logo
Callaway signs Jon Rahm and LIV Golf's Legion XIII to partnership

Callaway signs Jon Rahm and LIV Golf's Legion XIII to partnership

USA Today06-03-2025
Callaway signs Jon Rahm and LIV Golf's Legion XIII to partnership Callaway becomes the first equipment makers to sign a partnership with a LIV Golf team.
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Callaway Opus, Opus Platinum wedges
The Opus wedges have a redesigned shape that was driven by feedback from tour pros and feature a new face treatment that enhances friction
Callaway Golf announced a partnership with Jon Rahm and his LIV Golf team, Legion XIII, marking the first time a major equipment brand has partnered with a LIV Golf team.
Rahm has been using Callaway equipment since 2021, winning both the 2021 U.S. Open and 2023 Masters with Callaway clubs and balls.
Callaway did not disclose the financial details of the partnership.
Callaway Golf has announced that it is partnering with Jon Rahm and his LIV team, Legion XIII, marking the first time a major equipment brand has aligned itself with a LIV Golf team.
Rahm signed an endorsement deal with Callaway in 2021 and went on to win the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines using Callaway clubs and balls. He would go on to win the 2023 Masters using Callaway gear as well before joining LIV Golf.
The other members of the Legion XIII team include Caleb Surrat, Tom McKibbin and Tyrrell Hatton. Surrat and McKibbin have used Callaway equipment in the past, but Hatton uses Ping clubs.
The announcement from Callaway did not include details about what the partnership will include or any financial details.
In a press release, the president and CEO of TopGolf Callaway Golf Brands, Chip Brewer, said, "We are happy to partner with a world-class athlete in Jon Rahm, and his Legion XIII team. We are committed to being an equipment leader wherever top players are competing, Now the time is right to cement our relationship with Jon and his team -- utilizing his exceptional talent and stature within the game to help engage and excite fans around the globe."
Currently, Rahm is playing a Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond driver, TCB irons, an Odyssey Ai-One putter and a Callaway Chrome Tour X ball.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Ian Baker-Finch to sign off from CBS today at Wyndham Championship after 30 years in TV
Ian Baker-Finch to sign off from CBS today at Wyndham Championship after 30 years in TV

USA Today

time6 hours ago

  • USA Today

Ian Baker-Finch to sign off from CBS today at Wyndham Championship after 30 years in TV

