Picture below: Workshop Manager Andy Kikidas

Legends return to Mizuno

Mizuno workshop boss Andy Kikidas is celebrating a major double to start the new touring season. Not one but two legendary champions, with a total of 11 majors between them, are back using Mizuno clubs.

First Nick Faldo returned to the fold in early April and then, to Andy's delight, Seve Ballesteros gave him the tap on the shoulder that signalled a change in clubs for the charismatic Spaniard.

"I got a bit of a surprise at the Spanish Open. I was leaning down looking in the cupboard and I felt this hand on my back. I heard an accent I couldn't possibly mistake: 'Andy. How are you doing?" I stood up and turned around to see Seve. It gave me a bit of a shock because I hadn't seen him for a while. I got a real surprise at what he looked like. I think he's been in the gym a lot. He's certainly built up his upper-body. I suppose that's to maybe help him with his back problems.

"He wasn't playing in the tournament but he did play a practice round and in the pro-am. I wondered what he wanted. It turned out he'd found an old set of MP29 irons, a really old model. They were almost brand-new. Obviously he'd picked them up at some point a few years ago, not quite got on with them, and put them away. I was really surprised to see those again. I really have no idea why he pulled those out of his cupboard.

"He used them in the practice round, said he played okay but what he really wanted was a new set of irons, the latest model we'd got. I understand he is out of contract with his previous supplier. I was delighted to oblige.

He was my hero when I started to get into golf. "We talked through the latest specs, went through the various models, and worked out he best for him would be the MP32s. He was looking at MP37 and MP33 as well, but the trajectory that the MP32 offers, was pretty much spot-on what he was after. We made him up a set, he played in the pro-am then he came in, we bent them around a bit for him and off he went!

I'm not quite sure when we'll see him again. He told me hopes to play in the Open. He's said that for two or three years. I hope he does. I'm sure there are millions of people out there would love to see him back in action again.

"It proved quite a memorable month. Nick Faldo is without a contract now, so he's free to use whatever he wants. He's using MP60s now. He says he's absolutely delighted with them. "It's fantastic. Two of our most famous clients back with us after all these years. It obviously says a lot for our product.

"Seve was contracted with us quite a few years ago and then came back to us for two years in 2000 before he went to Callaway. Faldo was with us for a number of years - when he was in his prime. If we can get Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle back we'll have a nice little quartet of legends!"

Seve and Nick found themselves in very comfortable surroundings as Andy and his team launched their 2006 season.

"Through the winter we've had the workshop refurbished, all the outside repainted. That was quite a big job and the workshop was in the paint shop for two or three weeks. They stripped right down. Also the inside was tidied up for the new season - all new logos and the like. That kept us busy for a month or so during the winter.

"At that time of year it's frustrating for us because a lot of the guys want to get their new equipment for the start of the year. The tour goes off all round the world, so it's quite difficult to look after them sometimes. So we make clubs up for them, sometimes in the factory. By the time we've made them up, shipped them out, then they've tried them - if they aren't quite right sent them back so that we can make some more for them - it's turned into quite a long process.

"So obviously it's quite a big advantage to have a workshop out at a tournament. We can build a club in five or ten minutes, they can try it and if it's not right we can build another club in five or ten minutes and carry on until it is right. Now we're trying to cover as many tournaments we can across the tour international schedule. In South Africa we had a small workshop to allow us to cover the events there. In China, we've started setting up a workshop on practice grounds at events there. They might not be able to offer the full service we can offer normally with the travelling workshops but we can get plenty done - any emergency work: changing grips, broken shafts, that sort of thing, we can cover.

"I went out to Abu Dhabi for the first [stroke play] event of the calendar year, chasing up a few contracts, making sure the guys have what they need. I took a few orders and we made them up when I got back. "The first tournament of the year with the travelling workshop was the Portuguese Open. That was a bit of a trek, a good three days' drive to get to the Algarve. It was a busy week because a lot of the guys haven't seen the workshop since last November. We made up a lot clubs, offered a full service.

"Unfortunately for us, the tour went back to China so that rather disrupted things a bit, slowed us down a little. Then it was on to Spain. Again it was pretty busy, especially as a few guys didn't play in Portugal and it was the first time they'd seen us. We did lots of regrips, lots of loft-and-lies, and built quite a few new sets. We also did lots of odds and ends: a few woods and utilities. It's been an industrious start. But that's how we like it."