What’s the story?
Two-time PGA Tour winner, Harris English has signed an agreement to play PING equipment after spending the last three seasons playing Callaway equipment.
“We’re very excited to welcome Harris back to the Ping team,” Ping Chairman and CEO John A. Solheim said. “Our relationship dates back to his junior golf days and throughout his distinguished college career at the University of Georgia. We watched his pro career advance quickly from the Web.com Tour to the PGA Tour, where he won twice as a Ping professional. He has a wonderful all-around game and he’s a proven winner. He’s a great addition to our staff.”
Here’s what English had to say on his reunion with PING:
“It feels great to have a PING bag with my name on it again,” English said. “I’m very excited to be a member of the PING tour staff and to get the season started this week in Honolulu. I have a lot of comfort and confidence with the clubs in my bag and the people at PING who design and build them for me. Their focus on engineering the highest-performing equipment gives me the best chance to play my best golf.”
In case you didn’t know...
What’s highly interesting is Harris English, 27, was previously contracted to PING before he signed an equiment and apparel deal with Callaway in 2014. His two PGA tour wins came as a PING staffer (the 2013 FedEx St. Jude Classic and 2014 OHL Classic at Mayakoba) and he used PING clubs throughout his university golf career at University of Georgia where he was a four-time All-American.
The heart of the matter
Financial terms were not disclosed eitther by the player or the manufacturer but as a part of the deal, English will use a PING staff bag and a minimum of 11 PING clubs including a PING driver and a PING putter.
That’s not all, in a social media post by PING, English can be seen wearing a Nike hat and Nike shoes which means that he has also signed a head-to-toe apparel deal with Nike. Although, Nike and the player are yet to announce the partnership yet.
What’s next?
English presently stands at 76th in the Official World Rankings of Golf and he will be seen using PING equipment starting this week at the Sony Open in Hawaii. According to the comany, he will use the following equipment this week:
Driver: Ping GFairway Woods: Ping GIrons: Ping iBladeWedges: Glide 2.0Putter: Ping Cadence TR Ketsch
He becomes the latest addition to the PING Tour staff, joining Aaron Baddeley who signed a multi-year deal with the comany at the 2016-17 season opener of Safeway Open earlier in November, 2016.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Harris English is another big name that is leaving Callaway after he never really got comfortable playing the company’s equipment. The move back to PING makes a lot of sense as he played the equipment even before he joined the PGA Tour in his university years and also got his two wins on tour with PING equipment.
Also Read: Tiger Woods says he played a Nike ball made by Bridgestone all these years
2017 has seen equipment shifts from several high profile players and the trend seems to be continuing to gather momentum. There is no more only a handful of player gunning for the top spot week in and week out. Companies are prefering to have a stable of more young guns to keep it interesting rather than looking at spending big on just a few top players who could previously guarantee wins.
The move is a positive one for English in every sense and 2017 could well be his first multiple-win season on tour.
