===Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.===The company traces its origins to 1909, when the Sumitomo Group made an investment in Dunlop Japan, the newly formed Japanese subsidiary of the British company Dunlop Rubber. Over the years Sumitomo and Dunlop developed a close business relationship, and in 1963 the Sumitomo Group acquired control of Dunlop Japan and renamed it Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd.<br>'''SRI Sports Limited''' is the subsidiary of '''Sumitomo''' that specializes in sports equipment, with the main focus being tennis and golf. '''SRI Sports''' owns '''Srixon''', Cleveland Golf, its subsidiary, Never Compromise, as well as rights to the Dunlop name in Japan, Taiwan and Korea.<br>Srixon produce tennis balls, golf balls, golf clubs, and a full range of golfing accessories. It holds several professional golfers under endorsement deals including Jim Furyk and Henrik Stenson.<br>Cleveland Golf also make a full range of golf equipment, and have endorsement deals with Vijay Singh and Boo Weekley among others.<br>Following the acquisition of Cleveland Golf, SRI Sports announced their intention to consolidate its operations, with Cleveland overseeing marketing and distribution across North America, with Srixon doing the same in Europe and Australia, and Dunlop taking over in Asia.<br> ==Golf==
'''Golf''' is a game in which a player, using many types of '''clubs''' including a '''driver''', a '''putter''', and '''irons''', hits a ball into each hole on a golf course in the lowest possible number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not use a standardized playing area; rather, the game is played on golf "courses", each one of which has a unique design and typically consists of either 9 or 18 holes. Golf is defined in the Rules of Golf as "playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules."