Callaway Golf Posts Exceptional Equipment Usage Numbers On The World’s Professional Tours During The 2000 Season

January 26, 2001 at 12:00 AM EST
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CONTACT(S): Larry Dorman, Mike Galeski, Millie Speirs (760) 931-1771

CARLSBAD, CA., January 26, 2001 – Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) continued its tradition of strong usage equipment usage numbers on the professional tours in 2000. In particular, fairway woods made by Callaway Golf topped the usage charts on each of the world’s five major professional tours. The Company’s drivers, irons and Odyssey® Putters also were at or near the top of each tour’s usage lists, according to numbers from the Darrell Survey Company and Sports Marketing Surveys, Ltd.

Overall, Callaway Golf finished the season as the most-played manufacturer of drivers, fairway woods and irons on the world’s five major professional tours combined. Likewise, Odyssey Golf was the most-played putter brand on the world’s five major professional tours combined. This marks the third consecutive year that Callaway Golf has been atop the combined tour usage list in all four categories.

Callaway Golf also led the PGA, Senior PGA, LPGA, Buy.com and PGA European tours combined in driver and putter wins, while the new Callaway Golf ball was the second-winningest ball brand on the world’s five major professional tours combined in its first year of tour usage.

It wasn’t just clubs and balls that were winners for Callaway Golf. The Company’s roster of staff professionals accrued more victories than any other golf company’s professional staff. All told, 2000 has been one of the best years in the Company’s history in terms of tour usage and performance.

Here are some of Callaway Golf’s tour highlights from the past season:
 
  • Leading driver brand on the Senior PGA, LPGA and PGA European tours. Drivers made by Callaway Golf were used to win 60 events on the world’s five major professional tours combined, compared with 55 for the nearest competitor. For the year, 6,869 drivers made by Callaway Golf were put in play on the world’s five major tours combined, compared with 5,270 for the nearest competitor.
     
  • Leading fairway wood brand on each of the world’s five major professional tours, accounting for 50.2 percent of all fairway woods put in play compared with 16.8 percent for the nearest competitor. On the LPGA Tour, Callaway Golf accounted for a whopping 71.9 percent of all fairway woods used over the course of the season. A total of 8,934 Steelhead Plus™ Fairway Woods were put in play on the world’s five major professional tours this year. By contrast, all models of the nearest competitor’s fairway woods accounted for just 7,269 of the fairway woods in play. A total of 21,675 fairway woods made by Callaway Golf were put in play this year on the world’s five major professional tours combined – that’s more than every other fairway wood manufacturer combined this year.
     
  • Leading irons brand on the Senior PGA and LPGA tours, as well as on the world’s five major professional tours combined. There were 4,484 sets of Callaway Golf irons put in on the world’s five major professional tours this year, with nearly half being Steelhead™ X-14® Irons introduced early in 2000.
     
  • Leading putter brand on the Senior PGA, LPGA, Buy.com and PGA European tours, as well as on all five of the world’s major professional tours combined. Odyssey Golf putters were used to win 57 events across the world’s five major professional tours, compared with 54 for the nearest competitor.
     
  • Second-most golf ball wins on the world’s five major professional tours combined with 23, more than Spalding, Maxfli, Bridgestone and Nike. More than 70 professionals have used the Callaway Golf ball on tour this year, and more than half did so without receiving any payment from Callaway Golf.
     
  • Staff Professional Annika Sorenstam satisfied the performance requirements for entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame using Callaway Golf clubs – as she has her entire LPGA Tour career – plus a Callaway Golf ball and an Odyssey White Hot™ Putter. In all, Sorenstam won five times in 2000.
     
  • Staff Professional Bruce Fleisher won four times this year using 14 Callaway Golf clubs and a Callaway Golf ball. He increased his driving distance average by more than 10 yards over his 1999 average (from 263.7 to 274) after switching to a Callaway Golf ball, including a 370-yard drive that was the longest recorded on the Senior PGA Tour in 2000.
     
  • Fleisher and Sorenstam each won using both the Callaway Golf Firmfeel™ (red logo) and Softfeel™ (blue logo) ball models. Sorenstam won three times with a Firmfeel ball and twice with a Softfeel ball, while Fleisher won three times with a Firmfeel model and once with a Softfeel model.
     
  • The Company’s staff professionals won a total of 32 events on the five tours combined in 2000. Nine of them won multiple events: Michael Campbell (3), Fleisher (4), Pierre Fulke (2), Lorie Kane (3), Colin Montgomerie (2), Jesper Parnevik (2), Jim Thorpe (2), Sorenstam (5) and Tohru Taniguchi (2).
Callaway Golf Company makes and sells Big Bertha® Metal Woods and Irons, including Big Bertha ERC™ II Forged Titanium Drivers, Big Bertha Hawk Eye® VFT™ and Big Bertha Hawk Eye VFT Pro Series Titanium Drivers and Fairway Woods, Big Bertha Steelhead Plus™ Stainless Steel Drivers and Fairway Woods, Hawk Eye Tungsten Injected™ Titanium Irons, Steelhead™ X-14® and Steelhead X-14 Pro Series Stainless Steel Irons. Callaway Golf Company also makes and sells Odyssey® Putters, including White Hot™, TriHot™, and Dual Force® Putters. Callaway Golf Company makes and sells the Callaway Golf® Rule 35™ Firmfeel™ and Softfeel™ golf balls, and the CB1™ Red golf ball. For more information about Callaway Golf Company, please visit our Web sites at www.callawaygolf.com, www.callawaygolfball.com and www.odysseygolf.com.