Golf Names & Faces: Pressel Inks Deal With Polo Ralph Lauren

Pressel Joins Polo’s Stable Of Endorsers

Polo Ralph Lauren has signed LPGAer Morgan Pressel to a sponsorship deal. Pressel will wear the company’s apparel on and off the course and will appear in Ralph Lauren Golf’s print ad campaign that breaks next month. Also, Pressel will appear in online videos featuring golf and fashion tips at Polo.com. Pressel joins Tom Watson, Davis Love III, Luke Donald and Jonathan Byrd as Ralph Lauren-sponsored golfers (Polo Ralph Lauren).

DRINK IT UP: The Golf Channel’s Vince Cellini reported Michelle Wie will appear in an ad for a Japanese soft drink brand. Cellini said that in the ad, which debuts Saturday, Wie “gets some advice on body language that could help her game.” Cellini: “(Wie) is having a good time (on the golf course) when she follows her friend’s advice, and then the two throw down the drink.” The catchphrase for the ad is, “Are you in good spirits?” Wie speaks Japanese in the spot, and The Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman noted this is her “commercial debut” (“Golf Central,” 3/14).

GATOR GROWL: Agent Clarke Jones, who reps PGA Tour rookie Camilo Villegas, said “two well-known magazines that are not in the golf business” have inquired about a photo shoot (N.Y. TIMES, 3/16). Meanwhile, Tiger Woods yesterday was asked during a pro-am at the Bay Hill Invitational “whether all the women following his group ... were attracted by his sex appeal.” Woods said, “No, they’re all looking for Camilo” (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 3/16).