Titleist
Titleist had yet another big year on Tour, including wins at the US Open (McIlroy), Tour Championship (Haas). But while they may dwarf everybody else on tour, other brands picked up some big wins as well. In particular I hadn’t realized that Taylormade snagged 5 wins with the Penta this year. Can anybody make a dent in Titleist’s numbers for 2012?
1. Titleist Pro V1x – 21 wins
2. Titleist Pro v1 – 6 wins
3. Tayormade Penta – 5 wins
4. Nike One Tour D – 3 wins
5. Callaway Tour i(z) – 2 wins
6. Srixon Z-Star XV – 2 wins
7. Bridgestone B330s – 1 win
Fortune Brands announced this morning that Acushnet was being .
Acushnet has been on the chopping block for a while now. They’re a strong business, but Fortune Brands wants to focus on its core business of liquor at the urging of activist shareholder William Ackerman.
A number of bidders reportedly entered the fray trying to snap up Acushnet, who owns Titleist and Footjoy. Probably the most unexpected development (at least by me) was Callaway putting together a deal with a private equity group to try to raise the cash needed to buy the much bigger Acushnet.
Bidding began on Friday to purchase Acushnet, the maker of Titleist and Footjoy, from Fortune Brands. Over 2 dozen potential buyers examined the business, which is being auctioned off by Morgan Stanley. Among the expected bidders are Nike, Adidas, and Cleveland Golf.
Like the title says, Bloomberg is reporting that Fortune has selected Morgan Stanley to handle an auction of it’s golf business, which consists of Titleist and Footjoy.
Estimates are that the brands could go for as much as $1.5 billion. Nike, Adidas, and Sumitomo Rubber (Srixon) are all mentioned as potential buyers. I can’t see Nike or Adidas actually purchasing Titleist, but Sumitomo or even Bridgestone seem like reasonable buyers.
MyGolfSpy.com is reporting that Scotty Cameron was seen today at The Oven, Nike’s R&D facility in Fort Worth, TX (aka Cowtown). The implication of this is that Scotty Cameron may be in the middle of leaving Titleist and heading to Nike. A thread on GolfWRX suggested that the move may be effective as of Jan 2011.
Titleist is putting the finishing touches on their new ProV1 and ProV1x golf balls. They’re out in force at the McGladrey Classic in St. Simmons, GA. No word on exactly when they’ll be available for purchase (or exactly what the improvements are), but it seems like a reasonable bet that Titleist will want something new to compete with the upcoming Nike RZN in February.
The rumor mill has it that long-time Titleist golfer, Davis Love III, will be jumping ship to Bridgestone for the 2011 season. If true, this would be a huge signing for Bridgestone, who’s roster of players currently include Fred Couples, Matt Kuchar, and Will Mackenzie.
The Fred Couples signing in 2005 put Bridgestone on the map, but it’s the quality of their products that has fueled their success. Their E6 Ball is currently the #4 selling ball in golf and they’re about to release a new and improved B-330 line for 2011 on Nov 1.
