Super cool new golf star Brandon Robinson Thompson joins classic brand Lyle & Scott
Lyle & Scott always feels like a classic golf brand.
On the one hand it’s the fact that a little part of you thinks it is some kind of partnership, however unlikely, between Sandy Lyle and Adam Scott.
That kind of works, in the sense that Lyle represents the Scottish heritage of the game and that Scott is one of the sport’s best looking golfers.
It also doesn’t really work at all – because Sandy Lyle isn’t really like so many other golfers of his generation who are keen, not to say slightly obsessed, with being businessmen as well as golfers.
In truth, though, there is no need for some kind of subconscious link between brand and golf because the menswear range has always been heavily involved in the sport.
The 1960s was a decade of growth for golf when colour TV, smart clothing, personalities like Arnold Palmer, and James Bond playing golf against Goldfinger combined perfectly.
It was also the decade when Lyle & Scott launched the now famous golden eagle logo. Self-styled as the “original golf brand”, it adds: “We’ve been leaders in golf wear for more than half a century.”
But the brand does not want to sit on its laurels and in launching its latest golf collection it said: “Today our role remains the same: to disrupt and innovate the game by blending performance and style.”
Recent news backs up this notion because Englishman Brandon Robinson Thompson has become a brand ambassador and he certainly fits the idea of being a disruptor and innovator in all the right ways.
The Isle of Man golfer won his DP World Tour card last year and has already contended for a win twice in 2025, but he first displayed his very modern vibe at the 2023 Open at Royal Liverpool.
I met him there and couldn’t help but be impressed by his golf and personality, nor with the fact he was bringing something different to the oldest championship of them all – something very new.
He was even followed by the Sauce Army, a group of friends, other pros, family, old US college team-mates and a growing number of locals. There was a rumour there was someone famous among them. “I think that’s my mate who is 6’6” with dreads,” he laughed. “I can confirm he is not an NFL superstar although a lot of people think he might be!”
Of joining Lyle & Scott, he said after carding a 61 in the Bahrain Championship: “I feel like the eagle rubbed off on me – I had two of them!
“I’m super excited to get into the new stuff. I like a bit of colour. I love the stuff.
“What I’ve really liked is I’ve worn a little bit of Lyle and Scott in the past, and growing up I remember watching a little bit of Lyle and Scott on TV. It’s a huge golf brand. They took a few years hiatus there in the golf industry, but now they’re coming back and back with a bang to be honest.
“It’s little things like the trousers and shorts with the non-slip, so your shirt never comes untucked. It’s got like a little bit that stops the shirt from coming untucked completely, so you pull it out to whatever you want, it’s so nice. It’s little things like that are overlooked for the most part.
“It’s just great quality. They’re invested and I feel like I’ve been brought in as part of the team. They’ve made me feel very welcome and I’ve loved it so far.”
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