PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tommy Fleetwood needed to look, simply to make sure. First, down at his sweat-wicking polo, then at his loose-fitting slacks.
“This is a Vuori shirt,” he mentioned Tuesday, strolling alongside the 18th fairway at TPC Sawgrass with The Athletic. “And Lululemon pants.”
It’s an all too widespread query in at the moment’s age of Instagram ‘fit-checks: What are you wearing? It’s gone past the pink carpet — influencers make a beneficiant residing answering it. But skilled golfers? The query isn’t requested as a result of the reply is all the time the identical: Most top-ranked golfers are contractually obligated to put on a specific model.
However, Fleetwood and Justin Thomas, who teed off in the identical pairing at The Players Championship on Thursday, characterize an rising development in skilled golf’s vogue house. Both Fleetwood and Thomas are at the moment apparel free brokers. They don’t have signed offers with a clothes firm, so that they don’t have planned-out, logoed outfits set for the event — a apply often known as scripting.
Fleetwood parted methods with Nike forward of the brand new 12 months after a 16-year partnership. And Thomas is not signed with Greyson, a golf apparel model wherein he’s an investor. So each gamers are purchasing round, mixing and matching, and throwing on no matter they please.
“I have the freedom and the luxury of trying what I want or wearing what I want and seeing what I like,” Fleetwood mentioned in his press convention Tuesday. “So I think there’s just such a widespread (array) of clothes that I probably never paid attention to for such a long time.”
On Thursday morning, Fleetwood arrived on the vary sporting blue slacks and a lighter blue Players Championship-branded polo from Johnnie-O. He wore Nike golf footwear with gold-plated {hardware} and a Players hat to match his shirt. Then, when it began raining, he threw on a hoodie from Sun Day Red, Tiger Woods’ model.
Thomas walked onto the primary tee with a white Holderness & Bourne shirt and tan belt, paired with Nantucket-red pants of unknown branding. He’s additionally again in a basic silhouette spiked golf shoe, the Footjoy Premieres, after sporting a sneaker-like mannequin for a number of years. Thomas and Fleetwood are properly conscious that they’re in a really comparable place.
“Yeah, we’ve kind of joked and seen each other here and there,” Thomas mentioned. “We’ll kind of look at the tag, see what’s going on.”
Things first acquired attention-grabbing when Fleetwood confirmed up at January’s Dubai Invitational and not using a single Nike swoosh current on his particular person. The suspicions have been confirmed on the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the place it regarded like Fleetwood raided the professional store earlier than hitting the driving vary. He sported the oceanside course’s emblem on an assortment of caps, beanies and sweaters all week. At the Genesis Invitational, his assortment of substances expanded: Fleetwood wore Riviera apparel, however he additionally donned streetwear-inspired Malbon Golf for the primary time. Malbon despatched him a cargo after getting a name from their ambassador, Jason Day: “Can Tommy have some stuff?”
“Duh, I’d love to,” Stephen Malbon, the model’s co-founder, mentioned. Day additionally was a Nike athlete, earlier than pivoting to the model that likes to push the envelope of what defines golf apparel.
“It’s amazing to see him dress how he really wants to. Not how he is scripted,” Malbon mentioned. “Personality-wise, it’s great to see.”
Justin Thomas, proven at The Players Championship on Thursday, says he’ll joke with Tommy Fleetwood about their standing as apparel free brokers. “We’ll kind of look at the tag, see what’s going on,” he mentioned. (James Gilbert / Getty Images)
Brands are consuming up the chance to decorate Fleetwood and Thomas, two of golf’s most recognizable and marketable stars. Fleetwood is at the moment No. 3 on this planet, and Thomas is No. 14, regardless of lacking the season’s first two months resulting from a again damage. Thomas has been receiving shipments from Holderness & Bourne, which is why you’re seeing him gravitate towards the high-end clothes model. And Fleetwood says he’s nearly overwhelmed by the choices he’s been offered with.
“There’s a lot of clothes in my car and in my room,” Fleetwood says. “And I just pick what I feel like matches on the day, actually. I could be a little more organized and have the outfits set out for the week, but I haven’t got that far yet.”
Beyond the relatable considered two of the perfect golfers on this planet gazing their closets, questioning what to placed on earlier than a tee time, there’s plenty of earnings potential popping out of Fleetwood’s and Thomas’s conditions. Apparel offers can are available in a wide range of constructions and types. Some gamers signal with a model that forestalls them from hanging offers with different company sponsors. Other contracts present extra flexibility. This is why you’ll see a participant like Justin Rose sporting Peter Millar threads, however with Workday stamped on his chest and Morgan Stanley on his hat. Whereas Nike athletes are solely permitted to put on the swoosh: The firm buys up the rights to all obtainable house on their shirts and hats.
Knowing Thomas and Fleetwood’s standing within the professional sport, trade sources estimate a versatile apparel deal could possibly be within the million-dollar vary. A extra constricting contract would multiply that.
The longer Thomas and Fleetwood go with out signing a binding deal, the extra curiosity they’re producing. It’s a enjoyable sport for followers to activate their TVs, questioning what every participant has picked out for his or her spherical. It’s much more attention-grabbing for the gamers and their brokers, who are sitting again and watching because the manufacturers preserve calling.
