The most valuable sponsorship deal relating to banking and payments in golf in the current season is Wells Fargo sponsoring of a PGA event, The Wells Fargo Championship
However, that time is now at an end, with Wells Fargo announcing that it will cease sponsoring the event from 2025, bringing an end to the $10m a year deal.
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In terms of the overall volume of sponsorship deals, golf ranks as the sixth highest sport worldwide, behind football, baseball, ice hockey, motor racing and basketball.
The sponsorship deal with the second highest value was Rocket Mortgage’s extension of its partnership with the Detroit Open, with the tournament being known as the Rocket Mortgages Classic. The partnership has a value of $48m, which is spread out over six years.
American Express also made a splash by extending the deal for the naming rights of the Desert Classic, a deal worth $42m over 6 years. Amex, one of the brands that is no stranger to sporting deals, also extended its sponsorship of the United States Golf Association for 2024.
Scheffler’s dominance comes at a good time for sponsors
Several high-profile stars signed sponsorship deals. Santander snapped John Rahm as its landmark sponsor, with the Spaniard sporting the bank’s logo on his apparel.
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By GlobalDataVeritex Community Bank extended its sponsorship of Scottie Scheffler for the 2024 season. This is a sponsorship deal that has been timed well, given the tremendous form of Scheffler that sees him top of the world rankings and recently winning his second Masters Championship.
Two-time major winner Colin Morikawa continues his multi-year sponsorship by US Bank that began in 2021.
Over on the Women’s Tour, Brooke Henderson is a popular sponsorship choice within the industry, having extended partnerships with Royal Bank of Canada / Banque Royale du Canada and Mastercard for the 2024 season.
RBC is also one of the many companies spending big for the naming rights of tournaments. RBC extending its deal for another year for sponsorship of two events in 2024, in a deal worth £25m.
Mastercard and HSBC still big contributors
When reporting on golfing partnerships on Retail Banker International in 2019, Mastercard and HSBC were the big hitters in terms of sponsorships, with that still being the case.
HSBC continues its five-year sponsorship extension with the R&A, adding Women’s Open rights to its status as an official patron of The Open. This deal is worth $30m over the five years and concludes in 2027.
Mastercard extended some of its key deals across the sport, most notably The Open Championship for 2024. It also renewed its partnership with the PGA Tour and Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Citi extended sponsorship of the PGA Tour for 2024 in a deal valued at $17.5m, while BB&T is to sponsor the Wyndham Championship through 2026. SoFi extends its sponsorship of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am for 2024.
Standard Chartered partnered with the DP World Tour in a multi-year deal. The company has been designated as both an associate partner and an official banking partner.
While many of these sponsorship are run-of-the-mill naming rights, some hold the potential to have a greater impact on the sport as a whole. For example, USGA secured sponsorship from Ally Financially, in doing so the prize money of the Women’s Open was boosted to $12m. Ally has the goal of equalling the spend between Men and Women’s golf and also became a founding partner of the US National Development Programme. Additionally, Ally sponsored Lilia Vu, who at the time was number one in the world rankings.
No conversation around golf is complete without mention of the LIV Tour, with Corpay signing a multiyear partnership with the breakaway league.
