Sportsrisq's December Golf Newsletter

Tour Update: December

Dubai World Championships - 8th - 11th December

The season ending Race to Dubai will determine the final positions for the European Order of Merit in what has been a stellar season for the players on the European Tour. There is still a lot to play for as a shuffle of positions amongst the places in the bonus pool more than likely.

Player	Total 2011 Prize Money	Dubai World Championship Prize Money	Bonus Pool
Luke Donald	€ 3,856,394	€ 922,645	€ 1,500,000
Rory McIlroy	€ 3,066,606	€ 615,094	€ 125,000
Martin Kaymer	€ 2,830,264	€ 359,831	€ 750,000
Charl Schwartzel	€ 2,265,525	€ 276,793	€ 600,000
Lee Westwood	€ 2,004,482	€ 221,434	€ 525,000
Anders Hansen	€ 1,738,892	€ 180,041	€ 450,000
Sergio Garcia	€ 1,580,748	€ 160,540	€ 412,500
Thomas Björn	€ 1,517,392	€ 149,468	€ 375,000
Simon Dyson	€ 1,444,558	€ 138,396	€ 337,500
Darren Clarke	€ 1,379,498	€ 127,325	€ 300,000

Apart from Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy is the only other player with a chance of winning the Race to Dubai. McIlroy will not only have to win the Dubai World Championship but hope that Donald finishes outside of the top 9 as well. A second place finish won’t be enough no matter how Donald plays. After round 1 there is a 26% chance that Luke Donald will relinquish his position at the top of the European Order of Merit.

If Sergio Garcia were to win the Dubai World Championship he could rise as high as 5^th in the Race to Dubai if Westwood finishes worse than 2^nd. There is a 13% chance of this happening.

At the other end of the spectrum on the European Tour a number of players have been battling to keep their card. Sportsrisq would like to congratulate our brand ambassador Gareth Maybin for securing his card on the bubble after shooting a closing round 69 in the UBS Hong Kong Open.

2012 Sponsorship Deals

Shift in Power

All sponsors in golf are looking to generate maximum exposure from their golf sponsorships. Over the last couple of years we have witnessed the form of the Big 5 drift. Woods, Mickelson, Goosen, Els and Singh have dominated most of Major Championship golf over the last decade but between them have only won a single major over the last 3 seasons. Mickelson has fallen out of the top 10 in the OWGR and the others all fell out the top 50 during 2011.

Sportsrisq Sponsorship Index

Rank	Change	Player	Sportsrisq Sponsorship Index
1	-	Rory McIlroy	554
2	-	Tiger Woods	541
3	-	Luke Donald	491
4	-	Martin Kaymer	271
5	-	Webb Simpson	269
6	+1	Dustin Johnson	257
7	-1	Jason Day	253
8	-	Charl Schwartzel	230
9	+3	Sergio Garcia	193
10	-1	Nick Watney	190
11	+2	Adam Scott	181
12	+3	Lee Westwood	174
13	-3	Keegan Bradley	171
14	-3	Phil Mickelson	146
15	-1	Rickie Fowler	141
16	+1	K.J. Choi	133
17	+1	Matt Kuchar	127
18	+1	Justin Rose	117
19	+1	Y.E. Yang	117
20	-4	Tom Lewis	115

Lee Westwood has climbed up the SSI as his commitment to play on the PGA Tour and European Tour next year has given his sponsors a greater global exposure. His minimum requirement to play in at least 12 tournaments in Europe and then spend the rest of his time on the PGA Tour will help UPS, Dunlop, Ping and Audemars Piguet benefit from exposure to a much larger audience.

Tiger Woods’ excellent performance in the Chevron World Challenge has boosted his SSI rating considerably. His performances have also increased the cost of covering his bonuses for next season from 6% to 16%.

Breakthrough Players

This season has seen a number of breakthrough players generate widespread exposure for brands that are new to golf sponsorship or have smaller marketing budgets. This strategy of backing younger players has been highly successful for Jumeirah, Greenway Medical Technologies and Dow to name a few. All of these sponsors have benefitted from sponsorships that were structured at a low cost but have seen their players perform exceptionally this year. The graph below shows the changes in prices for the 3 Breakthrough Major Winners of 2012 and also for Webb Simpson, the highest placed rookie on the PGA Tour Money List for 2011.

Sponsors of ‘Breakthrough Players’ have to be aware that price changes can have major implications on the expected value of the bonus payouts that they are exposed to so it’s important to lock in the lower cost of cover early.

Best Value for 2012?

Another great example of covering at the right time is Rolex who backed Tiger Woods to return to winning ways before the Presidents Cup. They benefitted from structuring the contract whilst his cost of cover was at an all-time low. In October (when the deal was publicised) the rate to cover Tiger Woods’ bonuses for the 2012 Masters was 6%. Currently it would cost 16%. Historically this price has been as high as 60% so insuring at 10% of the historical high was incredibly astute.

Player Focus

Dustin Johnson

With a 3^rd place finish in the US PGA Championship in 2010 and a 2^nd place finish in the British Open in 2011, Dustin Johnson has a record of performing well in big tournaments. A successful knee operation has removed the pain that aggravated him at the end of the 2011 season. This should allow him to start the 2012 season quickly. Despite a couple of average performances at the Masters in recent years his natural right to left ball flight and length off the tee make him a major contender for the first major of the year.

As we look forward to 2012 and the year’s first Major the graph above shows a strong correlation between driving distance and finishing position for the top 80 players at the 2011 Masters. Dustin Johnson, one of the longest on Tour will be hoping that there is also a very strong correlation in 2012.