PGA Tour: West Coast Winners

As the west coast swing of the 2012 PGA Tour season comes to a close, we should probably talk about the winners (and losers) in golf fashion thus far. There have been some guys out there who have really caught our eye because of their great style as well as their top-notch golf games. Here are some of the most notable  players currently in our Winner's Circle.

KYLE STANLEY
There are hardly words to express the love we feel for how Mr. Stanley dresses. All men should take note (mostly Tiger, but we will get to him later) of how to wear a pair of pants. Kyle looked crazy good in his all-black outfit by Dunning on Sunday at Phoenix, very Gary Player-esque. We give him a thumbs up for his great play, great outfit and that killer beard. Nicely done, sir.

KEEGAN BRADLEY
We were beyond thrilled when Keegan announced his new partnership with classic American clothier Tommy Hilfiger. And they have not disappointed us. We don't have a favorite look in mind from him this season, just his change overall. Bradley is now in much more fitted shirts, he is switching up his pant colors, belts and visors too. This change isn't too drastic but it is just enough to be noticeable and we really like it.

ADAM SCOTT
How on earth do you think we could have any sort of "Best Dressed" list and not include our favorite player ever? You are right, it is impossible. With that said, Adam's continued partnership with Aquascutum is glorious. Even more so than last season because of their increased use of elbow patches in his layering pieces. And he looks incredible every damn time he steps on a golf course.

ZACH JOHNSON
Outfitted in our newest favorite, Iliac Golf, Zach continues to bring it. We are especially digging his look from Saturday at Riviera, a nice striped sweater vest, with an unusually tight crew neck collar which makes him look that much more put together.

JONATHAN BYRD

A relative newcomer on our fashion radar, J Byrd is a seriously classy gent. Everyone knows my love for cardigan sweaters and thus my love for people who wear them. Not only did he wear a cardigan yesterday at Riviera but he paired this navy blue Ralph Lauren sweater with a great green gingham shirt. I do have one problem with the whole situation though, the clothes could have been about a size smaller. Other than that, he looked great. 

JIMMY WALKER
Another newcomer on the scene is this guy. Not a very big name, but he was on the first page of the leaderboard this week at one point. Wearing expertly coordinated Peter Millar, he caught our eye yesterday and we hope he continues to dress (and play) well this season.

And for the disappointments. I would like to think they know who they are, but for the sake of this blog post, let us review.

LUKE DONALD
His first outing this season was nothing to write home about. The world's number one player didn't play or dress like a champ this week. I have a serious problem with the collar on this shirt as well as plackets with zippers. I know that is getting a little nit-picky but I expected a little more out of someone who is normally dressed impeccably. The face snarl says it all, Luke.

PHIL MICKELSON
I know, Phil has been playing AWESOME and I am so pumped he won at Pebble and he is currently in the playoff at Riviera but whoever tells him he looks great in pinstripe pants ought to be shot. Sorry, Phil, thats a fail. (I know the picture isn't from this season, I couldn't find a recent one to illustrate the disaster but he has done it this year already, trust me.)

TIGER WOODS
He unfortunately will continue to be a train wreck unless he decides to reconcile with his tailor and someone at Nike notifies him that those golf shoes are made in black. We agree, Tiger, that outfit is cringe-worthy.

And that should about do it for this post. I need to get off here and watch this exciting playoff at Riviera! Also, I promise, we will try and be more diligent about writing posts, we know how much you need your G&B fix.



Thanks for reading!

B

New Year, New Style.

I think we're all excited for the new golf season, and the fashion we're about to endure in 2012.

Best thing, we'll be looking forward to the PGA show in Orlando where we will be shopping for looks in the upcoming year and seasons!

In the meantime, enjoy our humor.

Stay tuned for our evaluation of the style that appeared at the Tournament of Champions.

So far, geat players. Fantastic start. Classy styles. 

Cheers to a New Year!

2012 PGA Season

The highly anticipated 2012 PGA season is practically here and guess what?

We have something to say about it! Weird, right?

There are several stories that we have our eye so lets get to it.

The Majors

Duh. Who isn't interested in these tournaments? The Majors this year will hopefully be as thrilling as last year and maybe even produce some more first time champs (we mean you Dustin Johnson...just avoid those pesky "bunkers" sir, and you should be fine).

The Masters at Augusta National always seems to have drama and heres to hoping that this year will be no different. Maybe Tiger should see how a back 9 charge works for him instead of his exciting front 9 one last year. Or maybe our beloved Aussie Adam Scott will continue his excellent play to claim his first career major. Or perhaps another unknown like Charl Schwartzel will make a name for himself on Alister MacKenzie's famed layout. Who knows? But it sure will be fun to watch!

The US Open is at The Olympic Club (Lake Course) in San Francisco, California. The previous US Open held here was a bit controversial, Lee Janzen won the event, but many of the other players in contention (most notably, runner up Payne Stewart and Kirk Triplett) complained about the greens being too hard and fast to putt on. Another issue with was the pin position on the 18th, it was apparently impossible to putt on. Stewart 3-putted and Triplett incurred a 2 stroke penalty because he used his putter to stop the ball from rolling off the green (real professional, Kirk...). It has since been flattened out but nonetheless, this tournament should still provide its typical drama.

The Open Championship (its proper name, but we can still call it the British) will be at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in northern England. This course will have a lot of great memories for many different people. This is the tournament that vaulted David Duval into the #1 World Golf Rankings spot over 10 years ago. Our fellow Minnesotan (and reigning Senior PGA Player of the Year) Tom Lehman won his only major here and Spanish great Seve Ballesteros won British Opens here in 1979 and 1988. As with all British Opens, it will be as much a test against the course and the local weather. 

