A Rare Miss From Malbon and Jason Day...There's Hope Ahead

A chill went through the air on Thursday morning of the 126th U.S. Open Championship. It was not a 40-mph wind gust. It was the first indication that hell may have frozen over. Jason Day wore an outfit to play golf, and I did not like it. Rare, like Sepp Straka with hair.

*Update: Shortly after publication Jason Day withdrew from the tournament with a back injury. We have no reason to believe the reception of his outfit has anything to do with it and we wish him the best.

They can’t all be hits, I get that. In fact, each week while I gather photos of the best-dressed golfers on the planet, I often skip Day’s more traditionally embellished, although contemporarily designed outfits. But this is the United States motherf*ckin’ Open! A time to flex, to say something on-the-nose (American Flag Shorts, Oakmont, 2025) or about The Hamptons, our gracious host community.

There you go—finally beating the “Malbon Shill” allegations—but I’m not happy about it.

This time around, Malbon employed Daniel Arsham, a contemporary artist whose work is nothing short of unbelievable (check out what he did around the Malbon Home below. Like I said, unbelievable. That Statue of Liberty Head is physically there.) What I appreciate about the move is the discoverability of it all. Seldom do artists who don’t paint landscapes or do scoreboard calligraphy get their due in golf, and the sport’s new wave of fashion brands have done a good job of exposing the golf world to the culture outside its white picket fences.

But how they executed the clothes, at least for Thursday, fell pretty flat. And I think that’s being kind, considering the nearly offensive mixing of digital camo and critter pants.

We call that a logo slap in the clothes analysis business. And not just because the logo is slapped all over him from ass to ankle, but because it’s as if the logo was incorporated without consideration of what it is: nothin’ special. Take that deteriorated head of Lady Liberty, play with some lines and some colors and get her stoic mug on the front of some outerwear or the back bottom corner of a polo shirt. The color alone is a bit too subtle a nod to her tone, in my humble opinion.

Day’s scripting the rest of the week ventures more toward what we’re used to out of this ambassadorship. I hope he makes the weekend so we can see this pink sweater that’s giving Hamptons as it should. But the rest of the scripting feels a little too—dare I say Tier Two Event? (or Tier Two Ambassador, even).

I know we’ve got Sungjae and Jackson and Eric Lee to dress, too. But I can’t help but feel like JDay got done a little dirty this time around. Maybe I hold brands like Malbon to a higher standard. Certainly it’s because they have earned that. But as my colleague Dan Rapaport often exclaims, we call balls and strikes around here and I expected a lot more from the sport’s most foremost culture and clothing collective.

My tears will dry. Nature will heal. Jason Day will be wearing a shirt made of burlap in six weeks and I’ll bow at the alter of it, call it innovative, buy the shirt myself.

Until then, they can’t all be gold. I’ll be admiring Tommy Fleetwood’s cardigan in the meantime.