Winners of Stanford St. Jude Championship, McDonald's LPGA Championship Played Graphite Design Shaft Models

Winners of Stanford St. Jude Championship, McDonald's LPGA Championship Played Graphite Design Shaft Models
Press Release

Graphite Design - maker of some of the most widely played graphite driver shaft models on the PGA TOUR - today announces that the winners of the PGA TOUR's Stanford St. Jude Championship and the McDonald's LPGA Championship played its shaft models, according to the Darrell Survey.

Utilizing Graphite Design's YS-Hybrid 85 shaft model in a hybrid club, the Stanford St. Jude Championship winner fired a final-round 62 to claim a five-shot victory. The tournament runner-up played Graphite Design's Pershing 65 shaft in his driver - ranking third in fairways hit for the week - and the YS-Hybrid 105 in a pair of clubs. A fifth-place finisher was also powered by Graphite Design, using a Pershing 75 model in his driver and Pershing 85 in his 3-wood.

The McDonald's LPGA champion relied on Graphite Design's popular YS-6 model in her driver en route to her first major title with a 14-under-par total. Her driving played a crucial part in the win as the player found 80.3 percent of fairways while averaging more than 280 yards off the tee during the tournament.

"We congratulate this week's winners on their outstanding performances and are proud to have played a role in their success," said Akio Karashima, CEO of Graphite Design. "Like their professional counterparts, amateur golfers find that Graphite Design shafts deliver the ultimate in accuracy and distance from tee to green."

In 2006, Graphite Design shafts were played by 41 winners of professional tournaments worldwide. Players using Graphite Design shafts amassed more than $90 million in PGA TOUR earnings in 2006 while the company earned more graphite wood-shaft model count victories on the PGA TOUR (16) than any other manufacturer. On the Japan Tour, Graphite Design shafts were in the bags of 18 winners in 2006 while the company extended its win streak in the wood-shaft brand count to 134 consecutive tournaments - an unprecedented string dating to 2002.

Graphite Design is the graphite shaftmaker of choice for Hank Haney, coach to the world's top-ranked player. The company recently introduced the Tour AD Quattro Tech ultra-premium shaft in the U.S. and launched its G-TECH combination-flex custom clubmaker series of wood and iron shafts, designed for exceptional playability throughout the bag.