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AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — In a place where green jackets never go out of style, the sometimes wild, often trendy and always interesting fashion sense of Augusta National’s players has become a viral subplot of competition at the Masters this week .
Start with Jason Day, who marched alongside Tiger Woods in the opening round, wearing loose-looking Malbon pants reminiscent of the baggy shorts of Michigan basketball’s Fab Five era. Then on Friday, the former PGA champion slipped into a white vest from the fashion house that read “Malbon Golf Championship” in bold letters across the belly.
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“It looks like he’s carrying a billboard,” one visitor quipped as he watched from the shadows.
The Masters, more than any other place in golf, is a place to see and be seen, and that goes for players and their sponsors. That’s why in recent years the companies that provide their equipment have done their best as early as the first full week of April.
Justin Thomas, Erik van Rooyen and Akshay Bhatia are ambassadors for Greyson Clothiers, which bills itself as a comprehensive lifestyle brand with membership options. Greyson is the brainchild of Charlie Schaefer, who once served as senior vice president of design at Ralph Lauren and launched the brand at the 2015 Masters.
Viktor Hovland, who is running again this year, has a clothing contract with J. Lindberg. And when it comes to Masters clothing, the Swedish clothing company has decked it out in bold prints that often pay homage to the home of the year’s first major.
This includes the black shirt with the giant azalea on the front that Hovland wore this week. The azalea, a special species of rhododendron, is almost synonymous with Augusta National and is found throughout.
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Hovland said last year at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill that he typically wears more muted colors.
“I wear a lot of gray, black and that’s about it,” he said. When asked about the clothing in class, his answer was simple: “Well, J. Lindeberg, they give me this stuff and pay me money for it, so I just show up and wear what they want me to wear.”
In other words, you put it out, he puts it on.
Of course, there are still many players who are sponsored by established sportswear companies.
Rory McIlroy still wears Nike, as do Scottie Scheffler, the world’s best player, and Brooks Koepka, the reigning PGA champion. Rising star Ludvig Aberg wears Adidas gear, and former Masters champion Jordan Spieth is Under Armour’s best-known ambassador, reportedly earning eight figures annually on a contract through the 2029 season.
As part of the deal, Under Armor will also donate $1 million annually to the Jordan Spieth Family Foundation.
But perhaps golf’s greatest fashion icon was Tiger Woods, who popularized wearing Sunday red everywhere from exclusive private clubs to small-town communities. Woods started using it when he was a teenager because his mother, Kultida, said it was his “power color.” He played well his first time in red and stuck with it out of superstition.
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For 27 years, Woods’ Sunday red came from Nike as part of one of the most successful partnerships in sports. But late last year, the two teams announced their separation, and Woods announced in February that he would unveil his own brand, Sun Day Red, in a partnership with fellow golf equipment provider TaylorMade.
“Sun Day Red will embody the love of playing and competing, and we are for people who share those values, whether on the court or in life,” Woods said in February. “We will focus on putting the athlete first in our product decisions.”
The public got its first good look at it this week at Augusta National. Woods wore a salmon-colored polo shirt with the brand’s logo, a tiger with 15 stripes, as a nod to his 15 major victories during Thursday’s opening round. Then on Friday, Woods slipped into a gray and white ensemble as he returned early to complete his first round and then played his second.
It was perfect timing – or genius marketing – because Sun Day Red will officially launch on May 1st.
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AP Golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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