Ping wedges to be banned

THE 20-year-old Ping wedges with square grooves will no longer be allowed on the PGA Tour starting on 29 March under an agreement reached with the Ping executives.

Ping chairman and CEO John Solheim said yesterday his firm will waive its rights to a settlement that had kept the PGA Tour from banning the deeper, wider grooves that no longer conform under new regulations.

Those wedges were allowed through a settlement in 1990 from when Ping sued the PGA Tour and the US Golf Association. Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan and Fred Couples were among players who had used Ping wedges this year.