Malbon Golf Signs Three Pro Ambassadors
LPGA pros Charley Hull and Jeongeun Lee (Lee6), as well as Jesper Parnavik, will join the brand's fold.
The golf sponsorship world is in chaos as Nike athletes — notably Tiger Woods — are jumping ship. Over the past week, Woods revealed that he would be ending his 27-year, reported $500 million relationship with the sports brand, leading to heightened speculation that Nike is planning to exit the golf category, which the activewear giant refutes.
Woods' exit follows the news that Jason Day, the Australian golfer whose seven-year, $100 million deal with Nike expired at the end of last year, would be severing ties with the brand as well and joining Malbon Golf.
The signing of Day marks the first PGA Tour player to ink a deal with Malbon, the streetwear-inspired golf brand founded by Stephen and Erica Malbon in 2017 as an alternative to the more-staid apparel offerings so prevalent in the sport.
Although talk was rampant that Woods might be considering joining the Malbon family, Stephen Malbon said that was absolutely not true. But what is true is that Malbon Golf is bringing three more professional golfers into the fold: LPGA players Charley Hull and Jeongeun Lee (Lee6), as well as Jesper Parnavik, a Swedish professional golfer now playing on the PGA Tour Champions league.
Signing these golfers marks Malbon's first move into PGA sponsonship and brings the upstart brand into the big leagues. Stephen Malbon said last week's Sentry tournament in Hawaii, the first event where Day wore the brand, led to a lot of online chatter with many people
questioning his fashion choices.
But Malbon said Day was actually amused by the reaction. “Everybody and their mother had an opinion but he could care less if someone put his head on a Ronald McDonald meme saying he was wearing clown pants,” Malbon said. “He actually loves it — he's very secure in who he is.” Ditto for the new Malbon ambassadors. Malbon said 6, as Jeongeun Lee is called, is one of the rare LPGA players who actually cares about fashion. “The other girls are just training, training, training,” he said, “but 6 likes to go shopping and really cares about that world. Charley does as well.”
Malbon said he first noticed Hull at a Rolex Evian pro-am event when she walked confidently into the room in huge Gucci sunglasses, a Gucci sweatshirt and cutoff jean shorts. “She's definitely into showing who she is, being fit and showing off the body she works so hard at,” he said.
With Parnavik, Malbon had first tapped the golfer — alongside his daughter — at the end of 2022 to be the face of the company's Yacht Club Collection, a lifestyle collection inspired by the game of golf. “Jesper is one of the most revolutionary golf icons alive,” Malbon said. “He used to come out wearing suspenders and ties. He's eclectic, creative and — in a very positive way — the best weirdo I've ever met.” And now that he's back playing on the Championship Tour, he added, he'll be wearing “statement pieces” from the brand, which Malbon said will be “disruptive in golf again.”
Turning to Day, Malbon said he became friendly with Tony Finau, another Nikesponsored athlete, and they explored the possibility of him joining the Malbon team.
Finau's contract with Nike is still in effect but he suggested Day. At first Malbon didn't think the golfer would even consider working with him, but after they met, they
formed a friendship and made the deal.
“He's an amazing sports icon and he's also a real family man who plays golf really well,” Malbon said. He has also been quite vocal in the past few days about how repetitive he feels the world of golf apparel is and how he was ready for a change. Malbon said when they were discussing the sponsorship deal, he asked the player what he liked to wear while practicing at home and he said running shorts if it was hot and oversize sweats if it was cold.
“So we said, why not take that to the course?” They're working now on tweaking pieces in the line to Day's specifications but he's already wearing pieces from the current collection on course.
Although it has become known for pushing the boundaries of golf fashion, Malbon also offers more-conservative styles. He said that for the first day of the Sentry tournament, Day wore slightly baggy white khakis and a white polo.
“You have to adapt,” Malbon said. “You wouldn't wear the same thing to play Augusta National as you would on the range at Chelsea Piers.”
Each of the new ambassadors has their own distinct style that they expect to expand through their new relationship with Malbon.
Parnavik, who was previously sponsored by J.Lindeberg, said he had noticed the Malbon line a few years ago and when Stephen Malbon reached out, they “hit it off. They are very innovative; Malbon makes it more interesting and fashionable and I like the overall feeling of the brand.” He said he'll be sporting the brand at his next tournament in Morocco and will wear the line both on and off the course.
Hull said she was sponsored by Anew, a young Korean brand, before, and while their clothing was “really nice, Malbon is a
more established brand with a stronger global footprint, and that appeals to me. I love the fact the clothing is transferrable from the course to the street. I love the thought of not having to change when I leave the golf course to meet a friend or go out for a few drinks.”
She said she'll start wearing the collection at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Fla., next week, and she hopes to work with the company to “have an influence on some of the designs going forward, and just be the best ambassador that I can.”
For 6, she said she was sponsored by a small Korean brand for eight years but became impressed with Malbon's “uniqueness that deviated from the typical golfwear style. When Malbon Golf was launched in Korea, it had a great influence [and] changed the paradigm of golfwear” in that market. Like Hull, she likes that the line is functional for when she's playing but can also be worn off the course.
“Style is as important as performance for golfwear. I think I'll fit well in Malbon Golf with its sensible and stylish design. I'm looking forward to this season.” Her first tournament will be the Seri Pak LA Open, March 21 to 24 in Palos Verdes, Calif.
Malbon said that seven years ago, he and his wife set out to “make golf cool and approachable to all people,” especially young people who were intimidated by the rules of the game. Their strategy worked and Malbon Golf has become a buzzy brand both on the course and off.
Looking ahead, Malbon said he's open to signing more golfers to his fold — but they have to have a similar approach to the game. “With Malbon, it's more of a feeling,” he said. “Every pro is really good at golf; that's not our criteria. It's about how good they are as humans.”