Phil Mickelson made a splash with his clothes in the first round of Royal Liverpool. Body.
Tight, dark gray, made from a form-fitting material that hugs the contours of middle-aged men in the most inexorable way, it looked like it could be bought in a specialty couturier in Soho.
Worse, it was completely missing the most fundamental requirement of a golf shirt: the collar. It was not a formal outfit, not an evening dress, not even a polo shirt. With long sleeves, a round and smooth collar, if you wore it to the morning four-ball at your local club, you would be taken off the field before you even left the clubhouse. And rightly so.
Does Phil Mickelson's collarless shirt undermine the values of golf? Poll
Golf attire has evolved in recent years, with pro players now allowed to wear hoodies on the course with the colorful trainers and stand-up collar polo made famous by Tiger Woods himself.
But upon further inspection, it became clear that this was no ordinary shirt worn by Mickelson, a 53-year-old American. Rather, it was a statement, a symbol of revolution. The clue was a large, noisy and unremarkable logo on his chest. It was also on the front of his game cap. A rather fascist looking brand, a jumbled triangular fusion of the letters HF, is a brand of Hyflyers, a subsidiary of LIV Golf.
Mickelson saw an opportunity to advertise his LIV affiliation and grabbed him. Photo: AP/Kin Cheung
“Hyflyers are unhappy with reaching the top,” reads a corporate statement on the website. Whatever that means. And the purpose of the shirt was clear. Mickelson may not look like he's conquering the pinnacle of fashion. In fact, he looked rather shy in that shirt. But that was not the point. Instead, the purpose of this outfit was to subtly subvert convention.
LIV positions itself as a revolutionary organization committed to changing golf, with players allowed to wear shorts during rounds as long as music is playing on the course. And now the most famous practitioner of the Saudi operation appeared in the heart of the old golf club at his most historic competition, poking his nose at convention.
Nothing too rough, nothing too confrontational, just caustic subversive fashion. While the good news was that the shirt was so unattractive in design and so unflattering in execution, those who prefer more traditional golf attire can rest assured that no one else will follow Mickelson's fashion.
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