Back in April, Phil Mickelson surprised plenty of golf fans when he played a practice round at Augusta National in a long-sleeve dress shirt. But that was a practice round that only the most diehard of golf fans followed.
On Thursday, Phil rocked the unconventional outfit for the opening round of The Players Championship, and it, of course, looked ridiculous.
The look begged the question: Why would Phil Mickelson wear a dress shirt for an actual golf tournament?
If you guessed money, you’re halfway there. According to ESPN, Mickelson agreed to wear Mizzen+Main performance dress shirts in exchange for a stake in the company and, yes, even more money for an endorsement deal.
Company founder Kevin Lavelle said of the agreement, via ESPN:
“Phil is one of the most well-known golfers of all time and loved by virtually every fan in golf. Having someone at this level demonstrate so clearly the performance capabilities of our dress shirts while competing is absolutely phenomenal.”
And the Mizzen+Main site is all about Phil. There’s even a section of “Phil’s Picks” with a very Phil quote.
Basically, if you let Mickelson own a portion of your company (and pay him on top of that), you can get Mickelson to look like an Orkin technician while competing against the world’s best golfers.
The shirts all retail for $125.