$pace Race

In The High-stakes Game Of Tour-player Endorsements, Acceptable Rates Of Return Hinge On Three Words: Location, Location, Location

- Paul Sullivan

ON 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.