GREENSBORO, N.C. – After 30 years of broadcasting the PGA Tour, Ian Baker-Finch signing off from CBS Sports on Sunday with the network's final broadcast of the season at the Wyndham Championship. 'Since I made the decision, it's the best I've felt in a long time,' he said. Baker-Finch said he began wrestling with the decision last year at the Masters and RBC Heritage when he realized it represented his 40th year either playing or announcing at those events. 'That's what sort of got me thinking, what's next?' he explained. During his playing career, his powerful swing and competitive spirit was his appeal. Later, his charming personality and soothing voice added to his legacy. The Australian won the 1991 British Open at Royal Birkdale as a player and after he lost his game just a few years later, he made a successful transition to announcing, spending the last 19 years with CBS. Coincidentally, his remarkable story is detailed in a fascinating authorized biography, Ian Baker-Finch: To Hell and Back, which is to be released officially on Monday. Baker-Finch was introduced to golf by his father, who along with his fellow farmers helped build Beerwah Golf Club, a nine-hole course built on 100 acres of pine forest in the Sunshine hinterland of Queensland a mere six miles from the family farm. Baker-Finch received his first clubs – a 2-wood, 3-, 5- and 7-iron and a putter – on his 12th birthday, and was the only student in his school to play the game. He worked at local farms to earn enough money to build a full set at $15 a club. He got his first matched set at age 14 and a year later, in 1975, he received Jack Nicklaus's instructional book Golf My Way, which became his golf bible, as a birthday present from his parents. From those humble beginnings, he left school at age 15 to pursue a career in the game. 'I had this dream of being a club pro, giving lessons and being part of the fabric of a club,' Baker-Finch recalled. 'I never thought I'd be an Open champion.' For many golf fans, the 1984 Open at St. Andrews represented Baker-Finch's first real splash on the world stage. He held a share of the 54-hole lead and played with Tom Watson in the final pairing before skying to 79. Jim Nantz, who would become his longtime friend and broadcast partner at CBS, remembers being dazzled by Baker-Finch's play. 'He was just 23 and you could tell he was going to be a star,' Nantz said. Baker-Finch would surpass his wildest dreams by winning the 1991 Open at Royal Birkdale. In the final round, Baker-Finch sank a 15-foot birdie at the par-3 seventh to go 5 under for the day. He looked up at the leaderboard as he walked to the eighth tee and realized he held a five-shot lead. 'I thought, 'Bloody hell, do not stuff it up from here. I will not be allowed back home,' ' he wrote in his biography. Pete Bender compared caddying for Baker-Finch that week to riding Secretariat, the champion thoroughbred racehorse, and all he had to do was hold on. During his victory speech, Baker-Finch said, 'The pain of the other couple of times when I had a chance to do it gave me the strength to do it today. I will cherish this trophy forever.' Within three years of his Open conquest, his game was in tatters. The 1993 Australian PGA Championship was the last of his 17 wins as a professional golfer. In 1995, he played in 15 tournaments on the PGA Tour and missed every single cut. He hit rock bottom at the 1997 Open at Troon, shooting 92 in the opening round and withdrew. At age 36, six years after being hailed as the Champion Golfer of the Year, his playing career was over. To this day, he regrets playing that round at Troon because the scar tissue became too deep. 'Had I not played that day,' he mused, 'I may have come back to playing but then that was the sliding door moment to the TV career.' Baker-Finch had dabbled in TV the year before while nursing injuries back home in Australia and served as the lead analyst for all four networks in his native land during the summer portion of the schedule as well contributing to the Open Championship for ABC. Its producer at the time, Jack Graham, called him and said, 'I know you would love to get back to playing but if you don't, you've got a job with us.' As a broadcaster, he was a gifted storyteller and determined to follow the principles of 'less is more.' He made a point to glean fresh information from players. 'There was always a warmth quotient,' said CBS's play-by-play commentator Jim Nantz. 'Everyone loves Ian. His genuine kindness always shone through.' 'Everything Finchy said had meaning and purpose,' said CBS executive producer of golf Sellers Shy. 'As our mate steps away, he leaves 19 memorable years at CBS Sports defined by integrity, excellence and kindness. Retirement is a fitting reward for someone who gave so much to the game – and to all of us.' Calling the fifth Green Jacket for Tiger Woods in 2019 and Rory McIlroy completing the career Grand Slam are among the highlights of his broadcasting career. When Adam Scott became the first Australian golfer to don the Green Jacket, Nantz threw the called to Baker-Finch, Scott's fellow Queenslander, who famously said, 'From Down Under to on top of the world, Jim.' Baker-Finch turns 65 in October, and his latest contract was set to expire. His desire to do the preparation required to broadcast at the highest level 23 weeks a year had waned. 'I don't ever want to get to the point where the producer and the team have to sort of legacy protect, if you will. I'm not there yet, but at nearly 65 you start feeling that way,' he said. Baker-Finch looks forward to traveling and enjoying various wine regions and playing more golf, 'and working on my game a little bit because that's what I love to do,' he said. He'll spend more time with wife Jenny and his daughters and grandchildren. The month of March he'll go to New Zealand as he and Jenny enjoyed this year plus three months in Australia, playing a bunch of golf in the Melbourne Sandbelt region while doing it all at his own pace. He'll keep his hands busy doing some golf course design work and still travel to several of golf's biggest events for meetings in his role as chairman of the board of the PGA of Australia. He expects his final broadcast to be an emotional one as the CBS broadcast team has become a second family and for three decades he's been one of the integral voices that make up the soundtrack of the game. 'I hope people saw me as someone who loved the game and respected the players and brought a calm and honest perspective to the coverage,' he said. 'It's never been about me. I'm sort of uncomfortable when something's about me. The love and support I've received since I went public with my retirement has been overwhelming. I do think there may be some on social media that'll say good riddance, we didn't like the accent, or we didn't like him or he was never tough enough on the players but that doesn't worry me. I think the majority will say, 'Hey, he did a good job. He loved the game. We'll miss him.' "

Scottie Scheffler's role in ‘Happy Gilmore 2' is an unexpected gift for golf fans
Scottie Scheffler's role in ‘Happy Gilmore 2' is an unexpected gift for golf fans

Los Angeles Times

time8 hours ago

  • Los Angeles Times

Scottie Scheffler's role in ‘Happy Gilmore 2' is an unexpected gift for golf fans

