Augusta National Puts Foot Down as Jason Day Plans to Violate Tradition Yet Again: ‘Their House, Their Rules’

The pants and polos have been the trademark dress code for the sport for many years. Ask why? You will probably end up not finding anything substantial. Yet, there are few who has ever broken free from it. One of the biggest names that comes to mind is John Daly. He was as eccentric as one can get during the 90s earning him the name “Wild Thing”. No denying, his unique fashion sense is one of the reasons of his cult status in golf. A few years later, Rickie Fowler joined the scene.

Apart from his amazing fashion sense, Fowler also had his trademark orange outfit on Sundays that made him stand out on the course. Meanwhile, another player has caught a lot of attention recently for his style statements on the course. Jason Day, whose attires have been so unconventional at times that event officials have denied him permission to wear them. His boldest outfit was seen in the 2024 Masters Tournament, where he wore a ‘Malbon Golf Championship’ vest. In the end, the tournament official asked him to change the outfit as it was not suitable for Augusta National. Interestingly, earlier this month, Day had hinted that for this year also they have something tricky.

In an interview with the Beyond the Clubhouse podcast, Day was asked if he intended to play safer this year. And what he revealed proved that he was in no mood for that. “So we have to get clearance on the scripting this year. To Malbon’s credit, they’ve got some bold stuff, but I’m not sure if it’ll pass,” Day had said. “So we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully [Augusta National] will say yes, if not then we’ll be going back to the drawing board and trying to come up with something different.” However, Day did not reveal the specifics on that interaction. That was made available by Malbon Co-Founder, Stephen Malbon, in a March 22 interview.

Malbon joined J.R. Smith for an interview on the Par 3 Podcast and brought up how Day’s 2024 outfit was the talk of the town. That’s when Malbon revealed how he was collaborating with Futura 2000, a famous contemporary artist. One of Futura’s oil paintings is being used to design some of the latest Malbon products.

He showed it to Day and the PGA Tour pro loved the work. Malbon mentioned how “I had him on Thursday in a head-to-toe oil painting (attire). The entire thing is green and this beautiful painting.” The co-founder then asked him, “You’re okay to wear this?” to which Day replied, “Yeah. You just got to own it.” Malbon got excited with his response, but, interestingly, he also revealed the reaction of the Masters Tournament officials to the permission Day had asked for, and it was what exactly Day had feared.

The Malbon co-founder stated that the officials said “he could wear the pants or the top but he couldn’t wear the top and the pants,” for The Masters. Malbon seemed a bit frustrated about how vague the rules for the tournament are. He said the outfits are only acceptable when they are “deemed appropriate by the tournament committee. So it’s like, it’s their house, their rules. We had to water it down a little bit but he’s going to get some looks off for sure.”

Malbon also revealed that they had a shoot with Day with the outfits. Since the 13x PGA Tour winner’s outfits always catch media attention, they want to build up anticipation for the reveal for a few more days. Apart from Jason Day, Malbon has business deals with Charley Hull, Jesper Parnevik, and other pro golfers. Hull has promoted outfits like a long-sleeve gray t-shirt paired with a red skirt, and a black ensemble paired with white shoes and black socks – Malbon’s streetwear-inspired aesthetic. Day’s attire has indeed created a chatter ahead of the season’s first major, but how much ripple is his performance on the green creating?

Jason Day making a strong statement in the year so far

Jason Day has been in sublime form in 2025. He has participated in six tournaments so far and made the cut in all of them. Three of those events have seen Day finish in the top 25, two of which are within the top 10 on the leaderboard. Day’s best run came at the American Express 2025, where he finished at T3 with a 22-under 266.

Top Comment by Don

He is just marketing something to a minority group . The masters has a dress code & should enforce it...more

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Debate

Even in Signature events with strong fields, Jason Day has performed extremely well. At the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the 37-year-old ended at T13. But the Arnold Palmer Invitational was where he got his other top-10 finish, ending at T8 with a 5-under 283. There is no question that Australian has been in fine form and can carry his style with substance.

“It’s nice to be able to come out, get under par early, so you’re not really thinking about the cut line,” Day told the media at the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational. “No one wants to come here and miss a cut. That’s just, we’re all trying to play our best and to give myself like a good buffer after the eagle on 6, that was, I could not think about the cut line anymore and just start focusing on playing some really good shots.” With all that the plot thickens for the Masters. We keep our fingers crossed for some serious action from Day, both performance-wise and fashion-wise.