Sergio to...Ping?

[GoGoErky]

PLD Anser

[BlkNGld]

Sergio isn't the first guy to terminate a deal because the gear wasn't working. Furyk did it with Callaway too, and eventually came back.

It's likely that he approached Callaway about using someone else's ball (ala Stenson), maybe they tried to renegotiate and couldn't agree and decided it was best to go separate ways.

I'd have to think deals these days have different buyout/termination clauses that cover a lot of areas.

[pt73]

It’s working out pretty well so far, he’s T4 in Abu Dhabi two shots off the lead after 2 rounds.

[PINGRebel]

Maybe PING wanted someone for human testing from a PGA Tour players perspective on how far clubs can be thrown and how fast they sink in a pond....

[Landy]

Hello I was wondering the same thing today

He isn’t listed as a Ping player on the site.

[Warrick]

He is not a Ping staffer currently, is playing SIM 3/5 wood, ProV, rest Ping I believe. Who knows if a deal is in the works, playing pretty well this weekend so far.

[UnderPar18]

Sergio was using an M6 it looks like today. Video on IG I saw it definitely was not a Ping this tournament. Still using SIM fairway

[budcangolf]

Pretty sure Sergio is using a SIM driver now in Dubai.

[BunkerSnot]

paraphrasing Sergio comments about Callaway change post round at Abu Dhabi -"I wasn’t comfortable enough with the golf ball and they needed me to play it so we decided to part way’s nicely though so there was no bad feelings on any part..."

[dlygrisse]

If this is true I find it weird Callaway would part ways over a ball than many people don't like and has proven to have the lowest QC of any major OEM ball.

[GoGoErky]

It’s true and was talked about when the pics of him with ping and Tm first surfaced.

he had a contract that was signed two years ago that included playing their ball. He played it for the first year then switched back to tp5 before moving on to the Prov1x.

why wouldn’t a company who is paying a player x amount of money to have clubs and ball not try to enforce the contract and when the player refuses for them to come to an agreement either to not renew the contract or terminate it early? The ball is probably the hardest part of the bag for players to change and find success.

[BCC1898]

He may have had it written into the contract that he didn’t have to play any equipment that he felt was detrimental to his game. After that MGS report, who would want to play that ball???

[GoGoErky]

Yeah we don’t know the details of his deal and iirc he wasn’t the first staffer to drop the Callaway ball while under contract.

it will be interesting to see what the feedback on the new ball is. According to the story tony c wrote for mgs Callaway only anticipates 60% of their staff will play the retail version and that the cs vs csx spilt amongst consumers is 80/30 they want to get closer to 60/40

[lc1342]

I just saw him tee off. It looks like he has the G410 right now.

[TK3309]

Ping driver and has two SIM fairway woods in the bag.

[Holy Moses]

Golf.com's Fully Equipped podcast (which I highly recommend) said that Sergio's deal with Callaway was just a two-year deal, but that's not really the impression I got from the news reports

[GoGoErky]

Could be and that during negotiating the extension is where they decided to part ways when he refused to play the ball

[lc1342]

Round 3, he had a Sim Driver.

[OldTomMorris]

He's using a SIM driver today in Saudi.