Auburn head men’s golf Coach Nick Clinard watches a lot of golf. And the more he watches, the more Under Armour products he sees on the links.

“To me, we’re seeing Under Armour out there right now as much as we’re seeing Nike,” Clinard said. “You’re seeing a lot of Under Armour gear.”

Auburn head women’s golf Coach Kim Evans agrees there’s more Under Armour product. Everywhere.

“I’m starting to see a lot of Under Armour everywhere I go now,” Evans said. “I’m seeing it at golf shops around town, I’m seeing it at tournaments for recruiting, I’m seeing it when I go to a soccer field to watch a family member or a friend’s kid play soccer. I’m seeing it on campus more. You just see it everywhere now.”

And with the help of the hottest golfer in the world, it could only get better for the company that outfits the Auburn men’s and women’s golf teams. Under Armour is the exclusive apparel provider for Jordan Spieth, the phenom who won the Masters in early April.

Spieth is only 21, and he already has a green jacket and a 10-year contract that will keep him covered in Under Armour logos from head to toe. Anyone who watched Spieth’s wire-to-wire win on television couldn’t help but see Under Armour’s familiar logo. He wore 16 in all on Sunday.

It was a marketing coup for Under Armour. Clinard said it was good for Auburn, too.

“It was huge because I think the next generation of golfers are seeing the Under Armour logo,” Clinard said. “It’s very trendy right now. When you have arguably the best player in the game right now, along with maybe Rory McIlroy, wearing the Under Armour hat and the shoes and the apparel, it becomes kind of cool. It becomes the `in’ thing.”

Auburn golfer Michael Johnson believes Spieth’s win was huge for Under Armour’s efforts to become a major player in golf.

“I think it put Under Armour at the top of the list,” Johnson said. “It just made them relevant in the golf world. He was like a walking billboard for them.”

Evans said Spieth appears to be the “real deal” on the links and off. That’s gold for Under Armour, a company that has exceeded $3 billion in annual revenue at least in part because of its marketing savvy.

“He’s young, he’s confident, he’s every leader’s dream of having someone as a role model,” Evans said. “I can only imagine how proud Under Armour is right now to have him as their brand for golf.”

Evans says apparel may not rank at the very top of the list of what’s important to a recruit, but some are curious to see what’s inside the mahogany team locker in the Auburn locker room when they visit.

“For some kids it’s real important and they want to see what we’re wearing,” Evans said.

Clinard said he expects Under Armour to continue to gobble up bigger chunks of the golf apparel market with quality products and smart sponsorships, including young guns nobody’s heard of yet.

“All the kids like it,” Clinard said. “I think they are going head first into the golf industry, and I think it’s exciting. It’s exciting for us to see what they are developing and it’s exciting for us to have an opportunity to maybe test some products, too.”

via Spieth’s success could help AU golf, too – AuburnTigers.com – Official Athletics Site of the Auburn Tigers.