The Ladies Professional Golfing Association (LPGA) announced Rolex as this year’s winner of the LPGA’s Commissioner’s award for its role in the development of women’s golf. The award was present by LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan, in a glittering ceremony, graced by golfing greats, dignitaries, celebrities, partners and officials.

The Commissioner’s award recognizes contributions made by people and organizations in the development of the women’s game, and whose association with the game has been characterized by remarkable poise and dignity. Rolex Watches has contributed to the game immensely over the period of thirty years, and has played a major part in taking the game one step further.  The other recipients of the Commissioner’s award include Karsten and Lousie Solheim, Jamie Farr, the LPGA founders and Herb Lotman and Frank Quinn.

Speaking at the ceremony, Commissioner Mike Whan said that they were glad to have the unwavering support of Rolex over all these years.   According to him, Rolex Watches sets the standard for matchless efficiency and functionality and their association with the LPGA was good for the game.  He also said that the LPGA was committed to furthering the association for many more years.

Rolex has been associated with the women’s game since the last thirty years and has played a crucial role in the development of golfing legends like Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa. The game of golf involves precision shot making and perseverance in the face of adversity. Champions golfers like Annika Sorenstam had the ability to remain cool under pressure. This ability to take on the vicissitudes of the game head on separated her from the journeymen golfers who tend to crumble under pressure. Rolex Watches captures this very essence of a champion golfer in its collection of wristwatches and timepieces. Each wristwatch is exquisitely crafted and featuring unmatched functionality and elegance.

Rolex, the Official Timepiece of the LPGA, has partnered the game of golf for the last 30 years. It has also played a vital role in the development of young talent; so necessary to take the game forward. Some of its initiatives include the Rolex Player of the Year Award, the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award, the Ellen Griffin Rolex Award and the Rolex First-Time Winner award.

Jean-Noel Bioul, Rolex SA, said the award was high honor for Rolex as it had a lot of respect for the LPGA and its achievement on and off the golf course. According to him, Rolex took pride in its association with the LPGA tour and looked forward to many more years with the women’s tour.  As of now, Rolex supports five major women’s professional golf tour including the Ladies Professional Golfing Association (LPGA), Ladies European Tour (LET), Korea Ladies Professional Golfing Association (KLPGA), Australian Ladies Professional Golf (ALPGA) as well as the Ladies Golf Union (LGU).

Eric Lamaze, Olympic show jumping champion, won the marathon, four way, $350,000  Rolex Grand Prix show jumping competition at Aachen, beating rival Pius Schwizer by a  mere 0.2 seconds. The courageous show jumper had to negotiate the pain barrier, courtesy a broken left foot, on his way to the title. The competition featured some of the big names in the world of show jumping like Eric Lamaze (Hickstead), Schwizer (Carlina) and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (Shutterfly). However it was the Spaniard Sergio Alvarez Moya, ranked 71, who proved to be a surprise package.

Eric Lamaze’s victory had shades of Bobby Baun; Baun is remembered even today for the goal he scored in the 1964 Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings, despite playing with a broken leg.  Eric Lamaze sustained the injury with two rounds to go in the competition. However, he successfully managed to negotiate the pain barrier and the subsequent jump-off to win the competition.  Speaking to the press after the win, he said that the bone would heal within two weeks, and he would be ready for the next round of the competition. According to him the treatment was the most aggressive approach available and would expedite the healing process.

Reminiscing the course of events that led to the accident, Lamaze, 42, remembers hearing a crack and felt a pain shooting up his legs after landing a jump. Further investigation revealed that the bone had broken clean. However, Lamaze and his partner, Hickstead carried on, completing the next two rounds, and finally defeating Switzerland’s Pius Schwizer in a jump-off.

The course designed by renowned designer Frank Rothenberger challenged the participants to the hilt. Alzarez Moya was one of the few, who found the course to his liking finishing third place overall. Laura Bechtolsheimer became the first British dressage rider to win a class at Aachen in more than a decade. Earlier she finished with 77.29 points in the principal Grand Prix to finish third behind Dutch sensation Edward Gal and Adelinde Cornellisen.

Eric Lamaze has several good results of late including a win an ATCO Power Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Calgary’s Spruce Meadows on July 10. The results have helped him ascend to the number one position in the Rolex World Rider Rankings.

Show Jumping requires perfect co-ordination between man and beast. A champion show jumper is blessed with a keen sense of timing, which is called upon during the show jumping events. Rolex Watches encapsulates this spirit of perfection; every watch an epitome of perfection and timeless elegance.

The Rolex Osprey Cup, scheduled for mid October, promises high voltage sailing action spread over three days. The tournament will be studded with some of the most talented women yachtswomen like defending Rolex Osprey Cup Champion and 2008 Olympian Giluia Conti (Toscolano Maderno, Italy), 2008 Olympian Anne-Claire Le Berre (Brest, FRA), US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics members Anna Tunicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) Molly Vandemoer (Redwood City, Calif.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), world’s 1 ranked match racer Lucy MacGregor, and ISAF Rolex Sailor of the Year Claire Leroy (Nantes, FRA).

The Rolex Osprey Cup will be held immediately after the ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship at the New York Yacht Club. The event becomes important because many teams will be hoping to use it as a springboard for the 2012 Olympics in England.  Pat Seidenspinner, principal race officer and co-chair with Tom Farquhar, said that the interest in the sport is at an all time high now and it is only going to get all the more interesting in the future.   She also said that in order to encourage spectator participation the race would be held near to the St. Petersburg Municipal Pier, which would afford prime viewing location for the tourist.

