If an anonymous LPGA player wins for the first time in a foreign country with no live television…does it make a sound?
Apparently, not so much.
Katherine Hull’s first victory as an LPGA player, after 109 events, barely registered in golf circles. And yet she came from six strokes back, shot a final-round 69 and overtook Yani Tseng, who coughed up a four-stroke lead over Se Ri Pak and faded to third with a 77.
Maybe it was a combination of August vacations, Olympics on television, PGA Championship hangovers, and Michelle Wie Ennui…which is to say, Wie’s performance was one of the few compelling story lines at the start of last week’s Canadian Women’s Open, and when she wasn’t going to win, place or show, interest fell precipitously.
Wie finished tied for 12th and earned about $36K, not enough to move her high enough up the money list to earn an exemption in 2009, so, you know, there’s always Stanford.
And what of Katherine Hull? We apparently know surprisingly little. She’s Australian, in her fifth year and she’d made six straight cuts coming into the Canadian Open. On the spirituality scale, she’s the leader in the clubhouse, reciting biblical verses between shots. She used to wear a hat that says, "Got Jesus?" but apparently Titleist goes further and likely pays better.
What Hull wears on the golf course, even for mavens like us, is slightly obscure. The logo is Ash City, which is the corporate name for a group of Toronto-based men’s and women’s sportswear brands that includes North End Sport,Il Miglioreand Extreme.
Ash City is a 25-year-old privately owned firm and does a robust corporate business, meaning it manufactures and/or embroiders pique knit shirts and other basic apparel for corporate clients. Over the last five years, it has moved into the green grass business and sells its brands to about 1,700 U.S. and 800 Canadian golf course shops.
While Hull had the Ash City logo on the back of her neck, she was actually wearing North End Sport, which is the active, slightly fashion-forward men’s and women’s line with a good bit of technical fabrics. Ash City apparel, on the other hand, is cotton driven.
What she was wearing Sunday was half-zip shirt with offset shoulder seams, made of 92 percent polyester, 8 percent spandex with 3M Scotchgard and moisture wicking.
While Ash City sponsors Brad Bryant on the Champions Tour, it’s fairly aggressive on the LPGA Tour, dressing Dawn Coe-Jones, Moira Dunn, Becky Morgan, Beth Bader and Diana D’Alessio. Not a bad little portfolio for a firm that clearly wants to send a message to the golfing public. — Robert Lohrer
