The Common Golfer

Ryan Moore has finally woken up, and decided to sell out like everyone else on the PGA Tour.  Actually, I’m kidding – this is actually a smart move on his part.  I’m on record saying Ryan Moore was an idiot for being the only player on Tour without a sponsor, but that has officially changed.  Moore has signed a deal with Scratch Golf, which not only includes him using their equipment but also give him part ownership in the company.

He will play Scratch Golf wedges and irons, and will also sport the logo on his clothing and golf bag.  ”He feels we give him the best opportunity to succeed and we feel that he will help us get our name out there,” Ari Techner, president and CEO of Scratch Golf, said. “Having a spokesman out on the PGA Tour, carrying our bag and wearing our logo, being the face of the company, is really going to be important for us. We want to get our name out there. We don’t do any traditional advertising. I’m not sure there’s anyone else on tour we would have considered. It’s really a win-win for everybody.”

So I’m going to go ahead and ask it – am I the only one who’s never heard of Scratch Golf?  Moore is their first Tour staff professional, however Christie Kerr plays their wedges on the LPGA.  Details of the deal haven’t been finalized yet, but Moore seems to have gotten a potentially sweet deal!  Think of it this way…who else on Tour has equity ownership in the company that sponsors them?

Maybe Moore was on to something, by playing “hard to get” for 5 years.  For an equipment manufacturer I’ve never even heard of, I’m sure their long-term success if yet to be seen.  But if Scratch Golf becomes an established name on Tour, Moore could find himself earning much more than a standard sponsorship would rake in.

So he seems like a great guy, and I still mean everything I said about being happy that Ryan Moore won his first PGA event.  However, let me be the first to announce that something is a bit loose in Moore’s head.  According to Golf.com, he is throwing away $300,000 to $500,000 per year!

Moore prefers to use his own gear, and has paid for everything in his bag and everything he wears.  ”I pick a club because I want to play, not because I have to make it work. To me, there is a lot of comfort and a lot of confidence in that,” Moore said. “Everything you see me wearing, I paid for.”  But take a look at these sponsorship estimates: Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to Ryan Moore, who needed 3 holes of sudden-death at the Wyndham Championship, to win his first PGA title over Kevin Stadler.  Moore seems like a good person, and I always enjoy seeing good people win on tour.  However, I can’t decide if I like his sense of fashion or not.  As Geoff Shackelford put it, he is the first person to win on tour in a Castro cap and Al Capone shoes.  On Saturday, it appeared as if he was wearing a pair of Vans shoes, which left me wondering if there was a skateboard in his golf bag.

I applaud what Moore is doing though, in the sense that he’s bringing his own unique style on the course.  I also think it’s great that he’s bringing back older styles (like wearing a tie and vest), but adding a modern twist.  Although maybe someone could tell him that the vest/tie look would go better with something other than the skater shoes?  Either way, great job Ryan.  I hope to see more of you in the years to come, and hopefully winning on tour will bring popularity back to some of the fashions from decades back.