Harrington, Pettersen, Wie, Manassero confirmed for Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark (October 5, 2009) – The International Golf Federation has announced that professional golfers Padraig Harrington of Ireland, Suzann Pettersen of Norway and Michelle Wie of the United States, as well as 16-year-old (British) Amateur Champion Matteo Manassero of Italy, will participate in the final presentation before the International Olympic Committee membership on Friday, October 9 during the IOC’s 121st Session.
The four golfers will join Ty Votaw, Executive Director of the IGF Olympic Golf Committee, which has coordinated golf’s Olympic bid, and Peter Dawson, chief executive of The R&A and joint secretary of the IGF. Golf and rugby sevens, the two sports recommended for the 2016 Olympic Programme by the IOC Executive Board, will present their final case to the full IOC membership before it votes that same day on whether to accept one, both or neither sport.
“We have demonstrated to the IOC Executive Board throughout the evaluation process that golf’s bid to become an Olympic sport has received unprecedented support from both amateur and professional golf organisations around the world and leading international players,” Votaw said. “Now, we must reaffirm this support before the full IOC membership and we couldn’t be more pleased than to have Padraig, Suzann, Matteo and Michelle help to communicate this support during our final presentation.”
In June, when the IGF presented to the IOC Executive Board in Lausanne, Switzerland, Votaw and Dawson were joined by Global Ambassador Annika Sorenstam, 2010 European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem and LPGA of Japan President and World Golf Hall of Fame member Hisako “Chako” Higuchi.
Leading up to Friday’s vote, golf and rugby sevens emerged from a year-long evaluation that included formal presentations by seven candidate sports, the submission of a Detailed Questionnaire and responses to questions raised by both the IOC Programme Commission and the IOC Executive Board. The IOC Executive Board announced its recommendation of golf and rugby sevens following a meeting in Berlin, Germany on August 13.
On Friday, October 2, the IOC selected Rio de Janeiro as the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games.
"Whereas our Burner irons deliver extraordinary distance in a modern design, the R9 irons are aimed at the technician, and so are rendered in a player's shape with a clean and conventional look," said Harry Arnett, TaylorMade's senior category director of metalwoods, irons and balls. "However, a ridiculous degree of performance-enhancing technology is packaged within each oversized clubhead. The result is an iron that's phenomenally easy to play despite its classic appearance, and extremely controllable and accurate as well."
Like the Burner irons, the new R9 long-irons and middle-irons were designed separately from the short-irons to optimize performance in each club. The result is that the 3-iron through 6-iron are extremely long and easy to hit, and the short-irons are engineered to promote great feel, control and accuracy.
VICTORIA, Texas – EIDOLON Golf has built its reputation on custom-made wedges with its patented V-SOLE Technology. So with the U.S. Golf Association's new groove rule going into affect in 2010, EIDOLON Golf President/Founder Terry Koehler says it's even more important for players to have their wedges custom-fit, just as they do their driver and irons.
"The new ruling will reduce the effects of the grooves on spin, so golfers should pay particular attention to the other aspects of their wedges that affect overall scoring,'' says Koehler, who writes a popular blog as TheWedgeGuy.com. "It would seem logical that if you have to lose something from your short game because of the grooves, you could gain something back by having custom fit, custom built wedges. Golfers can make up for some of the loss by ensuring their wedges have the optimum shaft for their game, and that the lengt h and lie angle are fitted to them.
"At EIDOLON, we have relied on the premium Rifle Spinner steel shaft and our own SCoR graphite shaft for several years, while even the major brands only offer the heavy steel shaft that is too stiff and too heavy for the vast majority of golfers. And we will accommodate any modifications to length and lie angle at no charge."
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