Sept. 27, 2010; Phoenix, Arizona: PING will be equally represented at the Ryder Cup with two staff players on each team when the 38th staging of the biennial event tees off later this week in Wales, the company announced today.
Hunter Mahan and Bubba Watson are members of the United States team, which will be looking to retain the Ryder Cup. Lee Westwood and Miguel Angel Jimenez are representing Europe at The Celtic Manor Resort in Wales. All four players earned their way onto the teams via the automatic-qualifying point system.
“The participation of four PING staff players in the Ryder Cup is more evidence of the spectacular year we’ve enjoyed on tours around the world,” said John Solheim, PING’s Chairman & CEO. “Our staff has won seven times on the European Tour and five times on the PGA Tour. A win at the British Open and solo second-place finishes in all four major championships was unprecedented in our history. We’re excited to watch the matches unfold and wish each of the players the best of luck.”
Solheim joked, “Being an American with European roots makes it difficult for me to pick sides, but with two PING team members on each side, we can’t lose.”
For Westwood and Jimenez, two veterans of the event who will be making their seventh and fourth appearances, respectively, it’s an opportunity to return the coveted cup back to European soil. Westwood, the 3rd ranked player in the world and leading point earner for Europe, first competed in the 1997 event and carries a career record of 14-10-5 while being on four winning teams.
Jimenez has three wins on the season – equaling the most of any player on either team. Two of his wins have come since switching to the new PING® S56™ irons and Tour-S™ wedges. His most recent win came with the new Scottsdale™ Pickemup™ putter.
Mahan, who starred on the winning 2008 team in his debut while playing in all five matches and posting an undefeated record (2-0-3), is enjoying his finest year as a professional, with two victories and a world ranking of 15th – his highest ever. He secured his position on the team with his second win of the season, at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, to qualify second in points. He’s also playing the new S56 irons.
For the long-hitting Watson, earning a spot on the team completes a career-best year that saw his first win at The Travelers Championship and his best finish in a major when he finished second at the PGA Championship. His push in the last month of qualifying jumped him to third in the final Ryder Cup team rankings. Teammates will rely on Watson, one of the Tour’s longest drivers, to provide much-needed distance on a course measuring nearly 7,400 yards.
PING pro and Welshman Rhys Davies will serve as a special assistant to the European team captain. Davies, who has one win and three seconds in his rookie year on the European Tour, holds the course record, 62, at Celtic Manor and brings local knowledge to the team in the first-ever staging of the Ryder Cup in Wales.
Contact:
Pete Samuels (602) 687-5487.