Equipment
PING's latest series of irons, the G2 series, follows the launch of the PING S59 blade iron last month and expands the company's offerings within the game improvement category, joining the i3+ iron that was introduced last year. The new stainless steel, perimeter weighted iron series consists of three set options and the HL (High Launch) Series long irons that are designed as long iron replacements for all three sets.
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PING's newest putter series, the G2i series, features a softer feeling, blue insert and a precision milled insert cavity and face, in nine different models.
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The new PING G2 stainless steel fairway woods introduce variable sole thickness, a patent pending innovation that helps golfers hit longer, higher launching shots. The fairway wood series offers golfers the choice of two 3-woods (12 and 14 degrees), 5-wood (17 degrees), 7-wood, 9-wood (23 degrees) and L-wood (26 degrees).
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Last week, CHAMP golf spikes were on the shoes of the PGA Tour's The International winner Davis Love III and Bo Van Pelt, winner of the Omaha Classic on the Nationwide Tour.
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Sonartec Golf officially released the new SS-07 line of fairway woods at the PGA Fall Expo in San Diego. The new product line, featuring an adjustable hosel that allows custom club fitters to adjust the lie and loft 2-degrees in any direction, will be ready for shipment August 20.
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Tournaments
Several top senior golfers, including Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Bob Gilder and Craig Stadler, have committed to play in the JELD-WEN Tradition presented by Umpqua Bank, the fifth and final major of the Champions Tour season. The tournament will feature a total of 78 Champions Tour professionals competing for a purse of $2.2 million. It takes place August 28-31, at The Reserve Vineyards and Golf Club in Aloha, Ore.
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A roster of 160 golfers has been announced for the fourth Annual Special Olympics Golf National Invitational Tournament, September 13-16, at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The tournament will feature Special Olympics golfers from 26 U.S. Programs competing in one of five levels of competition.
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Apparel
adidas Golf has introduced a new line of men's golf shirts, targeted at sophisticated, athletic players, that combines adidas' ClimaLite technology with mercerization, the union of which results in an apparel concept that adidas Golf calls "luxury-performance."
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adidas Golf debuts a line of golf apparel for children, called adidas Golf Kids, a performance-based line of unisex polo shirts and outerwear that incorporates the same ClimaLite moisture management technology and ClimaShell wind protection technology featured in adidas Golf's existing men's and women's apparel.
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adidas Golf introduces its ClimaCool Spring 2004 apparel line, consisting of men's and women's tops, bottoms, and outerwear. ClimaCool is a first-layer technology that incorporates the best moisture management fabric in the industry, Dupont's CoolMax Extreme.
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Events
More than 650 courses across the United States participated in the 4th Annual Take Your Daughter to the Course Week July 7-13, introducing 15,000 girls to the great game of golf. Suzy Whaley, the first woman to qualify for a PGA Tour event since Babe Zaharias in 1945, was national spokesperson for the event.
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Marketing
Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club in Florida chooses MembersFirst to provide Web-based interactive communications with its members, increase member participation at social events and tournaments and build a greater sense of community.
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Business
adidas Golf unveils a new brand mark for footwear, apparel and accessories that will debut at retail in Spring 2004. The brand mark consists of a waving golf flag with three dark, horizontal stripes positioned beside adidas' well-known three-stripe performance brandmark.
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Courses
Laurel Valley Golf Club of Ligonier, Pa., the site of several of golf's premier competitions and one of several "home courses" to golf legend Arnold Palmer, is selected to host the 66th Senior PGA Championship, May 23-29, 2005.
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Casual Friday has done its share of good-natured ribbing of David Duval during his precipitous slide from being No. 1 in the world and winning the British Open to no longer being ranked in the top 100 in the world. And when Suzy Whaley was 11 shots better than him after the first round of the Greater Hartford Open, well, yes, there was a snicker or two.

So with strong interest Casual Friday watched the late-night replay of Duval's appearance on The Golf Channel's pre-PGA Championship show from Oak Hill Country Club earlier in the week.

Casual Friday remembers covering Duval when he played at Georgia Tech and could sense he was a brash and confident young star. When he turned professional and was playing on the then-Nike Tour, Casual Friday had the opportunity to interview Duval. There was a clear sense he believed he belonged on the PGA Tour and little need for the media. And while he still does not need the media, he has learned to accept their role.

The first quality perspective of Duval came in a Sports Illustrated article several years ago that chronicled key points in his life. Duval was not completely enamored with the story, so Casual Friday read it as being partly true, but also with a grain of salt. The article, though, clearly painted Duval as being a complex individual, one who is hard to peg in a 25-inch newspaper story of a 10-page magazine cover story.

Casual Friday actually came to Duvals' defense earlier this year in a Wire commentary, suggesting that golf is not always the core reason for a player's decline. The other night Duval continued to evolve into a player, a person, who is much easier to like and root for. He did not need to sit there while being grilled for the umpteenth time as to what has gone wrong with his game. But he did. And he did so graciously.

"I'm not running, I'm facing it head on," he said. "I'm here talking to [The Golf Channel], I'm out here playing. Certainly I've had some bad days this year, some really uncomfortable days. But as much as anything, I've just been amazed by the overwhelming support I found, you know.

"It's times like these when you find out what type of impact you have. And it's times like these when I feel most responsible to act like a professional. It's easy to act that way when you're winning golf tournaments, finishing high on the money list, and conduct yourself in a proper manner. It's hard when you're shooting 83. But that's when you need to do it most."

And that is what he did Tuesday.

Thursday, in the opening round of the PGA, Duval shot a 10-over 80 with three double bogeys and four bogeys. So his struggle to restore his game to its once bright promise continues.

Here is hoping he makes a successful comeback. If nothing else, he has one more fan these days.

DOUBLE CLICK
www.pga.com

What did you expect? A link to some equipment site? It's the fourth and final major of 2003, enough said.