Jim Thorpe Earns Second Straight Win With Callaway Golf’s New Hawk Eye VFT Irons And Rule 35 Ball; ERC II Driver A Winner Again On PGA European Tour
Jim Thorpe Earns Second Straight Win With Callaway Golf’s New Hawk Eye VFT Irons And Rule 35 Ball; ERC II Driver A Winner Again On PGA European Tour
September 10, 2001 at 12:00 AM EDT
CONTACT(S): Larry Dorman, Mike Galeski, Millie Speirs (760) 931-1771
CARLSBAD, CA., Sept. 10, 2001 – Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) Staff Professional Jim Thorpe has taken his game to a higher level since switching to the new Hawk Eye® VFT™ Tungsten Injected™ Titanium Irons. Yesterday, he earned his second consecutive Senior PGA Tour victory with a convincing win at the Allianz Championship.
“I had 19 birdies, and that's not too bad for 54 holes,” Thorpe said. “I think what really impressed me is I birdied a lot of the tough holes. I could attack the flags on basically every shot I hit with these new irons.”
Thorpe scored the first win for the new Hawk Eye VFT Irons at last week's Kroger Senior Classic, leading the rain-shortened event in greens hit in regulation. Thorpe duplicated that feat in winning the Allianz Championship, hitting 86.1 percent of the greens in regulation and finishing at 14-under-par 199. Over his last five rounds using the Hawk Eye VFT Irons, Thorpe is a combined 24-under par and has posted a scoring average of 65.8 strokes per round.
Thorpe used a total of 13 Callaway Golf® clubs at the Allianz Championship, including a Big Bertha® Hawk Eye VFT Pro Series Titanium Driver, Big Bertha Steelhead Plus™ 4-wood and his Hawk Eye VFT Irons, plus the Rule 35® Firmfeel™ (red logo) ball. This marks the fourth consecutive Senior PGA Tour victory for the Rule 35 ball, which has been used in a total of 32 victories across the world's five major professional tours combined through Sept. 9. The Rule 35 ball has been used to win at least one professional tournament in each of the last six weeks. Callaway Golf is No. 2 in golf ball wins and usage (15.2 percent) across the PGA, Senior PGA, LPGA, Buy.com and PGA European tours combined this year.
Meanwhile, Callaway Golf's Big Bertha ERC® II Forged Titanium Driver earned its second international victory in as many weeks. The winner of the Omega European Masters used the ERC II Driver win his first PGA European Tour title, firing four rounds in the 60s for a wire-to-wire triumph. The winner averaged 315.5 yards in driving distance at the event, which he won by three strokes. He also used a Steelhead Plus Strong 4-wood and an Odyssey® White Hot® 3 Putter in his maiden European victory. This is the third PGA European Tour victory of the season for the ERC II Driver, and there were a total of 34 ERC II Drivers in play at the event. Last week, Callaway Golf Staff Professional Dean Wilson used an ERC II Driver to win the Japan PGA Match Play Championship.
Callaway Golf clubs were also victorious on the LPGA and Buy.com Tours yesterday. The winner of the Williams Championship used 12 Callaway Golf clubs, including a Hawk Eye VFT Pro Series Titanium Driver, Steelhead Plus 3-wood and 7-wood, Steelhead™ X-14® Irons and an Odyssey Dual Force® Rossie® 2 Putter. Ten of the top 11 finishers at the event used fairway woods made by Callaway Golf, including Callaway Golf Staff Professionals Rachel Teske and Rosie Jones. The winner of the Buy.com Tri-Cities Open also used a Callaway Golf fairway wood and an Odyssey White Hot 5 Putter.
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.