Bubba Watson joins Oakley
The equipment/apparel mixup is now in full swing, but until the announcement of a certain Northern Irishman becomes official, the biggest move of 2013 so far involves the current Masters champion joining a rather trendy clothing company.
Bubba Watson and Oakley are teaming up the company announced on Thursday, with the four-time PGA Tour winner joining a stable of young, exciting golfers that rock the "O" on their shirts.
Asked on the Oakley website why Bubba decided to join the company and part ways with Travis Mathews, Watson said, "Simple. Oakley gets it. They love the game and they never stop pushing technology to make the game better. Whatever they can do — whatever can be done — Oakley will do it. I respect that."
It does seem like a good fit for both Bubba and the Oakley brand. The company is a fun, exciting and extremely professional group and while Watson does seem to goof off on the golf course at times, he loves being competitive and winning big events, and I see the two working together brilliantly. Oakley has always had a big name attached to their brand, and with the inevitable departure of Rory McIlroy coming any day now, it seems Bubba will be the one to pick up the reigns and move the company into '13 and beyond.
Watson isn't the first to move around. Earlier this week Nike announced that Kyle Stanley and Nick Watney would be joining their squad, and we've seen Stewart Cink, Ryan Moore, J.J. Henry, Brian Davis and John Huh all move over to TaylorMade. Along with those moves comes Callaway golf introducing Gary Woodland, Chris Kirk and Andres Gonzales to their team.
