There are very few true style rebels in golf history. Forrest Fezler was one of them. Not because he chased attention, but because he did something every golfer secretly wanted to do in June heat at a major championship. He ditched the pants.
This week, adidas is making sure nobody forgets it.
Ahead of the PGA Championship in Philadelphia, adidas announced a posthumous partnership with Fezler tied to the launch of the new Ultimate365+ Shorts. The move feels less like golf finally giving credit to one of the sport’s accidental style icons.
Back at the 1983 U.S. Open, Fezler walked into a portable restroom on the 72nd hole wearing slacks and came out in shorts. He finished the round that way, becoming the first player to officially compete in a Tour event wearing shorts. Golf fashion lore has been built on much flimsier moments than that.
The funny part is how normal it feels now.
Walk any driving range during a practice round at a major, and you’ll see tailored shorts, pleated shorts, tech shorts, shorts with inseams so aggressive they belong at a South Beach pool club. Golf has spent the last decade loosening its collar, literally and culturally. Fezler helped crack that door open long before brands started calling everything “modern performance.”
Instead of turning the story into nostalgia bait, adidas is connecting it to where the game sits today. Their athletes will wear special Fezler patches during the week and, fittingly, they’ll lean into shorts during practice rounds whenever the weather cooperates. There’s also a commemorative statue of Fezler in downtown Philadelphia, wearing shorts, of course. Honestly, that detail matters. If you are immortalizing a golf legend known for freeing the knee, there is only one dress code.
The broader point is that style shifts in golf rarely happen through committee approval. Usually, it takes one person willing to look slightly out of place before everyone else catches up. Fezler probably was not thinking about “reshaping golf fashion” in that portable toilet. He was probably just hot and over it. Which somehow makes the moment even cooler.
And now, more than forty years later, golf apparel is built around the exact things Fezler accidentally championed: comfort, mobility, versatility, and looking sharp without feeling restricted. That’s the lane adidas continues pushing with the Ultimate365+ line. Performance matters, but so does ease.
The best style moments in golf always carry a little attitude. Fezler’s did too.