For the third consecutive year, the spec-tire manufacturer held its Bridgestone Golf Performance Challenge at the Brickyard Crossing Golf Course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
And capturing this year’s win was Pramac Racing Ducati’s Andrea Iannone – who had never played golf before. He was the top golfer out of four, including NGM Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards – who has played every year since the tournament began – Drive M7 Aspar’s Hiroshi Aoyama, and GO & FUN Honda Gresini Racing’s Scott Redding. The video above highlights the event.
Carmelo Ezpeleta (CEO, Dorna), Hiroshi Yamada (Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department) and 13-time Grand Prix winner and Riders for Health co-founder Randy Mamola and his son Dakota played in the pre-race golf event along with national and international media and Bridgestone Golf representatives to complete the teams.
Despite having never played golf before, Iannone led his team, comprising Carmelo Ezpeleta, Kevin Lee from NBC and Aivars Erkmanis from Bridgestone Golf, to victory on the three-hole challenge. As the winning rider, Iannone was awarded with a set of Bridgestone Golf Clubs. Kevin Lee also won the ‘Closest to the pin’ contest and was awarded a Bridgestone Golf putter rounding up a perfect event for him.
The final prize awarded for the putting challenge went to Scott Redding, another rider new to golfing. He played an excellent short game all day and his efforts were rewarded winning the final challenge of the day, his prize a Bridgestone Golf putter.
Andrea Iannone, 2014 Bridgestone Golf Performance Challenge winner, says: “I have had a really good day today. This is the first time I’ve played golf and it was not very easy for me but I tried my best and I am very happy. The set of golf clubs is an incredible prize – it will give me the motivation to start playing golf and I want to improve for next year. I have found a new sport!”
Hiroshi Yamada, Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department, says “We are very happy to hold this event again for the third year. It is always a pleasure to come to this fantastic golf course for the Bridgestone Golf Performance Challenge and this year was no different.
“Congratulations to Andrea and his team for winning, particularly as Andrea had not played golf before, he did really well! Well done also to Scott and Kevin for winning the other challenges. Thank you to everyone who participated in the event and special thanks to Bridgestone Americas and Bridgestone Golf for their support and to the Brickyard Crossing for hosting the event once again.”
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