Nickent Golf Helps 20-year-old Win LPGA Match Play Championship
Two years ago, most of her money was being made babysitting. With a win at the LPGA Match Play Championship Sunday, she earned a check for $500,000 and joined the list of up-and-coming young American golfers that are transforming the LPGA Tour.
It was the first career tour victory for the 20-year-old from Florida, who uses a Nickent 3DX DC Utility with a UST SR2 shaft (the stock shaft for the DC Utility.)
She was seeded 39th in the match play event and had not received much fanfare despite a seventh-place finish in last weekend’s U.S. Women’s Open.
Now she is the fourth first-time winner of 2006, two of whom play Nickent products. (The other first-time winner is Joo Mi Kim, who used a PIPE Putter to win the first LPGA event of the season.)
Nickent is the hottest young company on the U.S. professional tours with eight wins on the PGA, LPGA, and Nationwide Tours in 2006. This week’s win was the 13th victory on those three tours in the last two seasons.
"It’s a huge accomplishment," said the winner, "It’s what I have been trying to do since I was a little girl, to play on the LPGA Tour and win a tournament."
In the final match, the long-hitting Nickent user opened a 5-up lead after eight holes, sometimes hitting drives 50-60 yards past her World Golf Hall of Fame competitor. To reach the final, she beat the 16-year-old phenom that has helped put a larger spotlight on the LPGA Tour, and then knocked off the LPGA tour money-leader in the semifinal.
The Match Play champion said she has been bothered by all of the attention that the more talked about young guns on tour had been receiving since they came up the junior ranks together. That is now likely to change. She now owns four Top 10 finishes and jumped from 22nd to sixth on the ADT Official Money List. She also secured a spot in the 32-player ADT Championship that boasts a hefty $1 million first-place check.
Other Nickent Tour Notes:
â?¢ The # 2 player on the official PGA Tour money list earned his 5th Top 5 finish with a Nickent hybrid this week at the Cialis Western Open.
â?¢ A University of Nebraska standout won the 106th North-South Amateur at Pinehurst No. 2 this weekend using a Nickent 3DX hybrid.
Contact:
Jon Claffey
Director of Marketing
1-888-NICKENT
Cell 626-320-4150
jclaffey@nickentgolf.com
