When Justin Phillips got the green light to build out the merchandise for the Austin Championship, he had a few weeks, a brand-new tournament logo, and a blank slate.
For Phillips, who oversees all tour operations for Levelwear — managing everything from merchandise stands to volunteer uniforms — the Austin event offered a rare break from the standard tour routine. Over the last eight to 10 years, golf tournament retail had grown somewhat standardized across stops, often relying on massive, uniform buys. Starting from scratch with a new logo in a city like Austin meant throwing out the usual playbook.
"Once I got the logo, it was a lot of fun to have the creativity
and the freedom to create whatever I wanted," Phillips said of the rapid turnaround. "It was a lot in a couple weeks because everything had to get produced so quickly ... It was a lot of fun that I normally don't get to do on the normal tour stuff."
To make the tent at Barton Creek Resort’s Fazio Canyons course feel distinctly local rather than off-the-rack, Phillips leaned heavily into Texas culture and Austin's iconic creative identity. As a Houston native, he had an intuitive sense of what might resonate with the crowd. He designed T-shirts and headwear featuring nods to the city's bat bridge, local beverage culture and classic Lone Star State motifs.
He also drew directly from Austin’s deep musical and cinematic roots, blending a “Dazed and Confused” aesthetic with Willie Nelson-inspired designs. Once the concepts were approved by tournament organizers, the sprint to production began to get the racks stocked in time for opening day.
By the time the gates opened, that local-first approach was already paying off. While fans browsed a wide mix of apparel rather than gravitating toward a single item, pieces with unmistakable Austin and Texas flair clearly led the pack.
"It's been interesting here because it's been a little bit of everything," Phillips noted, looking out over the bustling tent. "It's not like one style's flying out of here. But anything that is more locally themed is moving faster for sure."
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Austin Championship merchandise gets Texas makeover after Good Good sponsorship fallout