This is a story about a movie that saved a sport. OK, that's a stretch, but only a little one. Scottie Scheffler is the No. 1 golfer in the world. Has been for a couple of years. He has won two Masters titles, one PGA Championship and the recent British Open, as well as an Olympic gold medal. He is so good that somebody ought to check his golf balls for tiny magnets that hook up to the cups on the greens. So far this year, by slapping a little white dimpled ball around in the grass, he has won $19.2 million. He has yet to turn 30, but his overall income, just from golf tournaments, is around $90 million. This guy is so good that his caddie, Ted Scott, is estimated, at the normal 10% of winnings, to have pocketed about $5 million. For carrying a bag. So, what's the problem? Scheffler is so good that he might also be sparking a trend called remote remorse. You really want to watch, but once he gets ahead by a couple of shots, there is nothing left. No drama, no possible twist and turn, no chance of any excitement. Other players in those tense, title-on-the-line final holes, dunk a shot into the water or bury one so deep in the sand that their only choice of club is a shovel. Not Scheffler. He is a 6-foot-3 human robot whose veins circulate ice water. When the going gets tough, Scheffler yawns. So, you see this and you know what is coming next — final putt, arms raised in satisfaction, a hug for his multi-millionaire caddie, the mandatory TV interview with the apparently mandatory British-accent female sportscaster, who will always start with, 'How does this feel?' You, and millions more, click the button on your remote for something more interesting, like HGTV or the Gardening Channel. When Scheffler gets ahead in the final round like that — which is almost always — it is game over. He can squeeze the drama out of a golf tournament like Bill Belichick could out of an NFL postgame interview. Certainly, you say, Tiger Woods used to win lots of tournaments by lots of big margins and that never seemed boring. That's because it wasn't. Tiger was animated, angry, annoyed, analytical, fed up with some part of his game, charged up over another part, mad at a reporter, upset with his agent. Tiger could win by eight, occasionally did, and it was still must-see TV. When Tiger was at his best, nobody could beat him and the public loved him and just wanted more. Scheffler is currently at his best and the public certainly is terribly impressed and, sadly, kind of meh. Tiger was a pound-on-the-table-and-shout-at-the-TV kind of player. Scheffler is a nod and a shrug. But there is hope. Hollywood has intervened, as only Hollywood can. Twenty-nine years ago, an up-and-coming comic named Adam Sandler made a movie inspired by one of his New England friends, who was a great hockey player and could also hit a golf ball a long distance with a hockey stick. Sandler called the movie 'Happy Gilmore' and found a wide audience that loved it for its irreverence about a game that flaunts hushed reverence. Among the highlights was an on-course fistfight between Happy Gilmore (Sandler) and aging TV game show host Bob Barker. Barker won by KO. The movie was hilariously overdone slapstick. It was a gut-laugh-a-minute. It was so stupid and wacky that it was wonderful. Now, Sandler has made 'Happy Gilmore 2,' and it is again a must-see for all the reasons that the original was. Plus the cameo appearances. Especially one by Scheffler. In the movie, Scheffler is good, funny, fun. He doesn't have a lot of lines, but he has perfect timing. He punches a guy out on the green and the cops come and haul him away. 'Oh, no. Not again,' he says. Remember, earlier this year, when Louisville cops hauled him away and put him in an orange jail suit, when he was accused of making a wrong turn while driving into the golf course at the PGA Championship, a tournament that he would eventually win? Well, Sandler and his writers made hay out of that, but more significantly, Scheffler played to it perfectly. After the movie punch-out, Scheffler is pictured in a jail cell, in an orange jail suit, as a guard asks, since he has been in that cell for three days, if he wants to get out. Scheffler replies, 'Ah, what's for dinner?' When he is told chicken fingers, he says, 'I think I'll stay another night.' Now, of course, none of that is knee-slapping stuff, but it is Scheffler, and the self-effacing comedy is a perfect image-enhancer, even if it is only in a stupid movie. It is so much better for golf fans to see Scheffler as a roll-with-the-punches fun guy, than an emotionless, ball-striking robot. Neither is totally accurate, but in this media world of image-is-everything, 'Happy Gilmore 2' has done wonderful things for this wonderful golfer. Even moreso, for his sport He will be all over your TV screens for the three-week FedEx playoffs. It starts Aug. 7 with a tournament in Memphis, followed by the next week in Baltimore and the grand finale Aug. 21 in East Lake, Ga., near Atlanta. For the playoffs, the PGA will distribute $100 million in prize money and the winner will receive $10 million. Scheffler, a likely winner, would then certainly be invited to appear on TV, especially the late-night shows such as Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon. This would present another great image-building opportunity. He could show up in an orange jump suit.

49ers sign former Saints wide receiver who led the team in yards just a few years ago
49ers sign former Saints wide receiver who led the team in yards just a few years ago

USA Today

timea day ago

  • USA Today

49ers sign former Saints wide receiver who led the team in yards just a few years ago

Equanimeous St. Brown's time with the San Francisco 49ers proved to be brief, with the former New Orleans Saints wide receiver being released among a flurry of roster moves after just one week at training camp. But another ex-Saint replaced St. Brown in the lineup with Marquez Callaway getting a chance to prove himself in the NFL. St. Brown didn't make many fans last year in New Orleans (dissing the city's proud food scene didn't help his case), but it's tough to find a new team in August. San Francisco is still managing injuries to high-profile wideouts like Brandon Aiyuk and Ricky Pearsall, who started camp on the PUP list. Callaway, 27, entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Tennessee back in 2020 and led the Saints in receiving yards in 2021 (698). But he couldn't maintain that pace once guys like Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed joined the receiving corps, and Callaway has since bounced around the league with appearances on the Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, and most recently the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He made a short return to New Orleans in-between those different stops. Now he's getting a look in San Francisco. We'll see if Callaway can win a roster spot and suit up against his old team when the 49ers come to New Orleans on Sept. 14. As for St. Brown? He'll go into free agency hoping to catch on somewhere else. The Saints didn't work to retain him after his contract expired in January, but he could have options around the league. He's caught 63 passes for 928 yards and a touchdown in 62 career games. Good luck to him.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store