The PGA of America will use this month’s PGA Championship to launch a merchandise program around an even bigger event: the 2016 Ryder Cup.
For the first time, the PGA of America will be selling the apparel that’s worn by the U.S. Ryder Cup team, and they’ll begin doing so at the PGA Championship. The Ryder Cup gear also will go on sale online and in department stores nationwide at that time.
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Members of the U.S. team gather during the 2012 Ryder Cup. For the first time this year, fans will be able to buy the apparel that’s worn by the U.S. team.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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That means a new line of products and additional sales time. In the past, Ryder Cup shirts and hats sold to the public featured only the event’s logo; the apparel was different in design from the players’ apparel. In addition, product wasn’t sold until the start of the biennial event.
Mike Quirk, senior director of merchandising and licensing for the PGA of America, said the new opportunities are expected to drive sales of the Ryder Cup merchandise 30 percent higher than sales in 2012, when the Ryder Cup was last held in the United States (at Medinah Country Club, outside Chicago).
“For us, it is a huge step forward,” Quirk said. “With so much tradition in keeping the teamwear to the players, making the change has taken some time. Now that we are allowed to do it, we are trying to grow the brand.”
The PGA of America runs the Ryder Cup when it’s played in the United States. This year’s event is set for Sept. 27-Oct. 2 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
The PGA Championship is scheduled for July 25-31, to be played at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. That’s earlier than the event’s traditional August date. It was moved up this year to accommodate golf’s return to the Olympics, but the shift now serves to provide extra sales time for the Ryder Cup merchandise effort, as well.
Prices will range from $28 for hats to $98 for golf shirts. Outwear apparel such as rain gear and jackets will also be available, ranging from $145 to $265. Off-course U.S.-team-branded merchandise, such as T-shirts, will be sold too, priced at $45.
Apparel for the European Ryder Cup team will not be included. That business is overseen by Ryder Cup Europe, separate from the PGA of America, which made the decision internally to begin selling replica team merchandise.
Ralph Lauren and New Era are the uniform licensees for the Ryder Cup merchandise.
“People want to dress like the players,” Quirk said. “Imagine going to the Final Four between Kentucky and Duke and you can only buy event product. It didn’t make sense, and for us to finally have team product, it will have a huge effect.”
With the changes, the expectation is that 75 percent of the Ryder Cup merchandise that’s sold will be event-based, with an additional 10 percent sold online and 15 percent sold in department stores and golf shops. Quirk said this year’s online and in-store numbers should trend higher than in past years past because of the new and longer sales opportunities.
But selling Ryder Cup merchandise inside the 37,000-square-foot merchandise tent planned for Baltusrol is not expected to dampen PGA Championship merchandise sales. Quirk said Ryder Cup merchandise sold at Baltusrol is seen as an add-on purchase, not a replacement buy of PGA Championship items.
He added that Ryder Cup inventory will make up about 10 percent of the total merchandise inventory at Baltusrol and that Ryder Cup merchandise will not be restocked at the tent during the week of the PGA Championship.
Sales of PGA Championship-specific merchandise are expected to increase by 15 percent in their own right this year, Quirk said, driven by the event being held in the New York market. That’s expected to bring a higher average transaction from buyers than at last year’s event, which was held at Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wis.
