Jaidee Wins Wales Open with Adjustable Driver and HEX Black Tour Golf Ball
CARLSBAD, Calif., June 4, 2012 – Using the RAZR Fit™ driver, HEX Black Tour™ golf ball, a new set of RAZR X® Muscleback irons and a full bag of Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) equipment, Callaway staff professional Thongchai Jaidee won the ISPS Handa Wales Open on the European Tour on Sunday, continuing a rags to riches golf tale that seems straight out of the pages of a Hollywood screenplay. In winning by one shot, the former paratrooper from Thailand picked up his fifth career European Tour title, and his first outside his home continent of Asia. Jaidee’s win was the first of two on Sunday for Callaway’s flagship product. The RAZR Fit driver was also used to win the Nationwide Tour’s Rex Hospital Open on the second hole of a sudden death playoff.
Competing in difficult, rainy weather that he is unaccustomed to, Jaidee carded rounds of 71, 68, 67 and 72 to finish the tournament at 6-under-par. His win was the fifth for a Callaway driver on the European Tour this season, the second for the RAZR Fit.
“I’d first like to thank all the Callaway staff who changed my irons for me this week. I also put a new RAZR Fit Driver in play which gave me a lot of control of the ball,” Jaidee said immediately following his victory. “Conditions were pretty hard out there today and I just concentrated on hitting every fairway off the tee and then putting the ball on the green to give myself a chance. It was very, very tough, not like in the heat of Thailand!”
In addition to his driver, golf ball and irons, Jaidee used the new RAZR X® Black 3- and 5-woods, Callaway X-Forged Wedges (52, 56 and 60 degrees) and the new Odyssey Metal-X™ 2-Ball belly putter at Celtic Manor Resort. During Saturday’s third round, he got everyone’s attention when he bombed a 415-yard drive on the 18th hole with his RAZR Fit. The latest equipment from Callaway is a long way from the first “golf club” Jaidee owned as a child, when he learned to play by fastening a discarded 5-iron head to the end of a bamboo stick. He went on to become a paratrooper in the Royal Thai Army and just ten years later, in 1999, focused his attention on golf by turning professional.
The resolve he learned along the way showed its value in the rain and wind of Wales, where Jaidee’s accuracy into the greens and a deft putting stroke on them were crucial. Using the new set of RAZR X Muscleback irons that he had built this week, as well as his vintage X-Forged Wedges, Jaidee hit 73.6 percent of greens in regulation, good for seventh best in the field. He was also second in the field in putts per green in regulation, averaging 1.655 with his Odyssey Metal-X 2-Ball putter, a new model that hit stores this spring. With the victory, Jaidee earned spots in both the HSBC Champions and the 2013 Volvo Golf Champions events.
Also at the Wales Open, Thomas Bjorn used a full bag of Callaway equipment to finish tied for second place at 5-under-par. The European Tour veteran from Denmark played the RAZR Hawk® driver, a HEX Black Tour golf ball and the Odyssey White Hot XG® #1 Prototype putter.
The RAZR Fit driver win at the Nationwide Tour’s Rex Hospital Open on Sunday was the maiden victory on that circuit for the winner. He averaged 301.5 yards off the tee in the final round and 294 yards for the week. With a birdie on the second playoff hole, he became the second player this season to get his first Nationwide Tour win with the RAZR Fit driver. In late April, Callaway staff professional Luke List won the South Georgia Classic when he blew away the field by averaging 329 yards off the tee for the week and 347 yards during the final round using RAZR Fit.
Named Editor’s Choice on Golf Digest’s 2012 Hot List, the RAZR Fit driver that won twice on Sunday is Callaway’s first fully adjustable driver. It combines performance benefits gained from several proprietary technologies with an easy-to-understand, adjustable hosel – plus moveable weights to promote draw or neutral ball flight. Callaway’s OptiFitÌø?å¢ adjustability system allows golfers to adjust the club’s face angle to three address positions: Open, Square and Closed. This adjustment is controlled within the “cog”, a rotatable element of the hosel that changes the angle of the shaft axis relative to the head. Rotating the cog enables golfers to choose a preferred look at address while also minimizing a slice or hook generated by the club’s delivery to the ball.
For specific information regarding the RAZR Fit driver, please visit http://www.callawaygolf.com/razrfitdriver. High-resolution images of this driver and all other products are available for immediate download via the Press Center portion of Callaway Golf’s website: www.callawaygolf.com/PressCenter
About Callaway Golf
Through an unwavering commitment to innovation, Callaway Golf Company (NYSE:ELY) creates products and services designed to make every golfer a better golfer. Callaway Golf Company manufactures and sells golf clubs and golf balls, and sells golf apparel, footwear and accessories, under the Callaway Golf® and Odyssey® brands in more than 110 countries worldwide. For more information please visit www.callawaygolf.com or shop.callawaygolf.com.
Contact:
Tim Sweeney
Callaway Golf Company
Tim.Sweeney@CallawayGolf.com
760-804-4017
