Volvik, the #1 Color Golf Ball on Tour, today announced the signing of Hall of Fame golfer Larry Nelson to a one-year endorsement deal. Nelson won 10 times on the PGA TOUR, including three Major championship victories, and has 19 wins on the Champions Tour. His Ryder Cup record of 9–3–1 is one of the best since the event became USA vs. Europe in 1979.
“I have always tried to be on the edge of technology throughout my career, and I am very excited to be involved with Volvik,” said Nelson. “Their golf ball is the longest ball I have ever played, and the feel around the greens reminds me of the old balata balls. This ball is really the best of both worlds.”
Nelson will play a Volvik golf ball for the 2014 Champions Tour season. In 2013, Nelson made 18 of 18 cuts and had four Top 25 finishes on the on the Champions Tour.
Nelson and his son Drew will both play a Volvik golf ball for the first time in tournament play this week at the PNC Father/Son Challenge in Orlando, Fla. They won the event in 2004 and 2008.
“Larry Nelson joining the Volvik professional staff is a very exciting announcement for Volvik,” said Volvik USA President Don Shin. “Larry is a true champion and is one of the great American golfers of all-time. It is an honor and a very proud moment for Volvik to add such a great icon of the game to our staff. Mr. Nelson can play with the best of them and we look forward to helping him get to the top of the leader board once again.”
Nelson took up golf at the age of 21 after he returned from military service in Vietnam. He broke 70 after only nine months of playing the game. He qualified for the PGA Tour at age 27 and his breakthrough year came in 1979 when he won twice and finished second on the money list.
He earned his first major title by winning the 1981 PGA Championship by four strokes. In 1983 he was victorious at the U.S. Open at Oakmont, setting a U.S. Open record 65-67 in the last two rounds at the difficult Oakmont course. Nelson’s 10 under par 132 record score has yet to be equaled. In 1987 he won the PGA Championship title in a playoff.
Nelson played on the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 1979, 1981, and 1987. He also won four tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour, giving him over 40 professional wins in his career. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in October 2006. In 2011, Nelson received the PGA Distinguished Service Award from the PGA of America.
In addition to Nelson playing Volvik golf balls and wearing Volvik headwear, Volvik will also be the official golf ball of Nelson’s exclusive training and fitting facility, Dynamix Golf, in Marietta, GA.
“We’re expanding our brand to more men’s professional tours in 2014 and we couldn’t think of any better way of kicking this expansion off than by announcing our partnership with the great Larry Nelson,” said National Director of Sales and Marketing Jon Claffey. “We’ve had huge success on the LPGA Tour the last two years and we gained new professionals on the Web.com Tour this year with a full-time tour representative. In 2014, we are all about making golfers aware that we have superior performance golf balls for every type and level of player; old, young, male or female, from the best in the world on down to someone just picking up the game. Signing Mr. Nelson goes a long way to providing the credibility we need to make that clear to the golfing public.”
Since 2012, players using Volvik’s ultra high-performance color golf balls have earned over $5 million on the LPGA Tour, Web.com Tour, Ladies European Tour and Symetra Tour with eight victories and 58 Top 10 finishes.