The wild and crazy 16 th hole at the TPC of Scottsdale will get a major boost of volume at next week’s FBR Open, with the added amplification being generated from 10,000 pairs of potentially free golf shoes.
TaylorMade-adidas has announced that it will be sponsoring a “Shoe In One’’ contest, in which any member of its staff who makes a hole-in-one at the 16 th will win 10,000 pairs of its new adidas PowerBand shoe for fans attending the tournament.
The only requirements are that the TaylorMade-adidas pro must be wearing the new shoe, and fans must register at one of eight Van’s Golf Shops in the Valley or at the adidas-Golf booth in the FBR Open Expo Center. If more than 10,000 fans register for the contest, the free shoes will go into a lottery.
Rick Levy, the vice president of Van’s, said approximately 21 players who hold contracts with TaylorMade-adidas could be wearing the shoe, “although we won’t know the exact numbers until Thursday morning, when the players go through Darrel Survey.
“If you take the retail price of the shoe, which is $140, you’re looking at a potential $1.4 million giveaway by TaylorMade-adidas,’’ Levy said. “So we’re excited, and we really hope one of their players makes a hole-in-one and wins 10,000 pairs of golf shoes for the fans of the FBR.’’
For the record, there has not been an ace at the 162-yard, par-3 16 th since Mike Sposa found the cup in 2002. But over the course of the tournament’s history at the TPC of Scottsdale, seven holes-in-one have been made there, including the well-chronicled “1’’ recorded by Tiger Woods in 1997.
Levy said that TaylorMade-adidas and Van’s have been working out details of the contest for the past month, and just this week finalized the details.
“Logistically, there were all kinds of things to work out because of the sheer volume of the contest,’’ he said. “What we finally decided on was that, rather than distribute the shoes from our shops should there be a hole-in-one, we’d let TaylorMade-adidas handle the processing, which will now take about 10 to 14 weeks.
“But even with eight shops here in the Valley, Van’s would be swamped by such a give-away.’’
The adidas-PowerBand shoe is so new that it was unveiled this week at the PGA Show in Orlando, and isn’t scheduled to be in retail stores until Feb. 15. The revolutionary feature of the shoe is that its chassis (along the sole of the shoe) promotes greater control and power throughout the swing.
Levy said that fans can begin signing up for the shoes beginning today. For official rules on the Shoe In One contest, go to www.adidasgolf.com/shoeinone;rules.
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