Golf Threads’ Take on the U.S. Presidents Cup Team Uniforms
The Presidents Cup has always been the Ryder Cup’s buzz-less younger sibling and Ashworth Golf and Captain Fred Couples have done little to inject any amount of enthusiasm into this year’s matches from a style standpoint.
Ashworth released a collection of seven short sleeve shirts, two half-zip sweaters and a full-zip jacket for the U.S. team that can be summed up in one word…”predictable.” It’s also no surprise that Ashworth was tagged as the Preferred Apparel Provider as long-time brand ambassador Fred Couples is captaining the U.S. side. It should be noted that Couples captained the team in previous years and Ashworth did not outfit the Americans, but you catch my drift. Predictable.
You’ll be shocked to hear that the U.S. team will be sporting a palette of red (officially called “carmine”), white and blue (navy). Of course, you’ll also find a healthy dose of stripes on the polo shirts. While Ashworth hasn’t released a collection of pants for the competition, I’m going out on a sturdy limb and saying we should expect navy and grey trousers with white and/or black as possibilities. Hopefully khakis won’t make an appearance, but then again, what’s more American than khakis?
If I had to pick a favorite shirt, I’d go with the Stretch Jersey Solid (sorry, even the shirts have predictable names). The solid color and tipped collar and cuffs along with the cotton blend fabric offer an understated, retro-classic look. Props to Ashworth for including cotton (the comeback fabric of the year) in all of the shirts and sweaters. The use of cotton actually might be the biggest surprise about the U.S. team’s uniforms. The Interlock Full-Zip Jacket has a nice look with a modern, sporty vibe, but we are talking about $120 for a track jacket.
SEE ALSO: History & Style: The International Presidents Cup Team Uniforms
Ashworth has been a great turnaround story for the last year, or so. In fact, if there was a Comeback Brand of the Year Award, it would go to Ashworth. Earlier this year I wrote about how the brand was no longer a “Champions Tour brand” was it is offering more modern cuts, designs and colors as showcased by Justin Rose during his U.S. Open victory. (Read: Ashworth Golf: The Revolution and Justin Rose Wins the U.S. Open in Ashworth Golf’s New, More Modern Styles) I was just hoping for something less predictable from the brand for the President’s Cup.
That being said, a huge part of the uniform selection rests with the captain, and Couples was apparently heavily involved in selecting styles, colors and fabrics. Who can blame Couples for taking a conservative and predictable approach, though. We all remember how Corey Pavin and his wife were lambasted for going waaaaaaay outside the box with the 2010 Ryder Cup uniforms that included unpatriotic lavender-colored cardigan sweaters, black-on-black final round ensembles with red ribbon belts and grey bell-bottom boot-cut slacks. We won’t even mention those ‘historic’ final round shirts during Ben Crenshaw’s captaincy at the 1999 Ryder Cup (even though they did result in a comeback win for the U.S. team).
On a related note, Sun Mountain will be providing the U.S. team’s outerwear — a full-zip rain jacket, long sleeve rain pullover, short sleeve rain pullover, rain pants, long sleeve wind pullover, short sleeve wind pullover, long sleeve thermal pullover, and a waterproof bucket hat. The selected rain gear is part of Sun Mountain’s StormTight collection — the same gear selected for the U.S. President’s Cup team back in 2011. While pictures of the U.S. team outerwear haven’t been released, an image of the Sun Mountain’s StormTight jacket is shown below.
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