fairway Woods. With the victory, Thorpe moved into 10th on the Senior PGA Tour money list with $493,801 in earnings this year. The playoff at the Countrywide Tradition was an all-Callaway Golf ball affair, as the second-place finisher joined Thorpe in using the CTU 30 Red ball.

Across the Pacific, Wilson overcame a strong challenge from fellow Callaway Golf Staff Professional Tohru Taniguchi to win the Tsuruya Open by two strokes and claim the fifth win of his Japan Golf Tour career. Wilson and Taniguchi each used 12 Callaway Golf clubs, including Steelhead X-14 Pro Series Irons and the Odyssey(R) White Hot(R) 5 Putter. Odyssey Golf leads all putter brands with 16 victories across the world's six major professional tours combined this year, including all three events that have been played on the Japan Golf Tour this year. Odyssey Putters are also No. 1 in usage across the six major professional tours, accounting for 30.8 percent of all putters in play this year. Last week's Open de Espana provided an excellent example of Odyssey Golf's impressive tour usage, as seven of the top nine players at the PGA European Tour event used Odyssey White Hot Putters.

Callaway Golf Company makes and sells Big Bertha(R) Metal Woods and Irons, including Big Bertha C4(TM) Compression Cured Carbon Composite Drivers, Big Bertha ERC(R) II Forged Titanium Drivers, Big Bertha ERC Forged Titanium Fairway Woods, Big Bertha Hawk Eye(R) VFT(R) and Big Bertha Hawk Eye VFT Pro Series Titanium Drivers and Fairway Woods, Big Bertha Steelhead(TM) III Stainless Steel Drivers and Fairway Woods, Hawk Eye VFT Tungsten Injected(TM) Titanium Irons, Big Bertha Stainless Steel Irons, Steelhead X-14(R) and Steelhead X-14 Pro Series Stainless Steel Irons. Callaway Golf Company also makes and sells Odyssey(R) Putters, including White Hot(R), TriHot(TM), and Dual Force(R) Putters. Callaway Golf Company makes and sells the Callaway Golf(R) HX(TM) Blue and HX Red balls, Rule 35(R) Firmfeel(TM) and Softfeel(TM) balls, the CTU 30(TM) Blue and CTU 30 Red balls, and the CB1(TM) Blue and CB1 Red balls. For more information about Callaway Golf Company, please visit our Web sites at www.callawaygolf.com and www.odysseygolf.com.

CONTACT: Callaway Golf Company
Larry Dorman / Mike Galeski / Millie Speirs
760/931-1771