February 22, 2007; Phoenix, Ariz.: – PING announced today a roster boasting 25 PGA Tour players among its more than 80 contracted staff professionals around the world. This is the largest contracted PGA Tour staff in the company’s history.
"Seeing our products on tour is the ultimate stamp of approval; that’s when you know you have designed a club that truly performs. Having such a large and talented roster of players around the world is a testament to our engineers, who have designed products that so many of the world’s best want to play," said PING Chairman and CEO John Solheim.
The 25 player PGA Tour staff includes a balance of veterans and young talent. Eight of the pros are past PGA Tour winners. Bubba Watson, the longest driver on tour in 2006, and highly-touted Ryan Moore are coming off strong rookie campaigns and join Hunter Mahan as three players under 30 years old looking to make their mark this year. Joining the young talent are three rookies (Chris Stroud, Matt Hendrix and Kyle Reifers) who earned their PGA Tour cards via qualifying school.
Watson, Chris DiMarco, Nick O’Hern, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Lee Westwood and Charles Warren begin the season with new multi-year agreements.
PING’s LPGA roster has 14 players and is led by 2006 top ten money earner Pat Hurst, 2006 Weetabix Women’s British Open Champion Sherri Steinhauer, and 2006 five time top ten finisher Stacy Prammanasudh.
On the European Tour, PING is represented by 16 players including Jimenez, Westwood, Angel Cabrera, and Alejandro Canizares, who won in only his third start as a rookie last year.
PING’s Champions Tour staff includes Bob Gilder, Bruce Summerhays, Ed Dougherty, and recent winner Mark James.
The worldwide staff represents PING on 10 different tours.
"To have more than 80 quality professional golfers on the PING roster says a lot about the products and service PING provides. With a roster this deep and this talented we anticipate a strong year for PING on the professional circuit," said PING Director of Tour Player Relations Chance Cozby.
Contact:
Pete Samuels (602) 687-5487