The season's final major, The PGA Championship is at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina. The most famed layout at the seaside resort that boasts 5 courses total. A little bit of trivia to impress your friends, this is the filming site for one of the greatest movies of all times, 

The Legend of Bagger Vance, how awesome is that? I bet it makes you want to watch the PGA Championship 10x more now, right? That and the idea of Keegan Bradley getting an opportunity to go back-to-back? Yeah, we are excited too.

Tiger Woods
Anyone who has read this blog knows we have been rather critical of Mr. Woods' golf game progress since his man-whore days but we really are interested in what he has got going on. We gave him kudos for winning his own tournament, that was a step in the right direction and we think that he can only go up from there this season. Tournaments he is in (especially Majors) are much more exciting to watch on TV when he is in the hunt. Tiger playing well only improves the game of golf as a whole and as much as we hate to admit it, he still can get people excited to watch golf.



Florida Tournaments
Nobody is more jacked than G&B to go watch all these guys when the PGA comes to our newly-adopted home state of Florida. Before moving, I never really paid attention to how many tournaments are actually played here. Hopefully we will be able to attend a few of these events. This is me, rubbing your nose in it. Sorry.

The Honda Classic - PGA National, Palm Beach Gardens
WGC-Cadillac - Doral, Miami
Transitions Championship - Innisbrook, Palm Harbor
Tavistock Cup - Lake Nona (though we will probably NEVER be able to get tickets)
Bay Hill Invitational - Bay Hill, Orlando
Players Championship - TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach
ADT Skills Challenge - The Breakers, Palm Beach
Franklin Templeton Shootout - Tiburon Golf Course, Naples

Repeat Performances
There were some players last season that were really impressive and we are hoping they can follow up excellent 2011 seasons with even better ones in 2012. I kind of had these guys in mind:

Adam Scott - How could he not be included? He came thisclose at Augusta, won at WGC-Bridgestone amid caddy controversy and played like the the stud and leader he is at the Presidents Cup. I really think he is poised for a major win this season, he finally looks ready to handle the pressure of a big win situation.

Bubba Watson - 2 wins last year and one of them was a playoff! Also made his debut at the President's Cup, where he had a pretty decent showing. Bubba is really fun to watch and is a real risk taker on the course. His easy-going nature is what draws people to him and has probably was part of his successful 2011 season. Bubba came really close to a major 2 years ago at Whistling Straits, losing to Martin Kaymer in a playoff. He has matured since then and has really become a force. We are expecting good things from Bubba this season.

Keegan Bradley - I feel bad for any other rookies on tour who played well, they simply had no chance at Rookie of the Year honors when this guy had such a fantastic season. Winning the HP Byron Nelson, the PGA Championship and the Franklin Templeton Shootout (with partner Brendan Steele) the 2011 season was certainly a good one for Bradley and we are looking for him to follow up his great rookie year in 2012.



That should about do it for this post, of course there are other intriguing storylines that are exciting and these are just a sampling of the ones that we have been thinking about.

What are you guys most exciting to watch during the upcoming season?

Whoa, almost forgot! Happy New Year! 

Sunday Funday: the real winner at Chevron

We have been rather hesitant to praise Tiger and jump on the "he is back" bandwagon as far as his golf game. He seems to be swinging a lot better starting at the Australian Open, the President's Cup and now his own tournament at Sherwood Oaks in California. And like we have said before and despite the "W" today, Tiger still has a lot of work to do to really prove to us he is indeed, back to winning form. Yes, we are tough critics and I would hope that Mr. Woods loses sleep knowing we do not fully approve of his situation. Yes he won today, a job well done, great. But guess what (yeah, there is always a "but" with us) he hand-picked the 18-man field and 3 guys who would have been major factors (Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy) were all notably absent, instead choosing to play abroad this week...by the way, Rory won the Hong Kong Open and Lee successfully defended his Nedbank Challenge title in Sun City, South Africa...hmm wonder what the field at the Chevron would have looked like with those guys in it too?

Anyway, on to the real reason for this post, as eluded to in the title. Yeah we know, Tiger won the tournament but for anyone who has read other posts on this blog, we like to give equal space to fashion as well as excellent golf. Which is why we think Zach Johnson was the winner in the fashion arena today. Mr. Johnson recently signed with California clothier, Iliac Golf and this new pairing was perfectly on display during the final round of the Chevron.

Zach paired some great fitting white pants with with an even greater fitting navy blue polo. What made it even better was the subtle red diamond design on the front of the polo and the fact that it matched perfectly with his red D-ring belt. Simple and classy. Well done, sir. Sir, well done. Even though you didn't win the tournament, you are most certainly still a winner in our book. And let's be honest, that is just as good, right? I think our payout is higher...

Not as much can be said about Tiger's outfit. His tailor must have high-tailed it out of Windermere a few Thanksgivings ago too. His pants are so unflattering. Ugh. And his shoes? We are all for sneaker-inspired golf kicks, but not when they make you look like an old man. Tiger's traditional Sunday red and black ensemble isn't to be tampered with, fine, but the black sweater vest and black pants should naturally be paired with black shoes. Not this "New Tiger". Oh no. Let's wear white shoes and see how bad we can irk Griggs & Bagger. Mission accomplished, Tiger. Whats more sad is that these Nike Free golf shoes have been made in black. C'mon Tiger. Get your shit together and stop looking like you just strolled out of the nursing home to play a quick 18.

Needless to say, a Sunday Funday filled with golf drama is always exciting and we aren't going to lie, it is pretty fun to see Mr. Woods in the hunt again, even though it was his own tournament. Oh well. Everyone in the media says that Tiger has now put the rest of the PGA Tour on alert and that we are all in for a real treat this 2012 season. Stay tuned.