Golf Champion Annika Sorenstam Drives Lexus Brand
03/17/2006 Torrance, CA
When she steps onto the golf course in Phoenix at the 2006 Safeway International this week, the No. 1 player in women’s golf, Annika Sorenstam, will be sporting a Lexus logo on her golf shirt. This is just the first visual cue in the U.S. market of a Sorenstam-Lexus multi-year sponsorship that was announced in Singapore late last year at the inaugural Lexus Cup women’s team tournament.
This week’s Safeway International to mark U.S. debut of Lexus-Sorenstam partnership
Lexus, the number one selling luxury automaker in the United States, replaces Mercedes as Sorenstam’s exclusive automotive sponsor.
In addition to sporting the Lexus logo on her attire at all professional golf events, golf pro Sorenstam will be an ambassador for the Lexus brand appearing in worldwide advertising campaigns and promotions. She also has chosen a Lexus GX luxury utility vehicle for personal use, and has access to Lexus vehicles at tournaments she competes in throughout the world.
"I am delighted to have the opportunity to wear the Lexus brand," said Sorenstam. "I would like to thank Lexus for believing in me and for supporting women’s golf. I hope that I can continue to achieve great results and reach my target of winning golf’s Grand Slam in a single season while wearing the Lexus brand…and driving my new GX!"
Swedish-born Sorenstam, ranked as the number-one player in women’s golf by The Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, has 66 career victories and has won nine majors. In 2005, Sorenstam earned her eighth Rolex Player of the Year Award, a record in Ladies Professional Golf Association history. The first woman to play in a men’s pro golf tournament in more than 50 years when she entered the PGA Tour’s Bank of America Colonial Golf Tournament in Fort Worth at the sponsor’s invitation in 2003, Sorenstam called the experience her "own personal Everest."
"Annika embodies all that Lexus represents," said Keith Dahl, Lexus national event marketing manager. "Her outstanding career achievements and persistent quest for excellence in her golf game mirror Lexus’ own passionate pursuit of perfection. It’s an ideal pairing of two partners who continue to set benchmarks in all levels of their work, and we couldn’t be more pleased."
Lexus also sponsors golfers Peter Jacobsen, Raymond Floyd and Nick Watney, as well as champion tennis player Andy Roddick, who was signed last summer.
The 2006 Safeway International will be held at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club in Phoenix March 13-19. Annika Sorenstam is the two-time defending champion of the event and returns to defend her title.
About Lexus
Lexus has become synonymous with luxury since its introduction in 1989.
By offering some of the finest quality luxury vehicles and providing benchmark customer service, Lexus has become the top-selling luxury nameplate in the United States for
six years in a row. Lexus and its 216 dealers have repeatedly achieved high honors for both the products they sell and the customer service they provide as rated by the independent research firm of J.D. Power and Associates.
Credit: Lexus USA
