Callaway Golf’s Rule 35 Ball Tops The AT&T Canadian Senior Open Leaderboard For A Second Consecutive Senior PGA Tour Victory
Callaway Golf’s Rule 35 Ball Tops The AT&T Canadian Senior Open Leaderboard For A Second Consecutive Senior PGA Tour Victory
August 27, 2001 at 12:00 AM EDT
CONTACT(S): Larry Dorman, Mike Galeski, Millie Speirs (760) 931-1771
CARLSBAD, CA., August 27, 2001 – Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) yesterday earned a second consecutive golf ball victory on the Senior PGA Tour as Walter Hall used the Rule 35® Firmfeel™ model to win the AT&T Canadian Senior Open. The top three finishers – Hall, Ed Dougherty and Bruce Fleisher – all relied on the technologically advanced Rule 35 Firmfeel model in Callaway Golf's 30th golf ball victory of the 2001 season across the world's five major professional tours combined.
The Rule 35 ball has been used to win at least one tour event in each week during August, including Colin Montgomerie's win at the Volvo Scandinavian Masters, Wendy Ward's record-setting victory at the Wendy's Championship for Children, Annika Sorenstam's triumph at the Bank of Montreal Canadian Women's Open and Steve Veriato's win at the Novell Utah Showdown.
Like Veriato's victory last week, Hall's win yesterday was the first of his Senior PGA Tour career. After parring the final 12 holes to force a playoff with Dougherty, Hall's par on the first extra hole clinched the victory. Hall tied for the lead in birdies at the 72-hole event and finished at 15-under-par 269. He also used an Odyssey® TriHot™ 2 Putter in his victory.
Seven of the top 13 finishers at the AT&T Canadian Senior Open used Rule 35 balls, and a total of 32 golfers used Callaway Golf® balls at the event. Callaway Golf is No. 2 in ball usage on the Senior PGA Tour this year with 39 percent of all balls in play through August 26, distancing itself from the No. 3 brand in usage on the Senior PGA Tour which has 2.6 percent of the balls in play
Fleisher finished one stroke behind Hall and Dougherty, recording his 16th top-10 finish of the year. Fleisher has won three times this year using the Rule 35 ball and seven times since switching to a Callaway Golf ball last year. Fleisher used 14 Callaway Golf clubs at the AT&T Canadian Senior Open, including a Big Bertha® Hawk Eye® VFT™ Pro Series Titanium Driver, a Big Bertha Steelhead Plus™ 4-wood, Hawk Eye Tungsten Injected™ Titanium Irons, a Steelhead™ X-14 Pro Series Lob Wedge and an Odyssey White Hot® 6 Putter. Fleisher led the field in greens hit in regulation at 80.6 percent and is the leading money winner on the Senior PGA Tour this season.
Jim Thorpe finished fifth at the AT&T Canadian Senior Open, giving the Rule 35 ball four of the top five spots on the leaderboard. Thorpe was also using Callaway Golf's new Hawk Eye VFT Irons, which were introduced to the public just last week. Thorpe fired an opening-round 63 and tied Hall for the lead in birdies at the event with 21.
Callaway Golf is No. 2 in ball usage and ball wins across the PGA, Senior PGA, LPGA, Buy.com and PGA European tours this year. Through August 26, 15.2 percent of all balls put in play on those five major professional tours combined have been made by Callaway Golf, compared with 8.6 percent for the No. 3 ball manufacturer.
The Rule 35 Firmfeel ball was also used to win yesterday's Hisamitsu KBC Augusta event on the Japan Golf Tour. The event's winner survived a four-hole playoff using the Rule 35 and an Odyssey Dual Force® 880 Putter. Five of the top eight finishers at the event used Odyssey Putters.
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 VFT 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 and CB1 Blue golf balls. For more information about Callaway Golf Company, please visit our Web sites at www.callawaygolf.com and www.odysseygolf.com.