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LEHI — Phil Mickelson admits he wasn't sure if he would be the "jogger guy," but the six-time major champion has changed his mind.
The World Golf Hall of Famer won 57 times on the PGA Tour, including three Masters championships, and became the oldest major winner in world golf history when he won his second PGA Championship title at 50 at the 2021 tournament at Kiawah Island.
All of that to say Mickelson was pretty set in his golf-course style.
"I wasn't sure I could pull off wearing the cool, fashionable joggers," he said.
But in the run-up to last year's Open Championship, Mickelson was challenged to a casual match by Grant Horvat, the popular YouTuber, golfer and recent part owner at Primo Golf in Lehi with one simple request: With a loss (and aided by a few strokes' deficit), Mickelson would have to play a round in Great Britain wearing a pair of the company's trademark joggers.
Mickelson lost, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Mickelson's become one of those "jogger guys," and now he's signed Primo as the official golf apparel sponsor of Mickelson's LIV Golf team, HyFlyers GC, the companies announced Monday morning.
"I have fallen in love with them and the rest of Primo's outstanding product line," Mickelson said in a statement from the company. "I'm excited the HyFlyers will be rocking them during our season."
As part of the new sponsorship, Mickelson and his team — which consists of Brendan Steele, Cameron Tringale and Andy Ogletree — will wear Primo's entire line, which also includes traditional pants, quarter zips, vests, polos and more, during the LIV Golf season beginning Feb. 5-8 at LIV Golf Riyadh.
The 13-team, 54-player tour that features no cuts among the 54-hole format with shotgun starts will also play events in Chicago, Indianapolis and Detroit, among other locations, this year.
The golf tour, which is funded by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and managed by CEO Scott O'Neil, recently inked a multi-year deal with Fox Sports to broadcast each tournament on FOX and FS1 (with overflow programming on FS2 and Fox Business).
That's a significant marketability for Primo, which was launched in June 2020 by a group of cousins in Utah with the goal to build a brand that firmly believes "golfers are athletes."
When Mickelson wore the Primo joggers at the aforementioned Open last season, traffic to the brand's website jumped 300% with aid from a post on social media about the joggers, Primo founder and CEO Matty Gay told KSL.com.
"Partnering with HyFlyers GC is a huge milestone for us," said Gay, whose company also sponsors the Utah state amateur and the Provo Open through a multiyear deal with the Utah Golf Association. "Phil, like Primo, is incredibly passionate about the game of golf, has tremendous achievements in the game, and fits perfectly with our brand. Years of hard work have led us to this point, and we are excited to watch the team compete wearing Primo gear this season."
Gay credited Horvat's representation Josh Morgan as crucial to the partnership, extending the YouTube star's relationship into a deal with the 4-year-old Utah brand.
It's not Mickelson's first connection to the Beehive State. The Hall of Famer nicknamed "Lefty" for his unique swing is married to his wife Amy, who graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1990 before moving to Arizona, where she attended Arizona State and eventually became a cheerleader for the Phoenix Suns.
It was there she met Mickelson, when Amy was a senior at ASU in 1992 — and just a year after Mickelson had won his first PGA Tour event, as an amateur.The couple married in 1996 and have three children.
As part of the sponsorship, Primo Golf apparel will be available to buy at LIV Golf events, in addition to Primo's website at PrimoGolfApparel.com.
