Callaway Becomes Official Partner to the European Tour
The European Tour has announced Callaway, the leading golf brand, as an Official Partner for the next five years.
Within this wide-reaching agreement across the family of Callaway owned brands, Callaway becomes the official driver, golf ball, shoe and golf bag brand of the Europe Tour; Odyssey and OGIO become the official putter and luggage brands respectively; and Callaway Apparel, plus the ‘new to Europe’ Travis Mathew brand, will be the official on-course apparel of the European Tour.
As well as Official Partner status, Callaway will also supply its market-leading Chrome Soft Golf Balls to driving ranges at European Tour events. Callaway will also drive awareness of Odyssey, the number one putter in golf, through a ‘putting leaderboard’ on TV broadcasts, which will showcase a new range of performance statistics at each European Tour event.
As part of the Official Partnership, Callaway will collaborate with the European Tour’s digital channels to create new content strands featuring the Callaway brands, products and their Staff Professionals.
Established in 1982 by the late Ely Callaway, the brand has a rich heritage of investing in European golf, and boasts major-winning Staff Professionals at the pinnacle of the sport, including Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Danny Willett.
The Official Partnership begins at this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA – the first of eight Rolex Series event on the 2019 Race to Dubai.
Neil Howie, President & Managing Director of Callaway Golf Europe, said: “Securing this important leadership position with such a forward-thinking and committed organisation as the European Tour aligns perfectly with our own business goals of making the game more enjoyable and accessible through market-leading innovation and superior product performance.
“Callaway continues to enjoy a very strong and loyal following among players on the European Tour, Odyssey has been the number one brand for more than ten years and Rogue Drivers were the number one model in play across 2018, and we are excited about the impact of our recently launched Epic Flash family. We also look forward to the many tournament, broadcast and content opportunities that this new partnership will bring.”
Keith Pelley, Chief Executive Officer of the European Tour, said: “We are delighted to have Callaway on board as an Official Partner for the next five years. It is really exciting to form a new relationship with a brand dedicated to producing not only high-performance golf products but also delivering unique and engaging content to golfers across the globe."
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About The European Tour
The European Tour celebrates men’s professional golf on a global stage, combining innovation, diversity and world-class golf. In 2019, the European Tour International Schedule will feature a minimum of 48 tournaments in 31 countries, including eight Rolex Series events, all part of the Race to Dubai.
Celebrating the global connectivity of the European Tour and Dubai, the Race to Dubai is a season-long competition to crown the European Tour’s Number One player, an honour which in 2018 went to Italy’s Francesco Molinari for the first time, and which, since 2009, has also been achieved three times by Rory McIlroy, twice by Henrik Stenson, and once each by Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald and Tommy Fleetwood.
Since its formation in 1972, the European Tour has witnessed 28 Members celebrate a total of 54 Major Championship titles between them, enjoyed 11 Members attaining the pinnacle of World Number One and has celebrated its diversity as players from 36 different countries have won on the Tour.
The European Tour also manages the developmental Challenge Tour and the Staysure Tour (formerly known as the Senior Tour) which is the men’s professional golf tour for members aged 50 and older.
The European Tour is also the Managing Partner of Ryder Cup Europe, the body which, alongside the PGA of America, administers golf’s greatest team contest, The Ryder Cup. In 2018, the 42nd staging of the biennial contest between Europe and the United States of America took place at Le Golf National, France, from September 28-30. Europe were the victors with a score of 17.5-10.5.
The European Tour broadcasts live coverage of its tournaments to more than 490 million homes in more than 150 countries every week, generating in excess of 2,200 global broadcast hours for each event. It also enjoys the support of many of the world’s leading business brands with Rolex, BMW, Callaway, Dubai Duty Free, Emirates, and Hilton as Official Partners.
