THEY SIT NEXT TO EACH other in the engineering department of Ping headquarters in Phoenix. Now Ping engineers Marty Jertson and Mike Nicolette (pictured) will both tee it up in major championships this summer. The company said “it’s believed to be the first time two golfers who design golf clubs full time have accomplished the feat of qualifying for a major championship in the same year.”These guys are good. They know how to design clubs—and play with them.
Jertson, a Class A PGA member, will play in the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club in August. He earned one of 20 invitations with his fifth-place tie at the PGA Professional National Championship. Jertson joined Ping as an intern in 2003.
Shooting a 66, Nicolette was the co-medalist at the U.S. Senior Open qualifier in Glendale, Arizona, earning one of two spots for the 50-and-over national championship to be played later this month at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Nicolette is a former PGA Tour player and winner of the 1983 Bay Hill Classic. With Ping since 1989, the 54-year-old employee recently won the Arizona Senior Open.
“Amazing,” said Ping Chairman and CEO John Solheim. “I couldn’t be happier for Marty and Mike. For one week this summer, they’ll get to put their talents up against the best in the game.”
−The Armchair Golfer
