Sun Mountain CEO Exonerates The Captainness In Rain SuitGate

E. Michael Johnson with the exclusive interview of Rick Reimers.

GW: So the media-bashing of Lisa Pavin is off-base?

RR: Absolutely. That is a totally misplaced affair. We knew there was going to be a challenge with the large appliqués and embroidery, but we dealt with that appropriately. We wouldn't have let the suits out the door if we didn't feel we did that.

GW: How long ago did work begin on these outfits?

RR: About three months ago. We did about 20 different designs and prototypes that we showed to Lisa Pavin.

GW: Were there any red flags at all in the process?

RR: We thought the design and the amount of embroidery might make the garment a little heavier and stiffer. We weren't originally happy with that element of the design because the suit is a stretch garment and that takes some of that away from it. But there were no concerns about water getting in. I may have underestimated the kind of rain they would get over there, but I've used the garment in heavy rain fishing in a boat for four hours and had no problems.

GW: There was some talk the players were concerned about the suits during the practice rounds.

RR: Not at all. We had Ann Hughes from our company there nonstop, and she was in communication with Lisa Pavin, and we saw players wearing the suits in the rain and did not hear of any problems, which says to me that in normal rainy conditions the garments performed just fine. But the monsoon-like wind with lots of wind Friday was not normal conditions.

Comments

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

It was normal for Wales in October...Where is the Captainess? Is she OK? One more Brand Lady faces the absolutism of reality, which can be ugly.

[jeff]

I can't help but wonder if it was about the rainsuits, or about certain petulant players asserting their power and influence. I noticed Corey and some of the vice-captains wearing their Sun Mtn jackets through the weekend, and Tiger and a couple of others wearing their beige merch-tent wear. My sense is Tiger found an issue to seize upon and ran with it. During the early coverage he was the first player to doff his team jacket. So much angst over rain suits. 2 wins in the past 8 Ryder Cups. Pure coincidence I am sure.

[Aesop and Son]

Tool is as tool does. She's a moron.

[Mulligan]

The catty comments that blamed Ms Pavin are not hard to understand. Some (those who see themselves as golf insiders) see her as a golf outsider. Some were envious of her responsibilities. Some used her to attack Cory. Some had little else to write about. Especially as the team was getting trounced. Europe beat America and it was partly due to their getting an advantage. In other words, we beat the USA at their own game. So who better to blame...the wife.

[thusgone]

wow, mulligan. you really hate the us, huh?

[Mulligan]

"wow, mulligan. you really hate the us, huh? "
Just because I wanted Europe to win? In your mind, do all people who like baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet love the USA, too?

What a leap...

[Old Hornet]

Spoken like a true defender of the Sisterhood Mulligan, and totally misplaced. It's clear that Reimers went well beyond normal business practices (20 protoypes) in his attempt to satisfy Lisa. In the end he most likely got tired of the exercise, relented and went against his better judgement: "We weren't originally happy with the element of the design because the suit is a stretch garment and that takes some of that away from it". I'll bet the Sun Mountain design staff, well out of earshot, are saying I told you so !

Any engineer that places style ahead of performance is doomed. It's not the fact that she's "a golf outsider" as you say Mulligan. The fact is, she refused to take advice from the experts that manufacture outerwear.

[digsouth]

I think what needs to be said, is, your real gloating is much more effective, if you pick your battles, Mulligan.

Congrats to the Euros, btw.

[thusgone]

my leap is based on several of your comments in different threads where you take a topic related to the rc matches and then make a general and unfavorable comment about the us, similar to gallacher's "typical american gamesmanship." it leads me to conclude that you are not only a euro supporter when it comes to the rc matches, but that you also hate the us generally (baseball and chevrolet notwithstanding).

it's perfectly acceptable to hate the us, i suppose, but that bias necessarily limits the persuasive effect of your criticisms, especially when they are generalizations about the us as a whole.

[Mulligan]

As far as my picking battles, you will find most of my disparaging comments will mostly apply where they belong...at the bias, dishonest sucking-up golf media. With the odd crack at Woods.

"...especially when they are generalizations about the us as a whole."

You have my comments mixed up with Bernard's. Was it deliberate? I think so,

While I have stuck strictly to golf to this point, I am not afraid to say that I don't like Lady Gaga either. And I drive a Honda. But comments of support of Euro, the car I drive or the stating about my taste in music here do not qualify you to comment about my views of America in general Which are favorable. Sorry. (What kinda car do you drive"?)

"...most likely..."

As far as Sun Mountain, I choose to take them at their word.

[steve elling]

What the hell? "Waterproof" is a relative term?

Like a condom, it only works sometimes?

[digsouth]

I think you may have a point , Jeff.


As to the rainsuits, they are ugly beyond belief. I wouldnt blame any player for not wanting to wear them, and using any excuse to shed it from his wardrobe.

[Used to be Former S&T convert]

Sun Mountain is smart to high road regardless of who is to blame. I suggested before that they use this publicity to introduce a new line of gear marketed as "now works in Wales."

[thusgone]

@mulligan: if you say so.

"What about Cink having to replace his cleats? Or the horrible American head covers?
Anything to help forget that the Americans are getting handed their lunch."

"Next, yanks will be posting that the Ryder Cup is meaningless, it does not matter. Such bad losers, brought up in the era of that now big-time poor loser, Tiger Woods."

"Monty will go down as the greatest Ryder Cupper ever. Meanwhile, we get reruns of the raging, oafish Oglilvey because that is all the American media has."

"Meanwhile, Americans have turned on their own - Pavin."

"Oaf Overton is not fist-pumping right now."

"Americans have been desperate to find a way to deflect the obvious, the Europeans are good and equal to the task."

"Is the American solution to defeat really changing the venue for weather or changing the format? Really? Suck it up, yanks."

[Mulligan]

That wasn't me.

[tlavin]

Who gives a #$@#

The Euros won fair and square, just barely, but they won. The win won't change one person's life, unless you believe that Colin Montgomery will finally act like a normal human being. As for the rainsuits, of course it's the manufacturer's fault. Gimme a break. If her insistence on a certain kind of lettering rendered the suits less impervious to rain, it's the manufacturer's fault, as it rightly admitted.

Can't we move on to the Sea Island and Mickey Mouse events or whatever backwater European burgh the Euros are headed to???

[peachtree]

You musy be thankful that Cink choked away his match to MCilroy and thus only gained half a point, which resulted in the US losing the Ryder Cup to Europe eh? Consider that you would not have had too much to complain or lambaste the US golfers. Your day would have been wasted!

[Del the Funk]

thusgone, nice work!

[Mulligan]

"Consider that you would not have had too much to complain..."

Actually, your sportswriters were the complainers. Dampness, someone's wife scoreboards, course set-up, and on and on. Like the same wouldn't be done in the USA. That is what so many of us were laughing at. I would love to watch the media melt down if Johnny could somehow land the job in 2 years.

And I don't agree with your dismissing of Cink as a choke either.

[Aunt Blabbie]

That's right, Steve. One little prick is all it takes.

[Patchy]

"We knew there was going to be a challenge with the large appliqués and embroidery, but we dealt with that appropriately"

Er, how, exactly?

[fatgoalie]

Patchy,
Simple really,
"I'm tired of her bitching, just do it, I hope those fu&^ers drown!"

That's what I imagine happened