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HOT STUFF $10 MILLION PUTTER

When he woke up a couple of Monday mornings ago, Mike Magerman,
the president of putter manufacturer Odyssey Golf, was the same
34-year-old father of two who had gone to sleep the night
before. His company, though, had been transformed overnight. The
previous day, Nick Faldo had used Odyssey's Dual Force Rossie
II, a mallet with a composite insert, to win the Masters, and as
every equipment-company honcho knows, having one of your clubs
in the right player's hands at the right time can lead to the
type of windfall upon which careers, not to mention fortunes,
are made.

"Nick's win was worth $10 million to us this year," says
Magerman, who projects that Odyssey will do $30 million in sales
in 1996. "Our phones and faxes were buzzing all day. We took
orders from around the world for about 30,000 putters. We had a
champagne celebration on the shipping dock. Heck, the only guy
who was as happy as us was Nick Faldo--maybe."

The Rossie had not been in Faldo's bag for long. He bought it
earlier this year in the pro shop at Lake Nona, the club in
Orlando where he lives and practices. Faldo used it first at the
Players Championship and then at Augusta, where he had one
three-putt all week.

Although Faldo has praised the Odyssey putter, the company has
no plans to mention him or use photos of him in its commercials.
Odyssey pays only one Tour pro, Mike Hulbert, to endorse its
goods. Other Tour players using Odyssey putters are included in
a weekly $5,000 bonus pool, with $1,000 going to the highest
finisher.

At Augusta the $1,000 that went to Faldo was a bargain. "That
was one check I was very happy to write," says Magerman.

--Rick Lipsey

COLOR PHOTO: JOHN IACONOThe Rossie II could account for more than one third of Odyssey's sales this year. [Odyssey's Dual Force Rossie II golf club]

COLOR PHOTO: DAVID CANNON/ALLSPORT Faldo earned his stripes the day after the Masters in an exhibition at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. [Nick Faldo sitting between two soldiers]