A Fun Game… If You Could Be The Agent Of Any 5 Of The Top 150 Golfers, Who Would They Be?

I often think… “man, serving as an agent to a few of the guys out on the PGA Tour must be a sweet life.” Negotiate some contracts, arrange some cool endorsement deals, travel to the best courses, and perhaps arrange for a cab ride home after a client has a late night performing “ Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”

The real fun starts when you ask yourself… if I could represent 5 of the top 150 players in the world, who would it be? Now, forget about Tiger or Phil… in fact, assume that the top 5 players aren’t eligible for your selection; it makes the selection process much more interesting.

A starting point in the selection process should be a review of the Golf Digest 50. Obviously you want golfers that can play, but let’s face it… players that have a little personality generally make more money off the course than they do from tournament earnings. In fact, I would go as far as saying that there is some sort of problem if a golfer’s on-course earnings exceed their off-course earnings.

Scrolling down the Golf Digest 50 the first time a player’s on-course revenues exceed their off-course revenues occurs with KJ Choi ($5.8 mill on-course versus $3.7 mill off-course). Still, not a bad off-course number. The next occurrence of off-course revenues being less than on-course revenues occurs with Rory Sabbatini ($6.3 mill on-course versus $2.85 off-course). Rory’s discrepancy is worse than KJ’s, but is nothing compared Steve Stricker ($7.6 mill on-course versus $1.5 mill off-course). Heck, I would be honored to represent any of these guys; but they did not make my top 5 wish list.

The lazy man would simply pick good golfers that already have a high off-course income stream. Not me. I would actually want to make a difference. How great would it be to say to a golfer… “look, I increased your off-course revenues by $1.5 million this past year, heck… you would have to win the Masters to increase your on-course revenues by that much.”

So, who is on my dream team? ….drum roll please…

Number 5: Mr. Mark Calcavecchia. Calc… with the career that you have had, your off-course income ($1.6 mill) is an embarrassment. Aren’t you worth at least ½ as much as Couples? I think so.

Number 4: Mr. Geoff Ogilvy. Geoff, no offense, but you are way too good of a golfer to have off-course income that is less than 46% of your on-course revenue! Heck, John Daly only earned 11% of what you did on the course; yet big John earned almost 5 times what you did off the course. Heck, a flashy belt-buckle and a little attitude should get you at least another $500k in annual off-course income.

Number 3: Mr. Woody Austin. Come on Woody, your off-course revenues are only 53% of your on-course earnings! Pathetic. Now, you may have to be open to some “nontraditional” endorsement deals, but that number should be much higher. Heck, Trevor Immelman had $4 mill in off-course earnings and I wouldn’t recognize him if he were right in front of me.

Number 2: Mr. Fred Funk. This guy is a great golfer with a great personality, and is playing on two tours. There is no reason that he is not on the Golf Digest 50. Freddy, give me a call.

Number 1: Mr. Boo Weekley. What can I say about Boo? He should be an endorsement powerhouse! In addition to all the standard golf equipment endorsements, Boo needs endorsement deals with a truck manufacturer, a chewing tobacco company, an ATV’s maker, a gun maker, a bullet company, a work boot / hiking boot company, a deal with NASCAR, a fried chicken franchise, and lastly… Boo needs his own line of BBQ sauces (and the name of the sauces… BooBQ, of course)!

Who is in your top 5 dream team?

David Dawsey  – The IP Golf Guy