Image © OMEGA Ltd.

Omega will be getting some high-profile exposure as a flagship sponsor of the 2016 Ryder Cup golf tournament to be held later this week at the Hazeltine National Golf Club (near Minneapolis, Minn., USA) As a result of the commercial relationship between Omega and the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) of America, and because the PGA is the official host of the event (when played on US soil), Omega will be the event's official timekeeper. Omega is also a direct supporter of the US Ryder Cup team, regardless of where the event is held.

Omega's deep involvement in this year's Ryder Cup tournament will bring about a unique, head-to-head clash with arch-rival Rolex -- itself a flagship sponsor of the European Ryder Cup team. In an ironic twist, many of the US team's top golfers are high-profile Rolex ambassadors whereas two of Omega's highest-profile male golf ambassadors are European Ryder Cup team members Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia. This peculiar collision of commercial (and team) allegiances may explain McIlroy's and Garcia's noticeable absence from the event pictured below -- yesterday's opening of the Planet Omega Exhibition at Hazeltine. Yes, that's Olympian (and Omega Ambassador) Michael Phelps, along with Omega President/CEO Raynald Aeschlimann and US Ryder Cup team member (and not Omega Amabassador) Zach Johnson. Johnson is wearing a Limited Edition, 2016 Ryder Cup commemorative Seamaster Aqua Terra (quite a lovely watch that I've seen in person), presented by Omega to Johnson and all his US Ryder Cup teammates.


Image © OMEGA Ltd.

 

p.s. -- Mrs. Jones and I will be spectators at the 2016 Ryder Cup as guests of Omega. I will endeavour to provide some live reporting to the Forum as circumstances allow.

 

p.p.s. -- here's a link to an article from golf.com on the Omega-Rolex collision at the Ryder Cup. I'd say it's Omega for the win!

http://www.golf.com/ap-news/ticked-swiss-watch-companies-vie-ryder-cup


p.p.p.s -- the commercial arrangement between Omega and the PGA described in the article above has since been enhanced, and extended to the year 2022.

 

Outstanding!!! Guess I haven't bought enough to get an invite . We expect some high quality reporting from you. Enjoy the trip.

 

I don't think it was as a matter of buying, but rather, my relentless pestering of the folks at the Botique until they finally gave in

 

Guess I'm going to take a cue from you and pester the crap out of them. Now that Mako has moved on guess it's time to work on Rohan.

 

awesome. what an honor. what watches are you gonna wear?

 

Yeah, like golf needs to be timed. .

 

Well done! Look forward to hearing a few live reports from Medinah. Any prediction on which team wins? I'm going with the USA this time

 

Baller!!!! Totally jealous. Sounds awesome.

 

Yes, absolutely need to be timed. For slow play. To force the game to be played at faster pace.

 

Hmm... Really? I always thought as long as you played faster than the grass grows you're good. And the only time restriction I found is you must abide by your appointed tee time. But then again I'm not really a golf fan, I'd rather time the grass growing.

 

Yes, having an official timekeeper for golf does seem rather silly. The one place where an official clock would be useful is at the first tee; if a competitor misses his/her designated start time by too much time, he/she may be disqualified from the tournament.

Being the designated timekeeper means mainly that you get to put big frickin' clocks that look like your watches, all over the golf course.


Image © OMEGA Ltd.

 

I'm embarrassed to say that I've thought about that a lot. I think I'm going with these two:

...this one, because it looks most like the giant 650mm version hanging at the tee boxes (see photo above ^^^ )



and this one because it's a great conversation-starter and people never seem to tire looking at it.

 

Have an awesome time. Make sure you get there early enough to get a spot around the first tee as the scene is insane. IMHO it is the greatest atmosphere in sport. Maybe the US boys can win it for Arnie!

From 2008 the last time we won. That's Faldo's autograph on my (at the time 6 month old sons) bucket hat.

 

i'm relieved to hear that you put a lot of thought into it.

 

You're a Master Strategist Mr @Jones in LA. I wouldn't wanna mess with you [emoji16]
Anyway I reckoned you would wear the Moonwatch Meteorite dial Mr Jones[emoji6]

 

If anything, association with golf reduces my respect for the Omega brand. It's one of the most ridiculous 'sports' relative to how much money is pumped in. It's also jolly boring to watch. And speaking of watches, I'd far rather see Omega get back to its Speedy roots by displacing Rolex as a prominent sponsor of Formula 1.

 

Fox Quiz with Megan[emoji68]
This 2016 British Open Champion & Rio Olympic Silver medalist could be team USA's biggest stumbling block & rob USA of a Victory
Question : Name the watch