Wet and windy weather fails to dampen Titleist spirits

Vice president of Acushnet Jeremy Tomlinson was in good spirits despite being battered by the elements on the eve of the Titleist & FootJoy PGA Professional Championship.

The Titleist boss, left, hailed the dawn of a new partnership between three of golf’s biggest names as he left the course on the eve of the pre-tournament pro-am at Burnham & Berrow.

Two of the Acushnet’s brands, Titleist and FootJoy, have committed to the title-sponsorship of the flagship event for the next four years.

It is an expansion on a long-standing partnership which also sees Titleist headline sponsor the Assistant of the Year Awards.

Up to last year the famous golfing brand supported the end of season PGA Play-Offs while FootJoy support sponsored the PGA Assistants Championship.

After completing his round with chief executive of The PGA Sandy Jones, right, Tomlinson said: “The moment we knew there was a chance to extend our partnership with The PGA and become title sponsor of this event we jumped at it.

“This is the premier event for PGA Professionals and we lean on them, they are our influencers out there with regards to our equipment.

“We try our hardest to support them and they support us back by fitting our golf balls, our clothing, our clubs and our shoes.

“PGA Professionals are the bedrock of our business, the backbone of what we do and they are immensely important to us.

“Good luck to all the guys playing this week. Burnham & Berrow is a really good, stern test and all I can say is that I believe it will be a really good golfer who wins here this week.”

The event runs from June 2-5 and incorporates the Women’s PGA Professional Championship, of which Titleist and FootJoy are also title sponsors.

Chief executive Jones said: “Titleist are a long-standing and valued partner of The PGA.”

“Many of the young professionals out there this week will have directly seen the benefit of that as they will have come through the Titleist Assistant of the Year Awards.

“They span the whole range of golf equipment and have a presence right around the world, just as we do with our PGA Professionals.

“This is a perfect marriage and it’s great to come together on such a good golf course, a venue where we will be selecting our team for the PGA Cup.”