James Lepp at the PGA Merchandise Show
(Jeff Brooke and Lorne Rubenstein are at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida, where some 1,000 top golf companies and brands and more than 40,000 industry professionals have gathered for an advanced look at some of the latest products. Over the course of the next few days, they'll provide their take on what they've seen, tried and heard.)
GOTTA BE THE SHOES: For James Lepp, the transition from touring golf pro to footwear entrepreneur has been as comfortable as a pair of his Kikkor shoes.
The 26-year-old Canadian, a former NCAA champion and two-time winner on the Canadian Tour, chucked his golf career a couple of years ago when his passion for the game hit bottom.
Looking for a new outlet of excitement, and convinced that young cool guys needed a golf shoe they could call their own, the business grad of the University of Washington launched Kikkor in 2008.
The design style and comfort level are borrowed from skateboarding and tennis. As his promotional material says, these aren't your dad's golf shoes.
"There wasn't a good footwear option for us younger players," he said at the PGA Merchandise Show as he launched his 2011 collection. "It was all geared to guys my dad's age, and no one wants to look like their dads."
Lepp produced a small line last year and it did well, selling out. This year, he's broadened the collection to half a dozen models that each come in a variety of colours.
Meanwhile, other shoemakers have cottoned on to the same trend. Ecco scored big last year when Fred Couples started wearing, sockless, a pair of its tennis-like shoes that have nubs on the bottom rather than traditional golf spikes.
Footjoy started a street-style line, and True linkswear, a new company that iconoclastic PGA Tour player Ryan Moore endorses, has caught the market's attention.
Lepp of Abbotsford, B.C., said the companies treading the same turf as Kikkor actually help his business because he no longer has to explain the concept of a cool and comfortable golf shoe. And he still thinks his shoes stand out.
"Kikkor is about being young, being cool, being yourself," Lepp said at his booth, which is set up like a lounge bar. "There's definitely room for us [in the market] If we can just cut out that niche, we'll be just fine."
GREAT WHITE NORTH: Add Matt Kuchar to the list of PGA Tour stars who'll play in the RBC Canadian Open this year in Vancouver.
Kuchar confirmed on Thursday that he'll tee it up at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in July. It'll be his fifth Canadian Open and his second trip to Shaughnessy.
"I am really excited to go back to Shaunghnessy," Kuchar said in an interview at the PGA Merchandise Show after he hit the ceremonial opening shot in the Grand Lobby of the Orange County Convention Centre.
"It's one of the better courses in the country, a fantastic test of golf and a beautiful place. I enjoyed my time in Vancouver. It's a great city."
Kuchar tied for 14th place in the 2005 Canadian Open at classic Shaughnessy. His best Canadian Open finish came last year in Toronto at St. George's, where he tied for fourth spot.
Kuchar led the PGA Tour last year in scoring average and money won, after posting two wins and a tour-leading 11 top-10 finishes. He has three top 10s already this year in three starts.
At the Merchandise Show, he was presented with the Vardon Trophy recognizing his leading 69.61 scoring average.
Royal Bank of Canada, the Canadian's Open title sponsor, is one of his sponsors, which made his participation at Shaughnessy a virtual lock. But he said he would have likely played anyway, given his fondness for the course. "I remember the huge trees and great views. I look forward to seeing them again."
But don't add Kuchar to the list of players who want to wear a microphone during televised coverage of PGA Tour events.
"Not a chance," he answered when asked whether he'd be willing to be wired. "I like having a little bit of privacy."
The PGA Tour this year agreed to allow Golf Channel to put a microphone on players. The recordings, meant to give viewers inside-the-ropes access to what players say, are screened before going on air.
The soft-spoken, polite Southerner would hardly seem like someone who needs to worry about kicking up a controversy on the golf course with what he says. But he said his resistance has more to do being aware of the microphone's presence. "I would be too conscious."
Davis Love III will wear a microphone during the Farmers Insurance Open during its opening round Thursday.
Love will also be wearing new branding on his hat and shirts at Torrey Pines. The 20-time PGA Tour winner and 2012 U.S. Ryder Cup champion has switched to Bridgestone equipment and balls after a long connection to Titleist.
He said he was convinced to change after talking to Bridgestone players Fred Couples and Kuchar, his new neighbour in Sea Island, Ga.
"I saw how well he's been playing," Love said of Kuchar, speaking by Skype to Bridgestone's booth at the Merchandise Show from California before his first round.
Love, at 46, says he still feel competitive enough to win on the PGA Tour, although he knows his chances might be less frequent. "The clock's ticking and the chances will be fewer and fewer."
He added he hopes to play his way on the U.S. Ryder Cup team to be both a competitor and captain.
SHARK SIGHTING: Greg Norman expects the world golf rankings to look significantly different in the next generation.
The 55-year-olf golfing legend from Australia says Asians, already on the rise, will dominate as China and its developing neighbours get more into the game.
"I truly believe the East will take over the West in 20, 25 years," Norman said at the 2011 PGA Merchandise Show here.
With golf established in Japan and South Korea, the game is taking off in China now, and Norman expects a boom that will ultimately produce 30 million players in the country over the next couple of decades. The United States has about 26 million now.
With that large pool of participants, many world-class players will emerge and it won't be long before there's an Asian world No. 1, he said.
South Korea has already produced elite talent on the LPGA Tour - five of the world's top 10 are South Korean - and a major champion in men's golf, Y.E. Yang in the 2009 PGA Championship.
Golf instructor Hank Haney agreed that Asia, particularly China, is the next great source of talent. "The enthusiasm is second to none," he said. "They are golf hungry. … I see a lot of great athletes and I see a lot of great minds."
He said once instruction in China rises to Western standards, "It's just a matter of time before you see more great players."
The addition of golf to the Olympics, beginning in 2016, is expected to fuel the interest further, they said.
On the business side of the game, the Asian boom provides a tremendous opportunity for everyone in the golf industry, Norman added. Another 5,000 courses are to be built in China alone, a rarity in the course construction business, which has dried up elsewhere.
To capitalize on the surge of interest, Norman has opened a shop in Beijing to sell his design services and merchandise. Haney has launched a junior academy at the sprawling Mission Hills complex near Shanghai.
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