McDowell to play Srixon golf gear at PGA Tour season-opener in Hawaii
by Emily Kay on Jan 3, 2011 4:03 PM EST
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January 3 -- Fresh off a break-out 2010 season and a new contract with Japanese golf gear behemoth, Srixon, reigning U.S. Open champ Graeme McDowell will take his talents and new clubs to the PGA Tour’s season-opener in Hawaii this week.
McDowell, one of 34 in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions event that tees off Thursday, was a Callaway man until his contract expired at the end of last year. A reported $3 million deal convinced the golfer from Northern Ireland to add Srixon irons, balls, hats, and gloves to his Srixon bag. He’ll continue playing Srixon’s Cleveland wedges but it was unclear if he would stick with the Callaway Octane driver he raved about last year or what fairway metals he planned to use.
Despite a stellar 2010 season, McDowell appeared to eschew the typical athlete’s superstition about not fixing what isn’t broken as he traded in the clubs that helped elevate him to No. 5 in the world. With Callaway, he was a multiple winner and helped the European Ryder Cup team to victory over the United States.
Why the switch-er-oo -- in addition to the obvious big bucks? Those high-flying Srixon golf balls, according to GMac.
“Nowadays the golf ball is a huge part of the whole deal and it was a ball I wanted to try out,” McDowell said on a Srixon blog Monday, adding that he “instantly” fell in love with the sphere. He exuded confidence that Srixon equipment would help him “get to the next level and become one of the world’s best players.”
McDowell, who lives in the U.S., will take a different tack to the 2010 season than many of his Ryder Cup ‘mates who opted out of PGA Tour membership.
“The European Tour, as a tour, is still my home and I’ll continue to support the [it] but the PGA Tour is where a lot of the world’s best players are playing,” McDowell said. “I enjoy the [U.S.] lifestyle and I enjoy the tour over here. I wanted to give it a season to see how it felt.”
So, GMac -- Open or Ryder Cup? The team competition was “probably the most exciting moment of my life,” McDowell averred. Winning a major, however, was more “personally rewarding.
“Major championships define any players career,” McDowell said. “It was great to get off that mark.”
Wonder if major-less Lee Westwood would second that?
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It woud be pretty embarrassing to show up with the Srixon contract starting a few days ago with the old Callaway irons in the bag. :-D The new Srixon tour irons aren’t tremendously different than the Callaways he was playing. Shouldn’t be too big of a transition for him.
The way he was hitting that driver, I’d have a bumper sticker on the bottom of the bag reading “You can have my Callaway Diablo Driver when you priy it from my cold, dead hands”
"Aye... we're good and lost now. For sure, you have to be lost to find a place that can't be found, elseways everyone would know where it was." - Captain Barbosa
Kind of goes with a past posting of mine about
equipment changes…Sam Snead tried different irons from the Spauldings he played for 2-3 years, and than said he couldn’t tell any difference, so never did change….Today, as Court would say, it’s all about the Benjamins….Show me the money honey…..He could have stayed with his old tools and still hit the Srixon ball…..so who kids who…..Hey Ease, Wendy…see where he said he likes the LIFE STYLE here in the Colonies?….We is so much more laid back….You know, jist finish the day, pop a top off a COLD ONE, put yur feet up and relax while the wife does the Barbie -Q thing….ya gotta love it……STUB
STUB
it’s really the ice cubes that’s bringing him here….and the lack of pig blood in the breakfast food. :-)
Remember when Corey Pavin switched from his blades to those butt-ugly Cleveland VAS irons ? He went from clubs he could work in any direction to some of the worst looking clubs ever made, that were really difficult to curve the ball with. He took a real nosedive after that swtich.
"Aye... we're good and lost now. For sure, you have to be lost to find a place that can't be found, elseways everyone would know where it was." - Captain Barbosa
I was reading about this change with D Mac's clubs
Earlier today on pgatour.com
"pain is only weakness leaving the body" jumpn
Hi Jump...how's that remodeling coming....I went
through that a couple of times….Decided I’d rather build new…less hassel and mess…I don’t know how the contracts are set now, but it used to be woods were seperate from the irons…You could play Spaulding Irons, and MacGregor woods….The balls were also seperate….any ball you wanted…..The bag advertising was for the Irons….It used to confuse a lot of amateur players….They’d look in the bags at the tournaments, and see different woods- irons and balls…..Court, I definately go along with the lack of Pigs Blood….Damm, man wasn’t made to hafta close your eyes so ya couldn’t tell what ya was putting in yur mouth……Hi Sweety…time for one a yur specials….3 an a twist would be jist great……you can clip the cigar now too….thankee…….STUB
STUB
no – he won the US Open, then switched the next year
"Aye... we're good and lost now. For sure, you have to be lost to find a place that can't be found, elseways everyone would know where it was." - Captain Barbosa
Funny thing though court
I just googled Pavin kissing the US Open trophy wearing a Cleveland hat. Any idea why ?
Because Cleveland was a sponsor of his ? Ok – I’ll type slow – he didn’t use the VAS irons until after the US Open win.
"Aye... we're good and lost now. For sure, you have to be lost to find a place that can't be found, elseways everyone would know where it was." - Captain Barbosa
Interesting.
Looking at the history of Cleveland , sourses say Pavin used the new high tech irons during his Open win. Would these be the VAS ?
Maybe I’m thinking of the ’93 Masters where he got close – then changed clubs the next year ?
"Aye... we're good and lost now. For sure, you have to be lost to find a place that can't be found, elseways everyone would know where it was." - Captain Barbosa
yeah – he had the “best player not to win a major” until the US Open win
"Aye... we're good and lost now. For sure, you have to be lost to find a place that can't be found, elseways everyone would know where it was." - Captain Barbosa
I remember..
I took notice of him more when he was in the last group with Faldo in the ’93 open Norman won. Later that year he beat Faldo in the Matchplay at Wentworth on the last hole. Great competitior.
there was a reason they called him “Bulldog”. He was at UCLA during a period they were really turning out some tough athletes in individual sports. Jimmy Connors played tennis there in the early 70’s – then Elliott Telsher (a personal favorite) – then Pavin in golf. It’s a shame they have fallen on hard times.
"Aye... we're good and lost now. For sure, you have to be lost to find a place that can't be found, elseways everyone would know where it was." - Captain Barbosa
I was thinking that
he changed equipment after the Open win. He took a lot of criticism, and was the topic of conversation after each bad outing the next year.
The Saints ARE the SUPER BOWL CHAMPS....WHO DAT!
He had 5 more top 10's in majors
after the US Open win. But approaching 40 and at a time when bombers took over, he couldn’t compete much then anyway. Wish I had his short game !
old joke :-)
"Aye... we're good and lost now. For sure, you have to be lost to find a place that can't be found, elseways everyone would know where it was." - Captain Barbosa
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