A new-look Glen Hnatiuk tees it up for the first time on the PGA Tour next week in the California desert.

Hnatiuk, 38, will be dressed in apparel from Mondetta, the Winnipeg-based company that’s returning to golf wear in a big way in 2004. Hnatiuk’s new sponsorship deal with Mondetta is expected to be announced sometime in the coming week.

For his clothing, the Mondetta deal will take the place of Hnatiuk’s former sponsorship with Nike. The Selkirk native had been wearing the "swoosh" since the early 1990’s.

"I’m going to start wearing Mondetta next week," Hnatiuk said from his Florida home last night. "Being a Winnipeg-based company, it seems like a nice fit. They’re just getting back into the golf line now and we’re going to work together on some new things, too."

Mondetta’s vice-president of sales Raj Bahl said that working with Manitoba’s own PGA Tour regular is big news for the company.

"And I think Glen’s as fired up as we are," Bahl said.

When Hnatiuk begins play in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, he’ll have other new toys, too. Free of his Nike sponsorship that in recent years required him to play Nike balls and use a Nike driver, he has been experimenting since late last year with other products that might suit his game just a little better.

The biggest changes Hnatiuk will make will be putting a Taylor Made 510 driver in his bag and putting a Titelist ProV1x ball on his tee.

"Right now I’m really happy with how the Titleist ball comes off the Taylor Made driver and let’s leave it at that," Hnatiuk said when asked what should be read into his move away from a Nike ball. "I think I’m definitely hitting it farther off the tee. I’ll be very surprised if that didn’t show up in my stats."

Hnatiuk has always favoured a smaller-headed driver and said that going with the smaller of the mega-headed Taylor Made drivers suits his comfort level best, at least to start the season.

"This is the one I’m going to start with but there’s lots of flexibility to bring out the bigger ones if I feel like it," he said.

Hnatiuk will continue to use his Ping i3 irons and will also make the move to a Ping putter this season. Along with that, he’ll be wearing a Ping hat.

Since the end of the regular PGA Tour season in early November -- when he retained his all-exempt Tour card for 2004 on the final day of the Chrysler Classic in Florida -- Hnatiuk has been resting at home and trying to recharge his batteries for a fifth straight season as a Tour regular.

"At the beginning of my time off, I didn’t play much at all because I needed some rest," Hnatiuk said. "But I’ve been playing quite a bit the last few weeks, trying to lead into this week and trying to get sharp. Still, there’s nothing like competition."

Hnatiuk will play this week’s event in the desert, then move over to Phoenix for the FBR Open. He plans to take two more weeks off after that before returning to action at the Nissan Open in Los Angeles and then at the Chrysler Classic of Tucson the week after that.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca