Rolex: Golf's biggest player

Drive, precision and success are the values that link the sport of golf with luxury brand Rolex. Since descending on the field of sports sponsoring in the late 1960s, today Rolex is associated with the most important and prestigious events and personalities in the golfing world.

The bond first blossomed back in the 60s when Rolex joined forces with three key players Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. These talented golfers have all enjoyed colorful backgrounds and are regarded as valuable pioneers both on and off the course. They've played vital roles in popularizing golf and transforming it into the world-renowned sport that it is today.

Palmer's career began in the 1930s when he was practicing his swing at the Latrobe Country Club in Pennsylvania under the watchful eye of his father. Following a brief stint as a Coast Guard, Palmer returned to golf in 1954 winning the US Amateur championship and turning professional. Just a year later, he won the Canadian Open on the PGA tour, marking the start of his road to success. By the early 1960s, he was at the top of his game thanks to his talent, charisma and grace. The year 1960 marked his first Open Championship, and he maintained this title for the following two years. In 1967, he became a Rolex Testimonee.

Palmer boasts 62 American professional victories under his belt, including seven Grand Slam tournaments, four Masters, one US Open Championship and two consecutive Open Championships. He holds all seven Ryder Cups (in which he took part) and the record for the number of matches won by an American in a tournament (22 victories in 32 matches).

South African-born Gary Player aka The Black Knight turned professional at the early age of 17 and today holds the most titles in golf history. He's characterized by a bold style of play, a ferocious determination and a signature black outfit. His association with Rolex also began in the 1960s. Player has received many honorary titles including Honorary Member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in 1994 and the Payne Stewart Award in 2006.

Third member of the famous golf trio is Jack Nicklaus, arguably one of the greatest players of all time. Turning professional in 1961, his victories include 103 wins on the professional circuit. Nicklaus is also an acclaimed course architect and has created his own tournament, the Memorial Tournament, in Columbus, Ohio. Always a loyal Rolex wearer, he became a Rolex Testimonee in 1995.

Since the 1990s, another notable player and supporter of Rolex has broken onto the scene, South-African-native Retief Goosen. His game has been impressively consistent since he turned professional. By the beginning of this year (2008), he had a total of six PGA Tour and 14 European Tour victories. He was at the top of the European Order of Merit in both 2001 and 2002 - the first non-European to achieve such a feat since Greg Norman in 1982.

Rolex is also a significant sponsor of women's golf, including the Solheim Cup and other Master tournaments, and Swedish player Annika Sorenstam and Mexican Lorena Ochoa both wear Rolex with pride.

Since 2003, Rolex has supported the Rules of Golf, the official handbook drawn up by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, and various amateur golf organizations around the world. In 2006 Rolex took it a step further by building bridges with the ecological world in its support of Golf Environment Europe (GEE) - encouraging environmental sustainability in golf - thus promoting a greener, brighter future for the fruitful partnership.

(China Daily 04/23/2008 page31)