Masato Mizuno, Chairman of the Mizuno Corporation, and Akito Mizuno, President of the Mizuno Corporation, were honoured during last week’s Open Championship when they were both awarded Honorary Life Vice Presidency of The European Tour by Neil Coles, MBE, Chairman of The European Tour Board of Directors, and European Tour Chief Executive, George O’Grady, CBE, in appreciation of the outstanding service which the Mizuno company has delivered over the past 25 years to The European Tour.

O’Grady said: “The European Tour’s relationship with Mizuno is our longest running agreement and is a great symbol of the professionalism and standards we set at The European Tour. The Mizuno Workshop elevated the Tour and all of the manufacturers are still trying to follow the Mizuno model on Tour.

“We thank Mizuno for their continuing support and consistently high standards that they have brought to The European Tour over more than 25 years and we are honoured to present both Masato Mizuno and Akito Mizuno with Honorary Life Presidency of The European Tour.”

Masato Mizuno and Akito Mizuno, who are brothers, also received a special award – a Graeme Baxter painting of the view of the Old Course Hotel towards the 17th hole with the famous R&A Clubhouse in the distance – from Peter Dawson, the Chief Executive of the R&A, and O’Grady at a lunch overlooking the 18th fairway of the Old Course at St Andrews. The painting depicts the setting which, in 1984, so inspired Severiano Ballesteros, who won the second of his three Open Championships that year. It was a setting which also inspired Masato Mizuno.

Impressed by that first experience, and by the courtesies extended by the R&A during his visit, Masato Mizuno responded readily when asked by Coles if Mizuno could provide the sponsorship support for a mobile workshop service to the players. 

The project started that year when Coles and the late Barry Willett, then professional and club-maker at St George’s Hill in Surrey, set up a temporary workshop at The Open. That success persuaded Coles that a mobile facility to follow the players on The European Tour would help close the gap in standards between Europe and the PGA Tour in America.

Coles met with Mizuno who embraced the workshop concept as the ideal way to launch its brand to the European market. Coles said: “Barry sourced the first truck and I was delighted to bring Mizuno on board as sponsor. The workshop was an instant hit. We started a trend others copied. The Mizuno team from Japan brought manufacturing and technical expertise and the sponsorship has become one of the most enduring on The European Tour.”

The Mizuno workshop has become a familiar sight on the driving ranges of The Open Championship for the past 27 years with an additional presence at 24 tournaments in 11 countries on The 2010 Race to Dubai. The Mizuno team of expert technicians continue to provide a service of club repair and adjustment to all players, irrespective of which brand of club they play.

The Mizuno service, led today by Andy Kikidas, the European Product and Tour Promotions Manager, Mizuno Corp (UK), will in their third Official Workshop, introduced earlier this year, take to more than 500 the number of tournaments they have covered on The European Tour International Schedule.

The distinguished guests at the lunch for Masato Mizuno and Akito Mizuno were led by His Excellency, the Ambassador of Japan to the United Kingdom, Mr Shin Ebihara and Consul General Tarahara Masataka, and joined by Isao Aoki, European Tour Board Members Neil Coles, MBE, John O’Leary and Sir Michael Bonallack, in addition to John Jacobs OBE, the founding father of The European Tour.

Also present were a number of honoured guests from Japan, including the JGTO Chairman Tadashi Koizumi, JGTO Executive Director Andy Yamanaka, JGA Chairman of Rules, Keisuke Muratsu and several members of the Board of the JGTO. Also in attendance were Chairman of the Sunshine Tour Johann Rupert, Asian Tour Chief Executive Kyi Hla Han, R&A Director Mike Tate, European Ryder Cup Director Richard Hills, European Tour Chief Operating Officer Keith Waters, Toyota UK Chairman Naoya Taniguchi and the owners of the Old Course Hotel, Herb and Natalie Kohler.

Masato Mizuno said : “Thank you so much for this honour and I can say that I’m deeply touched and humbled by the appreciation you have given to both myself and Mizuno.

“Over the years the staff on the workshop have serviced hundreds of players and have helped them improve the standard of their golf and their ability to compete at the highest levels on the global scale. During the same time we have seen The European Tour develop and grow from strength to strength to a level of which everyone associated with the Tour should be very proud. Looking at the number of Members you have at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking shows that strength and it is a privilege for us to have a brand associated with such a successful and prosperous Tour. Of course, the same can be said of the R & A and The Open Golf Championship.

“In these tough times these strong relationships are essential to all parties and will see us through. I am very pleased to say we are fully committed to these relationships and aim to continue our support well into the future. We have an agreement with The European Tour to continue our status as the Official Workshop until 2024 and hope we can take it a lot further than that when the time comes.”

Resource: http://www.europeantour.com