Kapalua, Hawaii
The two-time Masters champion is even thinking of a two-tone ball.
“If we’re going to challenge ourselves, let’s challenge ourselves to make something that’s really off the wall, that’s still playable,” Watson said. “Companies I want to be with are ones that let me have an influence and let me in on the decision-making.”
That company is South Korea-based Volvik, with whom Watson signed a multiyear deal. The Volvik ball mainly has been used on the LPGA Tour in recent years, and Watson represents its first big player on the PGA Tour.
Watson said he initiated the interest after watching the World Long Drive Championship in which the finalists used colored Volvik balls. He previously heard about it from Craig Stadler during the champions dinner at the Masters.
“They used a pink one, and they used an orange one,” Watson said. “I was watching this, and I’d never looked at the company. So I Googled the website, I looked at it, and read about. It’s a small company. You can’t just come out here and just start boasting and spending advertising dollars and things, because you’ll hurt your company real fast. … They’re doing things differently, and that’s how I noticed them.”
Watson said it wasn’t long after the Long Drive that he acquired some Volvik golf balls to give him a try. He also asked his caddie, Ted Scott, to experiment with them. He tried the S3 model — “it was pretty cool to watch it fly,” he said — and eventually settled on the S4.
Watson also will use a white ball, which Volvik calls the “Blue Pearl” because it has a hint of blue when slightly rotated. Early reports out of South Korea said that Watson wanted to play a green ball at the Masters, which is not entirely true.
“It’s not the same green,” he said.
Watson has always been about color, even the year he wore all white the first time he won the Masters. He had Ping make a hot pink shaft for his driver, and then the club head in pink, which he used to raise money for charity.
Watson said he wants to talk to the USGA about using a different colored ball on different holes, though that would be unlikely. The USGA has a “Conforming Golf Ball List” in which each ball is listed separately, sometimes based on the markings. Carter Rich, the USGA’s director of equipment rules and conformance, said each ball color would be a separate listing. As long as the PGA Tour adopts the “One Ball Condition,” Watson would have to stick with the same color for an entire round.
Day to the Swoosh: Jason Day made it official when he showed up at Kapalua with the swoosh.
Nike is getting out of the hard equipment business and focusing on its apparel, and it signed the No. 1 player in the world. Day also has a deal with TaylorMade for his clubs and golf ball.
“Joining Nike is a dream come true,” Day said in a news release announcing the deal. “The brand is synonymous with the world’s best athletes. I’m honored and can’t wait to be part of the team and working closely with Nike to take my game, and the sport of golf, to even higher levels.”
Tiger Woods, who has been with Nike since he turned pro 20 years ago, welcomed him to the Nike family with a tweet on Monday. Nike now has the Nos. 1 and 2 players in the world (Rory McIlroy) wearing its swoosh for the second time. Woods and McIlroy were Nos. 1 and 2 for part of 2013.
Divots: Day had a quiet offseason since he last played at the Tour Championship. Unlike last year, he wasn’t seen on the sidelines of an NFL game holding a camera, and his wife didn’t get run over by LeBron James going after a loose ball. Day still went to a few Cavs games and had his courtside seats. But he said his wife stayed home this year. … Daniel Chopra in 2008 is the only player to win the Tournament of Champions in January and not make it to the Tour Championship in September. … The Zurich Classic will be a team event this year, and a couple of players are taking that literally. Jason Dufner said he would play with Patton Kizzire (both went to Auburn), while Justin Thomas is playing with fellow Alabama alum Bud Cauley.