The logos a golfer wears can say a lot. Where they’ve played. Where they pay dues. For some golfers, the logos say much more than others. With pro golfers, in particular, there’s always something being communicated.
Like when Tiger Woods would wear his TW Foundation logo on his hat, instead of the Nike swoosh, that’s a message of sorts. When Brooks Koepka has competed under the Nike logo exclusively on LIV, instead of his Smash GC gear, that’s a message of sorts. The same goes for all levels of the game, all the way down to this week’s particularly intriguing sponsor’s exemption: James Piot. Piot’s story is embedded in those logos.
When most of the golf world first learned about Piot, it was four years ago at the 2021 U.S. Amateur. He was on the doorstep of his 5th-year senior season at Michigan State when he got hot at Oakmont and won the biggest prize in amateur golf. With that comes plenty of fixings, most notably a tee time at the following year’s Masters. When we saw him play alongside Bryson DeChambeau in April 2022, Piot was rocking a white Titleist hat, a Spartan logo on the right side, and “Michigan State” spelled out on the left. On his collar was FJ — that’s FootJoy — and on the right side of his chest, the logo for Lear Corporation, a vehicle seat manufacturer.
This was all pretty standard for an incredibly talented up-and-comer just waiting to turn pro. Lear was likely a smaller, feel-good deal, cut for the local boy from two towns over in the Detroit suburbs. But less than two months later, all of Piot’s logos would change.
On May 31, 2022, Piot was announced as one of the 48 initial players competing at LIV London, the first event of the upstart, Saudi-backed golf tour. LIV Golf was thrilled to have Piot and he was thrilled to be there, given the rare opportunity to compete against some of the best golfers in the world. Better yet, he didn’t have to cut his teeth to get there; that was already taken care of. He signed a two-year deal at a reported value of $6 million.
Piot was drafted by Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs team and immediately donned the cartoon-ified flaming golf ball logo on his lid. His chest was logo free. His shirt sleeves were, too. Only a standard FootJoy logo was visible on the back of his neck.
Piot was a Fireballs golfer now, exclusively … for just one week, as a more significant signee, Abe Ancer, had officially joined LIV. By the time he played a second LIV event, Piot was now wearing Niblicks GC green. He wore Chervo apparel, with a tiny logo on his chest, but front and center on his hat was the brand actually paying him: LIV GOLF.
On the front of his hat at the third LIV event, at Bedminster, was Flecha Azul, a tequila company co-founded by Ancer, and which apparently only came in for one week. By the time Piot teed it up again in Boston five weeks later, LIV Golf was back on the front of his hat, and also spelled out on his collar. The LIV logo also appeared on his right sleeve. A couple weeks later, a Chervo logo was on the front of his hat.
This musical chairs of logos is extremely atypical, but was indicative of where Piot was at the time. He was a LIV asset, signed for his potential more than his ability to, say, beat Dustin Johnson. He was also signed at a time when LIV was launching, and before a handful of stars arrived. LIV needed reputable players, and the inauspicious start to the league made for a bumpy ride, and lots of switching lanes.
Piot wasn’t necessarily alone, either. Patrick Reed started his 2022 with PXG on the front of his hat, but was also sporting “LIV Golf” later that year. Sponsors were skittish; deals were in flux. These days, for the best players on LIV, many sponsorship deals have, in a word, settled. That is, for the best players on LIV. Life may be good for LIV’s major winners, but it hasn’t been perfect for its younger group.
Piot was never one of LIV’s best players, garnering just one top 10 in his first season. But as a two-year contract holder, he was able to find a place on Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers team for 2023. That took care of plenty of logo dancing, as he just rocked the team logo wherever he played. Unfortunately for Piot, his form plummeted and he failed to finish higher than T18 in that second season, finishing 47th out of 52 players. When it came to re-earning his place on LIV in the LIV Promotions event, he failed to qualify.
Suddenly, Piot had no LIV status, and had forgone any PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour or Canadian Tour status he would have achieved through the normal means of most elite amateur golfers. Worse yet, the PGA Tour had imposed a one-year suspension of any LIV golfer from playing its events. His 2024 season was spent playing just a handful of International Series events on the Asian Tour, due to the places it holds in its fields for former LIV players, and making little to no money from his finishes. On his hat and his body was one consistent brand: Chervo.
The meaning of logos is fascinating because to have them is to (very likely) be benefiting from an official relationship. Free clothes, some financial gain, etc. There’s a baseline level of income that PGA Tour pros can earn from their skill that often equates to the same baseline of expenses required to live the Tour life. In exchange, brands cut these deals hoping that players find their best form, because what often follows great form is competing in front of the biggest audiences on television and also in person.
The greatest audience Piot has likely ever had came in that 2022 Masters — or even at the 2021 U.S. Amateur — when he was rocking that white Titleist hat with all sorts of Michigan State green etched into it. He had two unsuccessful years, results-wise, and then had shoulder surgery at the end of 2024. It was the most physical reset a pro golfer can imagine. The golf clubs gather dust, the rollercoaster of therapy begins, you wear more sweats than slacks.
Piot has now emerged on the other side of that with a more visual reset. This week, he’s back wearing that white Titleist lid with the same Michigan State emblems. He’s playing in Michigan, too, at this week’s PGA Tour stop, the Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club, not far from where he grew up. His college coach and family have been in attendance all week, in ways they couldn’t when he was jet-setting to Bangkok or Australia or Saudi Arabia. The six under score he tallied through two rounds was just enough to keep him inside the cutline in a PGA Tour event. The road continues, and the logo changes will, too.
