Italian teenager Matteo Manassero made his professional debut at last week’s BMW Italian Open on the PGA European Tour as FootJoy's newest brand ambassador. Matteo turned professional earlier last week after a brief but decorated amateur career that included a win at last year’s British Amateur Championship as well as low amateur honors at the 2009 Open Championship and 2010 Masters Tournament. Having just recently celebrated his 17th birthday, Matteo established himself as the youngest player to record a victory at the British Amateur and to compete and make the 36-hole cut at the Masters.
In addition to a full bag of Titleist equipment, Matteo will be wearing FJ ICON golf shoes and a StaSof glove.
-- Thanks to European Tour reps Jonathan Loosemore and Guy Smith for this latest update!
The Desert Swing is under way, with the first stop in sunny Abu Dhabi.
5 of the Worlds Top 10 players are in action this week in a stellar field, including FootJoy loyalists Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, SBS Championship winner Geoff Ogilvy and the colourful Swede, Henrik Stenson who has just agreed a multi-year deal to wear FootJoy shoes again. All 4 players will be gracing the fairways in the new FootJoy ICON shoe.
Camillo Villegas and Ian Poulter have also flown over from the US, as they look to grab some early points in the 2010 Race to Dubai.
The new FJ Sport is also catching a few players eyes. Pablo Larrazabal and Peter Lawrie were both wearing the shoe in practice this week. With it's colourful and athletic styling, it is sure to be a hit with the players on Tour.
We welcome a new line-up for 2010 to our FJ collar programme, some of the latest additions include last season Rookie-of-the year, Chris Wood, Robert Rock and Irishman Peter Lawrie. Steve Webster and Ricardo Gonzalez continue with the FJ collar for another season.
Players are placing shoe orders at a rapid pace with the FootJoy tour reps, and there are certainly going to be some funky looking shoes gracing the Tournaments across Europe this season thanks to the fantastic MyJoys offering from FootJoy.
Posted By: Chris Garrett ·
Another stunning day at the TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts as the top 100 players in the world made final preparations for the Deutsche Bank Championship. Once again we were collecting feedback on the new FJ ICON line and working with the players to design some custom shoes through the MyJoys program. We shot some video wth the players talking about the custom process and options that we'll share in the next few weeks. In the meantime, click on the image below to see some highlights from Thursday.
Posted By: Chris Garrett ·
We were on the range Tuesday at the PGA Tour's second playoff event, the Deutsche Bank Championship. We were not only checking in with our FootJoy players but also set up a large display to show them the full line of FJ ICON styles and all the options available through the MyJoys program. In short, the players were thrilled! Check out the pictures from Wednesday and we'll post video next week so you can hear what players such as David Toms, Charley Hoffman, John Merrick and Jason Bohn think of FootJoy's new flagship product and all the custom options!
Posted By: Chris Garrett ·
Michael Sim collected his third win of the season Sunday at the Nationwide Tour's Christmas in October Classic, earning him an immediate promotion to the PGA TOUR and recognition as the first professional to win in the new FJ ICON golf shoes.
The 24-year-old Sim, wearing FJ ICON style #52005, ended the week at 20-under 264, posting a rhythmic 65-67-65-67 pattern that included only two bogeys, one each on Thursday and Friday. The victory gives Sim an instant promotion to the PGA TOUR this year and will make him fully exempt on Tour next year, just the ninth player in Tour history to earn the promotion.
Sim, the former No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, also broke Troy Matteson's single-season earnings record of $495,009 set in 2005. He has eclipsed the record in just 12 starts and is averaging a whopping $43,923 for every week he tees it up.
"It's very relieving," said Sim, who collected his second win at the BMW Charity Pro-Am in mid-May. "I'd been in this position before and I wasn't able to get it done. I tried to stay in the moment as best I could. In Omaha I found it really difficult to stay focused on the last day. Fortunately I learned how to deal with those distractions. I did everything right today."
To learn more about FJ ICON, click here to see the styles, click here to visit the new FJ ICON microsite and click here to read an interview with Jack Erickson, VP of Golf Footwear for FootJoy.