October 20-25, 2008 – Mesquite, Nevada – World Long Drive Champion Mike Gorton won his 4th career World Long Drive Title at the 2008 RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship at the Palms Golf Club in Mesquite Nevada.
Equipped with a Cyberstar NanoV Spec 425 9.0 degree driver and NanoHighSpeed™ Tour Shaft, the Yonex Long Driver and current Yonex PGA and Nationwide Tour Representative successfully defended his ’07 Super Senior title by hitting one huge drive after another in some of the toughest conditions ever at the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship.
In route to his 2nd straight Super Senior title and 4th career World Long Drive title, Mike hit drives of 350yards (Rd. 1), 376yards (Rd. 2) 397yards (Rd. 5), 387yards (Rd. 7) and 311yards into strong head winds in the Semifinal round.
In the Final round, with head wind gusts of 50mph, crowd favorite Gorton hit a 301yard drive to outlast fellow finalist, Steve Griffith by a whopping 21 yards! When asked about the weather conditions in the Final Round, Gorton said, “I was absolutely generating all the speed I could, it was brutal out there.”
Also competing in the 2008 RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship’s Senior Division, Gorton became the only Long Driver ever to appear in the Finals of two divisions of the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championships in the same year. Gorton finished in second place with a Final round drive of 356yards coming just 10 yards short of eventual Senior Division winner, Dan Boever.
Mike, the only player ever to win World Long Drive titles in 3 separate divisions, won his first World Long Drive title in 1987, winning the World Long Drive Championship’s Open Division with a 322yard drive in the finals. His second World Long Drive Championship came in 2000 when he used a Yonex Vmass 250 driver to hit a 312yard drive in the finals to win the World Long Drive Championship’s Senior Division title. Gorton won his 3rd career championship in 2007 with a 340yard drive using a Yonex Cyberstar Nanospeed driver.
Mike began his long drive career in 1981 and is a member of the Long Drivers of America (LDA) Hall of Fame. Gorton was a charter member of the Yonex Long Drive Team back in 1989. Gorton once held the World Record for the world’s longest drive, 449yards with a Yonex ADX 300 driver.
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Contact:
Will Carswell
Yonex Corporation USA
310-793-3869
william.carswell@yonexusa.com
