But despair not. According to Golf Digest, Woods made $62-million off the course in endorsement deals last year, that despite still reeling from a high-profile sex scandal that led several companies to drop their connection to the golfer in 2010.
What the article demonstrates is a truism in golf – the money being made by grinding out putts during a PGA Tour tournament is often widely eclipsed by the cash that can be earned through endorsements, sponsorships, corporate outings and other efforts away from the course.
"It all comes down to the player and what he is willing to do," says Danny Fritz, vice-president and co-managing director of sports marketing giant IMG in Canada. Fritz represents Mike Weir, who has regularly made Golf Digest's list in the past, largely through endorsement deals with the likes of TaylorMade, Bell Canada and Audi. In 2008, the magazine pegged Weir's off-course earnings of $4.6-million. Fritz notes that each deal with a sponsor comes with its own unique set of criteria – including appearance days a golfer sets aside to tape commercials for the sponsor through to the placement of the company's logo. Each element has a value attached to it, from the having the brand logo on the yoke of a shirt through to the player spending a day in Toronto playing golf with clients.
"It is about utilizing the player's personality to fit the client's needs," says Fritz. "And if it is done well, it goes beyond just simple branding."
Why do golfers have such broad endorsement and sponsorship appeal? One of the reasons is that unlike many other sports, golfers aren't fixed to a specific geography. For example, a center for the Toronto Maple Leafs won't likely have much appeal outside of Ontario, and in fact might be disliked by those in Montreal, Vancouver or Calgary. Similarly a star for the Yankees might occasionally have broad appeal – take Derek Jeter, for example – but a vast majority will appeal only to those in their immediate area. Only a few megastars in each sport manage to eclipse this regional fandom and become attractive to a corporate audience.
Since golf has no limitation on the number of endorsements a player can undertake, some players have ended up as the sport's version of NASCAR – covered head to toe in a variety of logos.
Golfers, on the other hand, aren't linked to a specific city. The appeal of Woods, for example, is based on his exposure and success at the game, making him as engaging to a spectator in Alberta as he is to someone in Florida, where he resides.
But beyond that, golfers also appeal to corporate entities because they can utilize the players in a variety of ways, from television advertising campaigns through to outings with key clients. A company's chief executive may not be able to spend time on the diamond with Albert Pujols, but he can tee it up with Phil Mickelson or Arnold Palmer. It is this connection that has helped golf carve a deep connection with the corporate world.
Few know this better than Steve Marshman, managing director of Catalyst Sponsorship Consulting. Marshman, a former executive with Bell Canada, left the telecom giant in 2005 to start Catalyst, which helps manage sports sponsorship relationships for RBC, including the bank's two PGA Tour events, the Canadian Open and the Heritage, as well as multiple endorsement deals with the likes of Weir, World No. 1 golfer Luke Donald and Matt Kuchar. Most of those arrangements come due this year, and with sources saying the bank spending around $20-million on its golf marketing strategy annually, finding the right fit for the right price is an integral part of the plan.
"There were some really significant corrections in the market after the slowdown in 2008," Marshman says, noting it wasn't uncommon for players to command up to $200,000 or more for a single corporate outing, something that declined in recent years. That said, a solid PGA Tour pro can still make upwards of $2-million each year from a variety of corporate deals, starting with agreements on what ball and clubs they play through to the clothes they will wear. However, it isn't quite as easy as it once was, Marshman explains.
"The manufacturers and corporations investing in players are being a lot more selective about who they are backing and how those deals are structured," he says. "They are being very prudent lately."
Still, all sponsorship deals should start with equipment, says Fritz, who calls these deals "endemic" to the game.
"You want to have those nailed down before you go out to the market looking for other deals," he says. "It is the basis from where you start."
Since golf has no limitation on the number of endorsements a player can undertake, some players have ended up as the sport's version of NASCAR – covered head to toe in a variety of logos. In the past that has meant some players – troubled former British Open winner John Daly comes to mind – have seen their shirts and golf bags enveloped by logos.
There's a good reason for that – dollars. Almost every part of a golfer's shirt, bag and hat has a price tag that varies depending on how much exposure it could receive from fans watching on television. That includes up to $1-million for a main spot on a star's golf bag, and payment for space on a the chest of the shirt (times two in some instances), the collar, the sleeve and the yoke, as well as multiple locations on a golfer's hat. Ever wonder why tour pros turn their sunglasses around to the back of their heads as opposed to simply flipping them up as would be typical? That's because they don't want the sunglasses to block the name of their main sponsor on their hat.
Some players undertake to capitalize on as many sponsors as they can. Camilo Villegas, the young Columbian star, has a coffee grower on one side of his chest, and another sponsor, CVS Caremark on the other, while MasterCard has its logo on his collar and SPDR Exchange Traded Funds on his sleeve. But it doesn't stop there – equipment sponsor TaylorMade takes the main portion of his hat. One estimate pegs Villegas as having earned $5-million off the course, compared to $1.8-million playing golf in 2011, but other estimates suggest that is low, and the golfer might make another $4-million in sponsorships.
However, many players chose to limit their sponsors. After all, each sponsor will expect a commitment of time from the player, and those PGA Tour stars tipping it up 25 weeks a year still need to find time to practice. Some commitments can be up to eight days a year, which adds up if there are several sponsors making similar demands.
Almost every part of a golfer's shirt, bag and hat has a price tag that varies depending on how much exposure it could receive from fans watching on television.
"I think we're seeing more head-to-toe deals these days," says Fritz, pointing to companies like Nike, which ink clothing and club deals with their pros, or a golfer like Steve Stricker, who has a deal to wear Footjoy clothing and play Titleist clubs (though he still has other deals, including the New York Stock Exchange.)
The result is while many sports fans look at tournament standings and see what a golfer made because of his finish, the player may have made more for what they were wearing and the clubs they used.
All of this complicates things for the likes of Marshman and RBC, whose deal with Donald ends this year. When the bank signed the golfer, he was ranked 29 in the world. He's now been No. 1 longer than anyone in recent memory whose name isn't Tiger. His ranking – and the amount of time he spends in front of the cameras each week as one of the game's top players – has driven up his price steeply.
But it isn't just the stars making the big endorsement bucks, Marshman concludes.
"Guys most people have never heard of are making an awful lot of money away from the course," Marshman says. "Players way down the official world golf rankings list have with low profile careers, are often rich beyond belief and odds they are not household names."