An appearance at the 2007 Dunlop Phoenix Masters in Japan gave Luke Donald his first opportunity to visit Mizuno's HQ at Osaka.

Luke flew in to Nagai airport on his way to the Dunlop Phoenix Masters with his wife Diane. The Mizuno office in Osaka is on route to Miyazaki where the tournament takes place - and Luke was invited to visit.

Arriving at the Mizuno head office in Osaka at 10am, Luke was given a warm reception by Mizuno's Japanese staff.

Luke was then given a tour of Mizuno's sportology gallery: showing the history of the Mizuno sporting goods company since 1906. Luke spent time looking at the baseball, swimming and tennis areas before studying golf. Luke pointed out a 1990 metal wood that was identical to one he played with when he started the game.

Luke was taken through security and into Mizuno's R&D department. Mizuno's design team demonstrated their swing motion analysis facility. Luke spent some time discussing the impact of shaft dynamics with Mizuno's engineers.

Luke took lunch with Mizuno's employees staff at the company canteen before answering questions from the Japanese golfing press.