Leading Edge

Reigning U.S. Amateur champion Danny Lee will be making two debuts this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans – one as a professional, and the other as a Callaway Golf Staff Pro. The equipment manufacturer, which recently extended its deal with Phil Mickelson through 2014, announced the signing of the 18-year-old phenom on Tuesday. The Korean-born Lee will endorse all Callaway Golf equipment and golf balls, and wear the company’s logo.
 
The youngest winner in the history of the U.S. Amateur at 18 years and one month, unseating Tiger Woods, Lee is currently using the FT-9 Tour driver, a Big Bertha Diablo 3-wood, X-Prototype irons, X-Forged wedges, an Odyssey Tour Milled 2 putter and Tour ix golf ball.
 
“I am happy to have Callaway Golf’s support as I begin this exciting new phase of my life,” said Lee in a statement released by Callaway Golf. “I’ve been playing with Callaway’s equipment and golf balls during this important time in my career because I feel they put me in the best position to win. Now the stakes have been raised and I’m glad Callaway is with me as I meet the challenges ahead.”
 
Lee finished tied for 20th in his PGA Tour debut last August at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., but missed the cut in his first Masters appearance earlier this month, shooting 74-81.

It was a banner week for Mizuno, as Staff Players Brian Gay and Luke Donald finished 1-2 at the Verizon Heritage in Hilton Head Island, S.C. Gay set a new tournament scoring record of 20-under par and doubled the field, including Donald, by 10 strokes. One of the straightest hitters on the PGA Tour, Gay hit 84 percent of the narrow fairways at Harbour Town Golf Links for the week. Gay played Mizuno MX long irons (3- and 4-irons), MP mid- and short-irons (5-PW) and the Bettinardi C-Series Putter.
 
Donald, who plays the MP-62 irons and MP Series wedges, shot a final-round 66 to finish in a tie for second place with Briny Baird. It was the fourth top-10 finish in nine starts this season for Donald, who's returning from wrist surgery.

TaylorMade Performance Labs announced on Monday the opening of its sixth U.S. location at The International in Boston, beginning April 27. The newest performance lab will feature TaylorMade's MAT-T (Motion Analysis Technology by TaylorMade) system which, until recently, was only available to Tour professionals. This motion capture technology uses six high-speed cameras to display a three-dimensional computer-animated image of your swing from every angle. Following a two and one-half hour custom fitting and swing analysis, demo clubs are built on-site to your swing specifications so you can test them out on the driving range. If you like the results, new TaylorMade clubs can be built to the recommended specifications and shipped to you in as little as 48 hours.
 
The International features 36 holes of championship golf, including the Tom Fazio-designed The Oaks, and is located only 45 minutes from downtown Boston.

Masters winner Angel Cabrera was the perfect ambassador for Ping this past week. All 14 clubs in his bag were manufactured by the Phoenix-based company, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The 39-year-old native of Argentina played a Rapture driver (7.5 degrees), Rapture V2 3-wood, S57 irons (3-PW, Rifle shafts), a G10 2-iron, Tour-W 54-degree wedge, Tour-W TS 60-degree wedge, and i-Series ½ Craz-E B putter. Cabrera also played the New 2009 Pro V1x ball, marking the third straight major title won with a Titleist Pro V1x ball (Padraig Harrington captured the 2008 British Open and PGA Championship with a Pro V1x).
 
Cabrera, who became the sixth player this decade to win multiple majors (Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Harrington, Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh were the others), hit 3-wood off the tee five times on Sunday, twice on the closing, par-4 18th hole (once in a playoff). It was his 4-iron, however, which was responsible for the luckiest shot of the week. After hitting into the trees on the 18th hole in regulation Sunday, Cabrera tried to hook his second shot around the trees but found lumber instead. Fortunately for Cabrera, the ball ricocheted left, into the fairway, setting up a sand wedge approach and a par which catapulted him into a playoff with Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The putter is normally the most important instrument at Augusta National, but for Kenny Perry, his week atop the Masters leaderboard has come courtesy of a cooperative driver.
 
Perry switched to a TaylorMade R9 (9.5 degrees with a Matrix HD 6 shaft) at last month’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and the improvement has been dramatic. Through three rounds, Perry had hit 78 percent of Augusta National’s fairways, compared to his 62 percent season average.
 
“I put this new driver in play and I told my caddie, ‘I think I can win a U.S. Open with this driver, because I'm driving it so straight,’ ” said Perry, who switched from the company’s Burner driver. “I've probably lost 5 to 7 yards in distance, but it's given me a lot of confidence in straightness. It doesn’t really curve as much from right to left.”

The Adams hybrid club which Brittany Lincicome used to hit the most dramatic shot so far of the 2009 golf season was 22 degrees, not 19 as originally reported. Trailing by one shot on the par-5 closing hole at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, Lincicome bombed her tee shot down the fairway, setting the stage for a make-or-break approach of 210 yards over water to an island green. Lincicome struck her Adams Idea Pro Hybrid perfectly, landing the ball on the middle of the oval-shaped green. It eventually came to rest four feet from the hole, setting up an eagle putt and the first major championship title for the 23-year-old Floridian.
 
“It came off on the clubface exactly where we wanted to hit it and took the slope like I wanted it to and came really close, thank God,” said Lincicome.
 
It was the third win of Lincicome’s career, and first since the 2007 Ginn Open. She also won the 2006 HSBC World Golf Match Play Championship in her second year as a pro. In addition to the hybrid, Lincicome played an 8.5-degree Adams Speedline driver, a 14.5-degree Adams Insight BTY fairway wood and Adams Idea Pro Irons (4-iron through pitching wedge).

Nike Golf on Friday released its scripting for this week’s Masters, and the Striped One will be wearing plenty of stripes. When Tiger Woods tees off on Thursday in pursuit of his fifth green jacket, he’ll be donning a Black Directional Pattern Polo, black pants and a white cap. Woods will be wearing a Pacific Blue Drop Needle Polo on Friday and a White Bold Stripe Polo for “moving day” on Saturday. On Sunday, Tiger will sport his customary red shirt, a Carmine Argyle Bodymap Polo, and black pants.
 
The pants are only suggested colors but the shirts are confirmed.
 
Woods is two Masters victories shy of matching Jack Nicklaus’ record six green jackets and will be seeking his first win at Augusta National since 2005. He finished tied for third in 2006 and tied for second last year.

Rory Sabbatini, who began the season without an equipment endorsement deal, has signed a new agreement with TaylorMade-adidas Golf. Sabbatini, who is 46th in the Official World Golf Ranking, will play TaylorMade clubs and his headwear will carry the company logo.
 
Sabbatini, known for an aggressive swing that matches his outspoken off-course persona, began working TaylorMade gear into his bag during the Florida Swing. He used Tour Preferred irons (4-PW), a Burner driver, an R9 3-wood and two rac wedges (56 and 60 degrees) at the WGC-CA Championship at Doral, where he placed T53. The following week at the Transitions Championship, he switched to the R9 driver, the most played driver on the PGA Tour for two months now. Sabbatini placed T63 at Transitions. He has made six cuts in seven starts in 2009, with nine rounds in the 60s. He has four PGA Tour wins since joining the Tour in 1999: the 2000 Air Canada Championship, 2003 FBR Open, 2006 Nissan Open and 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.