That is about how the sunglass giant Oakley must feel after Rory’s wire-to-wire victory at the U.S. Open at Congressional this past week.  They have him signed to a $6 million contract to promote their sunglasses and fledgling line of sports apparel.  Hope is that he can do for them what Eldrick did for Nike Golf.   Rory’s entire outfit-pants, belt, shirt and sunglasses-everything but the Jumeirah hat, sported the Oakley brand.  The only thing that is amusing is that he wore the sunglasses backwards on his hat the entire four days-I cannot remember him ever putting them to practical use.

Rory was at Ballyliffin Golf Club in Northern Ireland three days after the finish of the Open to work on a multi-million dollar ad campaign for Oakley.  No surprise that Rory is an honorary member at Ballyliffin and holds the course record of 67 on the Old Course that he shot when he was 17.  This photo shoot was supposed to be hush-hush but word got out and hundreds of locals showed up to greet his helicopter when it touched down on the club’s landing pad.  Lots of Irish revelry ensued as the locals celebrated the return of their conquering hero.

A visit to the Oakley Site reveals they have a long way to go if they are going to make a meaningful inroad into golf apparel and accessories. (Click here for Oakley website)  Seems to me that their design crew needs to move out of the extreme games mode into something more suitable for the Lance Ultra Light crew.  Good news is that Rory is likely to have a very long career so they have plenty of time to work out the kinks.

June 2011