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<\/p>\nPONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. \u2014 Tommy Fleetwood had to look, just to be sure. First, down at his sweat-wicking polo, then at his loose-fitting slacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a Vuori shirt,\u201d he said Tuesday, walking along the 18th fairway at TPC Sawgrass with The Athletic. \u201cAnd Lululemon pants.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an all too common question in today\u2019s age of Instagram \u2018fit-checks: What are you wearing? It\u2019s gone beyond the red carpet \u2014 influencers make a generous living answering it. But professional golfers? The question is not asked because the answer is always the same: Most top-ranked golfers are contractually obligated to wear a particular brand.<\/p>\n
However, Fleetwood and Justin Thomas, who teed off in the same pairing at The Players Championship on Thursday, represent an emerging trend in professional golf\u2019s fashion space. Both Fleetwood and Thomas are currently apparel free agents. They don\u2019t have signed deals with a clothing company, so they don\u2019t have planned-out, logoed outfits set for the tournament \u2014 a practice also known as scripting.<\/p>\n
Fleetwood parted ways with Nike ahead of the new year after a 16-year partnership. And Thomas is no longer signed with Greyson, a golf apparel brand in which he is an investor. So both players are shopping around, mixing and matching, and throwing on whatever they please.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have the freedom and the luxury of trying what I want or wearing what I want and seeing what I like,\u201d Fleetwood said in his press conference Tuesday. \u201cSo I think there\u2019s just such a widespread (array) of clothes that I probably never paid attention to for such a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday morning, Fleetwood arrived on the range wearing blue slacks and a lighter blue Players Championship-branded polo from Johnnie-O. He wore Nike golf shoes with gold-plated hardware and a Players hat to match his shirt. Then, when it started raining, he threw on a hoodie from Sun Day Red, Tiger Woods\u2019 brand.<\/p>\n
Thomas walked onto the first tee with a white Holderness & Bourne shirt and tan belt, paired with Nantucket-red pants of unknown branding. He\u2019s also back in a classic silhouette spiked golf shoe, the Footjoy Premieres, after wearing a sneaker-like model for several years. Thomas and Fleetwood are well aware that they\u2019re in a very similar position.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we\u2019ve kind of joked and seen each other here and there,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cWe\u2019ll kind of look at the tag, see what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Things first got interesting when Fleetwood showed up at January\u2019s Dubai Invitational without a single Nike swoosh present on his person. The suspicions were confirmed at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where it looked like Fleetwood raided the pro shop before hitting the driving range. He sported the oceanside course\u2019s logo on an assortment of caps, beanies and sweaters all week. At the Genesis Invitational, his collection of gear expanded: Fleetwood wore Riviera apparel, but he also donned streetwear-inspired Malbon Golf for the first time. Malbon sent him a shipment after getting a call from their ambassador, Jason Day: \u201cCan Tommy have some stuff?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDuh, I\u2019d love to,\u201d Stephen Malbon, the brand\u2019s co-founder, said. Day also used to be a Nike athlete, before pivoting to the brand that likes to push the envelope of what defines golf apparel.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see him dress how he really wants to. Not how he is scripted,\u201d Malbon said. \u201cPersonality-wise, it\u2019s great to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Justin Thomas, shown at The Players Championship on Thursday, says he\u2019ll joke with Tommy Fleetwood about their status as apparel free agents. \u201cWe\u2019ll kind of look at the tag, see what\u2019s going on,\u201d he said. (James Gilbert \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Brands are eating up the opportunity to dress Fleetwood and Thomas, two of golf\u2019s most recognizable and marketable stars. Fleetwood is currently No. 3 in the world, and Thomas is No. 14, despite missing the season\u2019s first two months due to a back injury. Thomas has been receiving shipments from Holderness & Bourne, which is why you\u2019re seeing him gravitate toward the high-end clothing brand. And Fleetwood says he\u2019s almost overwhelmed by the options he\u2019s been presented with.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of clothes in my car and in my room,\u201d Fleetwood says. \u201cAnd 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\u2019t got that far yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond the relatable thought of two of the best golfers in the world staring at their closets, wondering what to put on before a tee time, there\u2019s a lot of earnings potential coming out of Fleetwood\u2019s and Thomas\u2019s situations. Apparel deals can come in a variety of structures and forms. Some players sign with a brand that prevents them from striking deals with other corporate sponsors. Other contracts provide more flexibility. This is why you\u2019ll see a player like Justin Rose wearing Peter Millar threads, but with Workday stamped on his chest and Morgan Stanley on his hat. Whereas Nike athletes are only permitted to wear the swoosh: The company buys up the rights to all available space on their shirts and hats.<\/p>\n
Knowing Thomas and Fleetwood\u2019s status in the pro game, industry sources estimate a flexible apparel deal could be in the million-dollar range. A more constricting contract would multiply that.<\/p>\n
The longer Thomas and Fleetwood go without signing a binding deal, the more interest they\u2019re generating. It\u2019s a fun game for fans to turn on their TVs, wondering what each player has picked out for their round. It\u2019s even more interesting for the players and their agents, who are sitting back and watching as the brands keep calling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. \u2014 Tommy Fleetwood had to look, just to be sure. First, down at his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99,1794],"class_list":["post-521479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}