Callaway Golf Staff Professional Rocco Mediate Uses The “Rule 35” Ball In PGA Tour Buick Open Win
Callaway Golf Staff Professional Rocco Mediate Uses The “Rule 35” Ball In PGA Tour Buick Open Win
August 14, 2000 at 12:00 AM EDT
CONTACT(S): Larry Dorman, Mike Galeski, Peter Gotfredson, Millie Speirs (760) 931-1771
CARLSBAD, CA., August 14, 2000 – Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) Staff Professional Rocco Mediate birdied two of the final three holes yesterday for a dramatic one-stroke victory at the Buick Open in Flint, Michigan. Mediate, who switched to the “Complete Performance™” of the new Callaway “Rule 35™” ball when it was introduced earlier this year, birdied the 72nd hole at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club to clinch the victory – his fourth career PGA Tour win and the first PGA Tour win for the “Rule 35™” ball.
Mediate used the Callaway Golf “Rule 35” Firmfeel™ (red logo) ball to compile a 72-hole total of 20 under par, one stroke better than Chris Perry. He lead the Buick Open field with 25 birdies, eight of which came during his bogey-free second round of 64. Mediate had another eight birdies in the final round, including the clincher on No. 18. After a long drive down the left side of the fairway, Mediate hit a 9-iron to 12 feet. When he made the putt for the win, it was the only time all week that he led the tournament.
“This ball did everything for me,” Mediate said. “Just check the stats for the week. I hit it long, I hit it close and putted great. To me, that’s what ‘Complete Performance’ means. To lead the field at any PGA Tour event in birdies, you have to be doing everything right and have a lot of confidence in your clubs and golf ball.”
Illustrating Mediate’s point: his driving distance average for the week was 302.6 yards; he hit nearly 85 percent of the greens in regulation. Mediate joins Bruce Fleisher and Annika Sorenstam in the growing group of professionals to have won on tour with the Callaway Golf “Rule 35” ball. Mediate also used 11 Callaway Golf® clubs at the Buick Open, including a Callaway Golf Biggest Big Bertha® titanium driver, a Steelhead Plus™ 4-wood and Big Bertha® X-12® Irons.
Callaway Golf also had a successful weekend north of the border. At the LPGA Tour and Senior PGA Tour events staged in Canada, Callaway Golf was the No. 1 brand in driver, fairway wood and iron usage. At the du Maurier Classic, the winner relied upon her Hawk Eye® Pro Series Titanium Driver and Steelhead Plus 7-wood to earn the third major championship of her LPGA Tour career.
Callaway Golf Company makes and sells Big Bertha® Metal Woods and Irons, including Great Big Bertha® Hawk Eye® Titanium Metal Woods and Hawk Eye Tungsten Injected™ Titanium Irons, Big Bertha Steelhead Plus™ Stainless Steel Metal Woods, Steelhead™ X-14™ Stainless Steel Irons, and Bobby Jones® and Carlsbad Series™ Putters. Callaway Golf Company also makes and sells Odyssey® putters with Stronomic® inserts, including White Hot™ and TriForce® Putters. Callaway Golf Ball Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Callaway Golf Company, makes and sells the Callaway Golf "Rule 35™" Firmfeel™ and Softfeel™ golf balls. For more information about Callaway Golf Company, please visit our Web sites at www.callawaygolf.com, www.callawaygolfball.com and www.odysseygolf.com.