Hankook & Company Group (chairman Cho Hyun-bum)'s tire corporations Hankook Tire & Technology Co., Ltd. (CEOs Ahn Jong-seon and Lee Sang-hoon, hereafter Hankook) is sponsoring the American simulated golf league "Tomorrow's Golf League (Tomorrow's Golf League, hereafter TGL)" season 2's 78 games will be held on Feb. 2 and 9 (local time) at the SoFi Center in Florida, U.S.
Hankook is TGL's first "official tire partner" and a "founding partner." From this season, Hankook is exposing its global unified brand "Hankook" on the scoreboard inside the SoFi Center, TV commercials and broadcast screens to deliver premium value to fans in about 150 countries worldwide, including North America, and is offering a differentiated brand experience that breaks down the boundaries between mobility and sports while greatly expanding customer touchpoints.
The seventh match of TGL season 2 is a showdown between Atlanta Drive GC and Jupiter Links Golf Club. Atlanta Drive GC is riding in first place with two consecutive wins this season thanks to the outstanding performance of Billy Horschel and strategic play using the tactical rule "the hammer."
By contrast, bottom-ranked Jupiter Links Golf Club has suffered two consecutive losses in the previous two games and is at the bottom. To qualify for the playoffs, which are awarded to the top four in the regular season, it is desperate to turn the tide by defeating the defending champion Atlanta Drive GC.
Next, in the eighth match, Los Angeles Golf Club and The Bay Golf Club will compete to move up the middle ranks. Los Angeles Golf Club lost its first game against Boston Common Golf but immediately won the match against Jupiter Links Golf Club, putting it at 1-1 and currently in fourth place. Riding the momentum from the previous game, it plans to continue its upward trend against fifth-place The Bay Golf Club.
The Bay Golf Club will lay the groundwork for a midtable rise against fourth-place Los Angeles Golf Club. Although they narrowly lost the matchup last season, they boast cohesive teamwork, recording the highest fairway and green hit rates in season 1. In particular, Lee Min-woo, who excelled in most indicators in season 1 — driver ball speed, driver swing speed and 320-yard (about 290-meter) drives — is set to play, raising expectations for an even fiercer competition.
Hankook leads global sports marketing through partnerships with prominent soccer leagues and clubs as well as TGL. Through partnerships with UEFA-run UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League, German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, and Saudi Arabia's Al Ittihad, among others, it is raising brand awareness.
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