IRVINE, Calif. – World No. 1 Lydia Ko, winner of the LPGA’s 2022 Rolex Player of the Year Award, has signed a three-year endorsement extension with Proto-Concept Golf/Golf Partners to play Proto Concept irons and display the companies’ logos through 2025.
Ko, who began playing Proto Concept irons in competition last year at the suggestion of her personal club fitter, subsequently signed an endorsement deal with the Proto Concept Golf/Golf Partner for the remainder of 2022.
In 2022, using Proto Concept irons, the 25-year-old Korean-born New Zealander won three times last year, including her 19th LPGA tournament – the season finale CME Globe Tour Championship – and was the Tour’s leading money winner ($4.364 million). She won the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average (68.988) and finished in the Top 10 64 percent of the time, best on the LPGA Tour. She stands two points shy of the 27 required for induction to the LPGA Hall of Fame.
“Proto Concept Golf/Golf Partner is very excited to extend its endorsement agreement with Lydia Ko for three more years,” said Yasufumi Kawasaki, Brand Producer of Proto Concept and a managing executive for Golf Partner. “When Lydia signed her endorsement agreement with us last year, she already knew that she loved our clubs and believed they would help her play her best. Based on her results, she was proved to be right. We are thrilled she has chosen to have our clubs be a part of her quest for future success.”
Under the agreement, Ko will have the Golf Partner logo on her bag, umbrella and headcovers, and both companies will have the rights to her name, image and likeness, company officials said.
The ultra-luxury Japanese golf club designer/manufacturer burst onto the scene in 2022 when three of its products were named to the Golf Digest’s 2022 Hot List for the first time.
Proto Concept is a collaboration between Japanese-owned Golf Partner Japan – the world’s largest golf retailer with some 400 locations – and fellow Japanese golf behemoth Endo Manufacturing, the industry standard in precision club manufacturing used by many of the world’s best-known OEMs.
“With Proto Concept Golf, the goal of our design team at Golf Partner is to produce the highest quality golf clubs for avid golfers of all handicaps,” Kawasaki said. “The name Proto Concept is derived from the prototype-quality clubs that are developed for tour professionals.”
Proto Concept products may be ordered online at protoconceptgolf.com and through designated green grass club fitters nationally, which can found at https://protoconceptgolf.com/pages/store-locator.
Proto Concept was established in 2019 in Tokyo, Japan and is a part of Golf Partner Co. Ltd. www.golfpartnerusa.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Barry Cronin
Cronin Communications, Inc.
847-867-3032
