Canadian Will Be Tossed Into The Furnace

With her extensive background at the provincial, national and international levels, Lindsay Knowlton has managed to play in a variety of conditions.

“The most extreme weather I’ve ever played was St. Andrews and it was raining, snowing, and hailing all in the same round sideways,” she said of an experience three years ago.

She saw the opposite end of the spectrum eight years ago.

“I played in the U.S. Amateur in Wichita, Kansas, in the middle of July and it was so hot that they ambulances there with stretchers pulling people off the golf course who had fallen down,” recalled Knowlton, who had better be prepared for more extreme conditions on an upcoming trek around the world.

Now a product manager with adidas Golf, Knowlton is embarking on an adventure that also doubles as a marketing campaign for ClimaCool products, testing apparel in extreme conditions around the world. See the People story on the home page for more.

“It’s absolutely once in a lifetime,” said Knowlton, who is joining forces with American Josh Sullivan, whose parents actually live in Toronto. Both were at company headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif., on Thursday, about to begin their trip.

“I cannot be more excited to do that. We’re going even more extreme than I think I’ve ever played in before. I heard yesterday it was 45 Celsius in Alice Springs (one of her stops in Australia),” she said.

“We’re also going to be doing some adventure traveling along the way. We’re going shark diving with the Great White Shark,” she said.

Knowlton wasn’t referring to Greg Norman, but as a true company girl, she said ClimaProof jacket she planned to wear was “bite-proof.”

Along the way, Knowlton will be contributing video and blog entries about her adventures on www.adidasgolf.com, as well as providing updates on Twitter and Facebook. One of the first people to comment on her blog was World Golf Hall of Fame member Marlene Streit, a mentor of Knowlton’s in her amateur days.

“In today’s world, there are all sorts of new social media and online media that there’s an opportunity to really connect with our consumers in a new and different way,” said Tiss Dahan, senior director of apparel for adidas.

It was about a six-week odyssey for Knowlton to earn her spot on this 31-day trek, beginning with a casting call of company employees. That was narrowed to 28 and finally eight before she was picked by a selection committee that included Canadian John Kawaja, a vice president with TaylorMade-adidas Golf.

“It was quite the adventure even getting to here,” said Knowlton, a three handicap who took part in video and blog projects along the way and went through a bunch of interviews. Product knowledge and media savvy were also important ingredients in picking the two finalists.

The trip starts heating up from here, literally, First stop at Furnace Creek in California. Starting to sound a little extreme already.

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