The format of the Rolex Osprey Cup consists of double round robin, knockouts, semi-final and final rounds scheduled at the end of the round robins. The winners win be awarded in a glittering ceremony at the Regatta Dinner.

The Rolex Osprey Cup was founded in 1996 and ever since then it has become one of the premier-most sailing competition for women. Recognizing the importance of the event, Rolex Watch U.S.A became the title sponsor in the year 2000. The competition is held each year in the middle of October, when it was cancelled because of the Rolex ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship.

Since 1958, when Rolex Watch U.S.A presented timepieces for the America’s Cup, Rolex has been constantly encouraging off shore sailing, competitive sailing, U.S Sailing championship, disabled sailing, and elite athlete preparation. Sailing is a highly specialized sport, involving endless patience and perseverance in the face of adversity. Rolex Watches encapsulates this never say die attitude of the sailor; each time piece a matchless blend of craftsmanship and elegance.

The Rolex Osprey Cup is a part of the Rolex Yachting Portfolio that includes 20 world class events spread across the globe. Some of the famous events include the Rolex Miami OCR, New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Rolex Fastnet Race, Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex, Rolex Big Boat Series, Rolex US-IRC National Championship, Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship and Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Korean Golfer, Jiyai Shin climbed three places to top the Rolex Women’s Golf Ranking, dethroning Ai Miyazato, who had held the number one position for exactly one week. The Korean golfer aggregated 639.37 points from 60 events giving an average of 10.66, just ahead of Japanese, Ai Miyazato, who aggregated 563.88 from 55 games.

Rolex Ranking is the most comprehensive ranking system in women’s golf starting out in the year 2004, when Annika Sorenstam was adjudged as the No. 1 ranked player in women’s golf. The Rolex Ranking system is sanctioned and recognized by the five majors on the women’s golf tour: Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA); Ladies European Tour (LET); Ladies Professional Golfers’ Association of Japan (JLPGA); Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA); and the Australian Ladies Professional Golf (ALPG), as well as the Ladies’ Golf Union (LGU), which administers the RICOH Women’s British Open.

The Rolex Ranking system is calculated over a two year basis with greater importance given to the current year, especially the 13 preceding months. The Rolex Ranking points are important because they are used as eligibility criteria for entering various tournaments like HSBC Women’s Champions, Kraft Nabisco Championship, Evian Masters, RICOH Women’s British Open and the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.

The Rolex Ranking system has seen many upheavals recently with Jiyai Shin, Ai Miyazato, Cristie Kerr and Suzann Pettersen staking their claims to the number one position. Due to this intense competition the N0.1 Rolex Ranking position has passed from one golfer to the other, with little separating the top golfer from the rest. However, this was not always so; especially, during the days of Annika Sorenstam and Loren Ochoa. The two titans of the game had a stranglehold over the game and this showed in the Rolex Ranking Points. The two dominated the game at various points, with Annika Sorenstam dominating the game for five years followed by Loren Ochoa’s dominance for the next four years. However, after Lorena Ochoa retired many upcoming young golfers came up; all of them staking a claim to the number one spot.

Golf is game that requires a high degree of precision shot making along with the ability to withstand pressure at all times. The top golfers are supreme athletes with the ability to change gears at will; this special quality separates them from the journeymen golfers. Rolex Watches encapsulates this ability to perform under pressure time after time, without compromising on quality. Each Rolex Watch and timepiece is exquisitely crafted; a unique combination of timeless elegance and matchless functionality.

Rolex Watches has always been associated with remarkable instances of human endurance in the field of sports, arts and adventure. Sir Edmund Hillary, Chuck Yeager, Roger Federer are some luminous names who have been associated with the Swiss Watchmaker at some point or the other.

Rolex watches has also partnered remarkable expeditions that have considerably broadened our horizons. One such expedition took place 50 years ago when Rolex partnered the Trieste and its crew in its journey to the very bottom of the Challenger Deep. The Trieste was manned by US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss Oceanographer Jacques Piccard. The Trieste had a specially designed Rolex watch strapped on the outside of the Swiss designed submarine. The Swiss watchmakers had made sure that the watch would be able to withstand the pressure-estimated to be 8 tones per square inch-at a depth of over 10,900 meters.

When the Trieste and its crew emerged, after completing the two hours mission, the Rolex Deep Sea Special was found to be in perfect condition. Jacques Piccard sent a telegram to the headquarters of the Swiss watchmaker, which said that the Rolex Deep Sea Special worked perfectly at a depth of 11000 feet.

Trieste’s journey to the bottom of the Challenger Deep gave valuable insight to Oceanographers and scientist. The record for the deepest underwater exploration stands till date, constituting an important milestone in underwater exploration. The exploration revealed the secrets of the ocean which had remained hidden till then. Using special lights designed for deep water exploration the Trieste discovered the presence of marine life in inhospitable conditions; scientist had speculated whether marine life was possible in the absence of light. The discovery stunned the scientists the world over and contributed to an increased awareness of the ocean and the need to preserve it.

The successful stint below the ocean made Rolex the watch of choice for the US Naval School for Deep Sea Divers and for the US Navy’s SEA-LAB program. The program helped Rolex fine tune its technology and led to the development of the Rolex Sea Dweller in 1967.

Rolex Watches has always been in the forefront of developing water resistant technology. It has been associated with remarkable feats in the world of sailing, diving and other water sports. It has partnered some of the most hazardous expeditions to the very bottom of the ocean, collecting invaluable data about oceanic life, and helping humankind in its understanding of the mysteries of the ocean. This greater understanding has led to harmonization of man with nature; leading to preservation of marine life.