NIL in Collegiate Golf

Looking at the business side of NIL in collegiate golf.

Every Monday, I write a newsletter breaking down the business in golf. Welcome to the 342 new Perfect Putt members who have joined us since last Monday. Join 2,447 intelligent and curious golfers by subscribing below.

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Hey Golfers —

Last week, John Daly and John Daly II signed multi-year partnerships with Hooters.

John Daly’s deal includes:

• Hooters branded apparel

• Hooters branded golf bag

• Appearances

But we are here to discuss John Daly II’s NIL deal with Hooters and take a deeper dive into NIL in collegiate golf.

John Daly II’s NIL deal includes:

• Social media campaigns

• Hooters branded apparel — when applicable

• Appearances

(Photo Credit: Hooters)

Before we get going — let’s have a quick refresher in Name, Image, Likeness (NIL).

In my opinion, no one understands NIL better than Andrew Petcash. I asked him to summarize NIL for us.

NIL is essentially your personal brand value.

Let me give you an example to simplify the concept. 

Tiger Woods earns money from golf in one of three ways:

• Prize money

• Equipment contract

• Endorsement deals

NIL is #3. 

College athletes can’t win prize money or sign a contract with their schools, but they are allowed to sign endorsement deals. 

NIL has been around since the beginning of professional sports; you’re now hearing about it because last July the NCAA approved it for college athletes. 

Types of NIL deals athletes are doing:

• Promoted social media posts

• Making personal appearances

• Running private training sessions

• Signing autographs

However, in men’s football and basketball ‘NIL Collectives’ are being formed to basically pay players a salary — but that’s a topic for another day.

Now moving on to John Daly II and collegiate golf NIL.

John Daly II is a freshman on Arkansas's men’s golf team. He has played in one event this year, shooting rounds of 83-68-78, finishing 49th out of 52 players. He is currently ranked 942 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. While those numbers aren’t stellar, he was a second-team Rolex Junior All-American coming into Arkansas; he can play.

John Daly II has known NIL deals with major brands.

• Nike

• TaylorMade

• Hooters

Here is the interesting thing about NIL deals in collegiate golf. The correlation between athletic performance and NIL compensation isn’t necessarily positive. The correlation between large social media followings and NIL compensation is more positive.

John Daly II has over 100,000 followers on Instagram, allowing him to leverage his social media platforms to drive traffic and add value to brands.

It doesn’t hurt that his dad is John Daly, and they won the PNC Championship in December — resulting in millions of digital media impressions.

Opendorse — a digital platform for connecting student-athletes and brands, has disclosed several data points regarding NIL partnerships.

Football leads the way with 51.1% of the total compensation of NIL deals. Men’s Golf has received 0.3% of the total compensation, and Women’s Golf has received 0.2%. They rank 19th and 21st, respectively.

And this isn’t necessarily a surprise. College golf is a non-revenue generating sport with very little TV coverage.

Here is a breakdown of the top ten sports and men’s & women’s golf for the percentage of NIL compensation.

(Data Credit: Opendorse)

Collegiate golf has two hurdles in the NIL landscape:

• USGA

• F-1 Student Visas

While the USGA relaxed some of its rules around amateur status, they are still prohibitive.

• Can’t work as a club pro

• Can’t accept prize money over $1,000

• Can’t accept money for teaching lessons

Not allowing collegiate golfers to profit from teaching lessons is unique to golf. Collegiate athletes around the country regularly hold camps and teach private lessons as a way to profit from their athletic ability.

College golfers are likely losing thousands of dollars due to the USGA amateur status rules.

The F-1 Student Visa is intended for education, not employment. Essentially making it illegal for international students to receive compensation for NIL partnerships.

Collegiate golf has a high number of international students.

• Division I Women’s Golf — 32%

• Division I Men’s Golf — 19%

About 1/4th of collegiate golfers can’t profit from NIL due to their international status.

Four international collegiate golfers are ranked inside the top ten in the World Amateur Golf Rankings for men.

• Ludvig Aberg

• Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra Coto

• Alex Fitzpatrick

• David Puig Currius

It’s even more for women. Five are ranked inside the top ten in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

• Ingrid Lindblad

• Beatrice Wallin

• Emma Spitz

• Alexandra Forsterling

• Hannah Darling

These athletes cannot sign NIL deals.

There does appear to be some movement in the F-1 Student Visa rules. International basketball star Oscar Tshiebwe announced he could accept NIL money, but it remains unclear.

​​Collegiate golf does have positives in the NIL space. Golfers playing in big-time amateur events like the U.S. Amateur can promote companies rather than being restricted to wearing university-sponsored gear. These events promote digital media impressions and TV time to bring value to brands.

Taking it a step further, amateurs can play in some of professional golf’s major tournaments. During the Masters, we saw three collegiate athletes teeing it up. However, only North Carolina’s Austin Greaser openly confirmed a NIL deal.

Several collegiate golfers have signed NIL Deals.

• Rose Zhang, Stanford — Callaway

• Preston Summerhays, Arizona State — Ping

• Rachel Heck, Stanford — Ping

• Marissa Wenzler, Kentucky — Puttview

• Pierceson Coody, Texas — Rapsodo

(Rose Zhang — Photo Credit: Callaway Golf)

While the monetary details of the NIL partnerships are not disclosed, we could expect some deals ranging from $5,000 - $15,000. A NIL sponsor told me they paid $10,000 for a player to wear their logo during non-school-sponsored events. This player is a top 100 ranked collegiate golfer and has numerous NIL partnerships.

Opendorse has data on the average compensation per athlete to provide some overall context.

• NCAA - Division I — $594

• NCAA - Division II — $53

• NCAA - Division III — $35

Some collegiate golf NIL deals are as little as $10, while some are commission-driven. If a golfer has a large social media following, they can profit from NIL partnerships, regardless of how well they play.

I think NIL is good for collegiate athletics. It will take time for it to play out, and there will be mistakes made, but in the end, I support golfers having the ability to profit off themselves.

Have yourself a great Monday. Talk to you next week!

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