34 GOLF.COM / S e p t ember 2019
Clubhouse Money Game with Paul Sullivan$pace
Race
IN THE HIGH-STAKES
GAME OF TOUR-PLAYER
ENDORSEMENTS,
ACCEPTABLE RATES
OF RETURN HINGE ON
THREE WORDS:
LOCATION, LOCATION,
LOCATION
O
PAUL SULLIVAN IS A LONG-TIME BUSINESS COLUMNIST FOR
THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE AUTHOR OF CLUTCH: WHY SOME
PEOPLE EXCEL UNDER PRESSURE AND OTHERS DON’TTour players like Creamer, Rose, Woods and Stenson not longer just putt for dough—they strut for dough.N THE FINAL DAY at the
Wells Fargo Championship,
Justin Rose was in the hunt
at Quail Hollow. Playing in
one of the last groups, the television
cameras tracked every swing, but
it also caught plenty of shots of his
sponsor logos—on his hat, on his lapel
and shirt, on his bag.
His 3-under final round wasn’t
enough to overtake the champion
Max Homa. But for one of his lead
sponsors, his third-place finish was as good as a win.
For the entire Sunday broadcast, the “Morgan Stanley” printed across Rose’s
hat got the financial services firm more coverage than its rival Wells Fargo,
which shelled out a lot more money to be the event’s title sponsor.
“I quite enjoyed that,” said Mandell Crawley, head of private wealth
management at Morgan Stanley, who championed the deal to sponsor Rose.
Such exposure is like the tagline from MasterCard, whose logo is stitched into
Rose’s lapel: priceless. Except in this case, Rose’s hat goes for $5 million a year.
Sponsorships are big money for top professionals, and necessary income
for less-well-known players. But for businesses, they’re investments that come
with all sorts of expectations in return.
Fly around the world for a client tournament? Audemars Piguet asks that of
top European golfers like Henrik Stenson, Tyrrell Hatton and Andrew “Beef ”
Johnston. Be a cheery and positive dinner speaker to clients right after a grueling
round at TPC Sawgrass, win or lose? That’s Rose’s job at the end of The Players
Championship, which Morgan Stanley sponsors. Fix Charles Barkley’s swing?
CDW, which adorns Paula Creamer’s hat, asked her to try that in an ad, but
even a major champion can only do so much.
In the world of sponsorships, there’s give and take, just as there is in golf and
business. “Money Game,” my new, monthly column, is going to look at this
intersection between golf and all things financial, from business sponsorships
and on-course networking to how players like you spend their golf money.
While the relationship between golf and money—like
first tee shots and mulligans—can be complicated, it’s
more positive than not.
The top professional golfers are financially in a league
of their own. They can command millions for prime place-
ment and hundreds of thousands of dollars for a small logo
and an agreement to attend a couple of client golf events.
They can opt for what’s known as the “clean look,” a single
sponsor like Nike or Under Armour to buy all the space on
their body and bag. Or they can collect logos like trophies.
“Some players don’t mind looking like a NASCAR
driver,” said Jay Burton, who oversees the LPGA client
management for IMG globally.
Paula Creamer, who IMG represents, has been with the
same core sponsors for most of her career: TaylorMade,
CDW and Mutual of Omaha. Off the course, Creamer
agrees to do ads and events.
“I’ll do corporate days, clinics, go out to the golf course
for 18 holes,” she said before the LPGA Marathon Classic.