Sophomore sensation Anthony Kim one of 13 Nike Golf athletes at PGA Championship

Nike Golf No. 1 in wins on the PGA Tour  with 10 victories in 2008

TORONTO (August 6, 2008)—Two-time PGA Tour winner Anthony Kim and Masters champion Trevor Immelman lead a contingent of 13 Nike Golf athletes seeking to tame the 7,445-yard “Monster” at this week’s PGA Championship at Oakland Hills in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Going into the 90th PGA Championship, Nike Golf is No. 1 in victories on the PGA Tour with six different Nike Golf athletes winning 10 events in 2008.

Nike Golf continues to lead the PGA Tour in driver, iron, fairway woods, wedge, driver-ball combination and apparel wins.  

Other Nike Golf winners on the 2008 PGA Tour looking to win the coveted Wanamaker Trophy include Stewart Cink, K.J. Choi and Justin Leonard. Nike Golf’s Tiger Woods, winner of four events including the U.S. Open, is unable to play due to season-ending knee surgery.

Nike Golf is also represented by Stephen Ames of Calgary, England’s Paul Casey and Simon Dyson, Chad Campbell, Sweden’s Carl Pettersson, South African Charl Schwartzel, Japan’s Shingo Katayama and 27-year PGA Tour veteran Paul Azinger.

The charismatic 23-year-old Kim has already won the Wachovia Championship and the AT&T National this season. He has three other top-10 finishes in 17 starts on Tour, including a T7 at this year’s British Open. At just 5-foot-10 and 160 pounds, the native of California ranks seventh on Tour in driving distance, averaging 301 yards off the tee with his Nike SQ SUMO 5000 driver.

Stewart Cink won his fifth PGA Tour title this season at the Travelers Championship. The veteran leads the Tour in Top ten finishes with seven, is sixth in birdie average, seventh in scoring average and sits fourth in the FedEx Cup race.

The Nike baker’s dozen ready to attack Oakland Hills also features Leonard. In addition to his victory at the Stanford St. Jude Championship, the 36-year-old has three other top-five finishes this season and sits sixth on the money list.

K.J. Choi, the 38-year-old South Korean, won this year’s Sony Open. Choi is arguably among the top players who have not won a major, finished T12 at last year’s PGA Championship and T7 at the 2006 event.

Returning to the PGA Tour in February after the removal of a benign tumour behind his ribcage, South Africa’s Immelman promptly won his first major, the Masters, and then finished T2 at the Stanford St. Jude Championship after a playoff with Leonard. It was Immelman’s second PGA Tour win.

Chad Campbell comes into the year’s final major with five Top 10 finishes, including a T3 at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee last month; he ranks ninth in scoring average.

Canada’s Stephen Ames, 44, has five top 10s in 17 events this season on the PGA Tour, including a T7 at the British Open. He has been perfecting his renovated swing with Canadian instructor Sean Foley, which has sharpened his considerable ball-striking skills even more.

The 30-year-old Swede Carl Pettersson has won twice on the PGA Tour, the 2005 Chrysler Championship and 2006 Memorial. His best finish in 2008 is a T4 at the Byron Nelson Championship.

Paul Casey, a PGA Tour regular, ranks ninth in total driving on Tour and, coincidentally, his best finish this season came last week when he had a T8 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Like his countryman Casey, Dyson is ready to perform his best this week in a tournament where he’s fared well in the past. The former European Tour rookie of the year finished T6 at last year’s PGA Championship.

Veteran American Paul Azinger ranks 51st in career earnings on the PGA Tour and he’s a 12-time winner, including the 1993 PGA Championship.

Shingo Katayama won his second Japanese PGA Championship this past May and is a fan favourite. The 35-year-old usually plays well in the majors, with his best finish a tie for fourth at the 2001 PGA Championship.

The 24-year-old South African Charl Schwartzel – a two-time winner on the European Tour - will be playing in his first PGA Tour event of the season.

Located in Beaverton, Oregon, Nike Golf designs and markets golf equipment, apparel, balls, footwear, bags and accessories worldwide. Nike Golf is passionately dedicated to honouring and respecting the traditions and heritage of the game, and to providing committed golfers with the absolute best equipment in the game.

In 2008, Nike Golf’s PGA Tour staff has 10 PGA Tour wins, 44 top-10 finishes and seven international victories.  In 2007, Nike Golf had 13 PGA Tour wins, seven Nationwide Tour victories and eight international titles.  For the last two years, Nike Golf has led the PGA Tour in driver, fairway woods and iron wins

For more information on Nike Golf, visit our Web site at www.nikegolf.ca. Editors seeking editorial information and downloadable images, visit www.nikegolf.com/presscenter.

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For information on Nike Golf Canada, please contact:
Vitalis Gomes
Nike Golf Canada
905.771.2058
vitalis.gomes@nike.com

Tim O'Connor
O'Connor Golf Communications
519.341.4778
tim@oconnorgolf.ca