Of Logos and Legends: Visiting the Players Championship Merchandise Tent

The PGA Tour has upped its Players Championship merchandise game over the years, with hats and shirts celebrating champions, the Stadium Course and the "904."

Editor's note: Morning Read's Gary Van Sickle hit the merchandise tent at the Players Championship and offers his hits and misses. If you've been watching on TV the first two days, you know he's had some free time on his hands.

Hits

A fist-pumping Tiger on your champions shirt is a sure winner / Gary Van Sickle

The Champions: A gray T-shirt with five likenesses of the champions from the year’s that end in “1” — 1981, ’91, 01, ’11 and ’21. Those players’ pictures are tinted in white, blue and yellow and they are, in order, Raymond Floyd, Steve Elkington, Tiger Woods, K.J. Choi and Justin Thomas. A little history goes a long way. Also, one of the five is Tiger. Need I say more? No.

Pete and Repeat: This white T-shirt has a navy blue ringer collar and a blue tagline of “History Repeats Itself.” Beneath that line, there are drawings in blue and white on a gold background of the six players who have won The Players more than once: Jack Nicklaus, Hal Sutton, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Elkington and Woods. The years each player won and his replica signature accompanies his portrait. I’d prefer photographs to drawings, because Elkington and Love were kind of fuzzy but, again, play up the history. You’ve got Jack and Tiger and Fred on the same shirt. What’s not to like?

The List: This T-shirt comes in white or gray. Goldie is on the front between THE and PLAYERS. On the back is Goldie as a trophy with a list in gold type of every Players winner. Once again, I’m a sucker for golf lore, and once again, the back of this shirt includes the names of Tiger and Jack. It’s always good to sit in first class.

Gold Man, Gold Man and more Gold Man / Gary Van Sickle

Head liners: I liked two Imperial caps. One was a regular blue with a metal Goldie by himself. That carries the kind of self-implied importance you’re trying to build if you’re The Players. If you know golf, you know what that Gold Man means. If not, go back to your bowling league. On another version, Goldie is in a white emblem on the cap and is surrounded by dozens of smaller Goldies imprinted on a camo-type blue-gray background. I’m not sure which nation’s army uses blue-gray for camo but I’m pretty sure it’s not Canada.

State of the Union: A white hat with the state of Florida’s outline colored in blue, plus Goldie finishing his swing as he straddles, oh, approximately either Orlando or The Villages. No words or letters, no clutter. Goldie stepping on Florida reminds me of Godzilla walking over Tokyo … I like it.

At seventeen: Two T-shirts share the same drawing of the 17th green and its bulkhead outline. One carries the message: “Not in the water” repeated four times. I’m not sure if that’s bragging or complaining but it works either way. The other warns, “Be very afraid.” Look, the 17th green is the Mona Lisa of Sawgrass and it should be a merchandising focus. Lighten up, have some fun, splash a ball in the water. Rinse and repeat.

The basics: A blue T-shirt with white palm trees towering above a white outline of the 17th green is simple but it fulfills the mission—show off No. 17, the course’s most iconic feature.

Misses

Not sure about the surfboard shirts, but if the course gets any more rain / Gary Van Sickle

Surf’s up: A blue T-shirt features three surfboards decorated with assorted versions of Goldie and palm fronds. Remind me again what surfing has to do with The Players? Hey, maybe they should add a wave machine to the lake around the 17th hole and start surfing!

Jacked up: The letters “JAX” appear, a common abbreviation for Jacksonville. Beneath the "A" in Jax is a yellow oval with palm trees and a silhouette of the island-green 17th hole although if you don’t look too closely, the yellow thing might be a smiling whale. Or maybe it is? Awful.

I’ll buy a vowel, Pat: Here’s a hat that won’t pass Spellcheck. In block letters, it says “PLYRS”.

A proofreader's nightmare / Gary Van Sickle

Does that spell pliers? Is this a hardware store? Is that a hockey hat with a typo, was it supposed to say “FLYRS” and a proofreader missed it? I’d be more tempted to buy this hat if spelled “PLIERS” to indicate my manly hardware skills.

TP-C-U-Later: This T-shirt gets back to basics. It features the three TPC letters, outlined in gold and overlapping. Beneath, it says The Players Championship. The bad news is, the public doesn’t think TPC is some cool chain of courses just like it doesn’t see WGC’s (World Golf Championships) as fabulous tournaments.

If you know, you know.  / Gary Van Sickle

Code talkers: Picture a bright blue T-shirt with large but thin numbers 9-0-4 on the back. In the middle of the 0, there’s Goldie finishing his swing. Beneath the 4 is “The Players Championship” in gold type. That’s right, let’s all celebrate Ponte Vedra Beach’s area code, 904. We could’ve had the 17th green, an alligator, palm trees or a heron or something. I guess 904 is better than the zip code, though, but I’m sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed.

The abbreviation patrol: This T-shirt looks like an accident. There’s a very rough outline of the bulkheads and the 17th green and a bunker. The letters “PVB” are atop the middle of the green—that’s the abbreviation for Ponte Vedra Beach. Left of the P is Goldie finishing his follow-through. What’s he doing taking a swing on the green? Is this the TPC at PVB? Frankly, this looks like several logos fell off a table onto a shirt and accidentally got printed.

It’s not easy building a tournament into a desirable, must-have brand/event/logo. The Players is making progress. The next step? Just keep playing.