Edwin Watts Golf Shops LLC, which sells golf merchandise in 90 U.S. stores and online, is broke and searching for a buyer.
The company filed for bankruptcy protection last week, blaming its financial distress on what Reuters described as “increased competition and waning enthusiasm for the sport.” Sun Capital Partners, the private equity firm that acquired the chain from another private equity firm in 2007, hopes to sell it before the end of the year.
Edwin Watts, the Florida golf pro who founded the company in 1968, is said to be among the prospective buyers. “I think the company is going to survive,” he told the Northwestern Florida Daily News, “and we hope to potentially figure out a way to get it back.”
Edwin Watts calls itself “the most trusted retailer in the industry.”
