Nike Golf's Franklin Langham Continues Ignite's Winning Ways

Press Release

Posted 2004-04-27

April 26, 2004 - Nike Golf's Franklin Langham earned his first victory on the Nationwide Tour this past weekend, capturing the Rheem Classic at Hardscrabble Country Club in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The 36-year old Langham added 12 clubs from Nike Golf to his bag to start the 2004 season and has marked his best year on Tour since winning once on the Nike Tour in 1993. In addition to playing the most complete ball on Tour, the Nike One, Langham carries the new Nike Ignite driver (340cc), Forged Pro Combo irons (3-9) and Forged Wedges (55-degree and 59-degree) from Nike Golf.

Fellow Nike Golf Tour Staffer Shane Bertsch finished four strokes off the lead in third place. Bertsch sports footwear and gloves from Nike Golf while playing the Nike One ball and carrying a Nike Golf staff bag.

The Nationwide Tour moves to Greenville, S.C. this week for the BMW Charity Pro-Am at The Cliffs.

Nike Golf's Ignite Press Release - March 10, 2004 - Nike Golf's new Ignite driver still has three more weeks before it hits golf shops and golf specialty stores around the country, yet the first retail allocations have already been maxed out and sell-through is expected to take less than two weeks in most regions of the country once available to the general public.

Mike Kelly, Nike Golf's Club Category Business Director, points to a number of factors for the pre-retail frenzy and the reason why initial allocations have been exhausted.

The Tiger Factor
"To begin with, Tiger Woods' adoption of and immediate success with the Ignite at the WGC AMEX event last fall accelerated the awareness for the new driver," explained Kelly. "We weren't planning to introduce the Ignite to the industry for another three months, but we weren't about to tell Tiger he couldn't have it."

Woods credits the Ignite with his return to the upper ranks of Driving Distance leaders on the PGA Tour. Woods currently ranks No. 2 in Driving Distance at 304.7 average yards.

Tour Proliferation
Adoption of the Ignite driver among Nike Golf's global Tour Staff is now greater than 90 percent and growing each week, a far cry from the 35 percent or less rate of adoption among Tour players for some other manufacturers' new generation drivers that was witnessed as recently as Doral last week.

"Tiger's win was followed up by Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini capturing the WGC World Cup title about a month later - both using the Ignite," added Kelly. "Our Tour Staff has been transitioning into the Ignite as fast as we can get test models to each player. The club makers have been busy down in Ft. Worth and working out of the Tour van."

Nike Golf's Grace Park is the latest to put the Ignite in play as she tees off in the Welch's/Fry's Championship on the LPGA Tour this week in Tucson, Ariz.

Technological Advancement
Kelly also cites the specialized NexTi material in the Ignite club face - a layered yet tightly compressed metal that is thinner, lighter, and stronger than Beta-Titanium - as a reason for staggered allocations of the new driver. NexTi is the next generation in the evolution of Titanium, following Beta-Titanium, which is currently the standard for driver face material. Some of the world's top metallurgists developed NexTi exclusively for Nike Golf; it has never before been used in the construction of the face of a driver club head in the U.S.

"This is a highly specialized piece of equipment with a very limited production capacity," said Kelly. "True innovation takes time to develop and produce. Golfers who miss the first wave of Ignites that deliver will be rewarded for their patience. In short - it's worth the wait."

The Ignite will be available at golf shops and golf specialty stores nationwide on April 1, with a Suggested Retail Price of $469.