20 Years After an Open, A Coach Tees Up Again

By Larry Dorman

An Appealing Pitch

Although this will be something of a home game for the Seattle-born Fred Couples in the Senior Open, there is nothing regional about Couples's appeal as a pitchman. The makers of Ecco shoes have found out that Couples appeals to shoe buyers of all ages and will be using this week's Open to build on the success they had with him wearing their "Golf Street" sneakers at the Masters.

Before the Masters, the company had forecast selling 2,000 pairs of the style for the entirety of 2010. The company increased production of the shoes afterward and said it would deliver close to 100,000 pairs this year in the United States and also that it had increased its international projections by "tens of thousands of pairs."