DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710090695

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SERIES: THE BOOMING BUSINESS OF GOLF

        The Michelob Championship at Kingsmill has a new date, a bigger purse

        and its best-ever field. But the tournament also appears to be the

        benefactor of a tremendous growth spurt in the sport. This week, The

        Virginian-Pilot examines the business of golf.

        TODAY: Golfers as pitchmen

SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 112 lines

PLAYERS CASHING IN FROM HEAD TO TOE

GOLF'S BOOM HAS MADE THEM WALKING BILLBOARDS

It's hard to miss Dudley Hart's golf bag when he and his caddy stroll the fairways.

In a world where more than half the pros' black or blue bags are sponsored by club makers, this one is unique. Just look for the white, teal and black bag - adorned with a big marlin wearing a baseball cap.

Hart, a University of Florida graduate, has a close friend in the front office of the Florida Marlins. ``I'm carrying this bag as a favor,'' Hart said. ``I'm not even getting paid for it.''

Now that's the real surprise. Today's golfers can sell just about anything on just about any part of their clothing or equipment.

Yes, the bag's for sale, but so is the bag strap and the bag bottom.

Players cut endorsement deals for the fronts, sides and backs of their caps, their shirt breasts, their shirt sleeves and their pants pockets, if they're lucky.

What a company pays for a player to wear a patch varies from player to player, and from location to location. And it's a very personal subject.

``I don't ask others what they're getting, and they don't ask me,'' Hart said. ``People know enough about what we're making as players on the course. They can read it in the paper. They don't need to know everything.''

When you're talking about a name player, however, the price tag is steep.

``The shirt breast for a top-10 player can go for somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million,'' said Alissa Herron, a player agent with Signature Sports Group, which handles Tom Lehman and about 25 other pros. ``Golf is the No. 1 growing sport right now, and it's very saleable. It's no different from NASCAR. Look at the car drivers and how many logos they have on their cars.''

Hart says the American golf scene is, in fact, behind the times when compared with the Europeans.

``Across the water, they have patches everywhere,'' he said. ``Almost every player has sold both shirt breasts.''

With Tiger Woods pushing the envelope with his multimillion dollar deals with Nike, American Express and Rolex, the endorsement business just keeps getting bigger.

But wearing a patch isn't the full extent of most deals.

Kirk Triplett, who wears a tennis-style cap with ``Ernst & Young'' on it, makes ``four or five corporate outings a year'' as part of his deal.

``I end up going to regional meetings where 15 to 20 guys are gathered,'' Triplett said. ``It's not too bad when it's that size. That way, I get to play four or five holes with each group of players.''

While many of the deals involve participating in corporate golf outings, sometimes players are asked to be motivational speakers. Lehman, who won the 1996 British Open and was last season's PGA Tour player of the year, is a popular speaker, mostly because he took such a round-about path to the top. He'd played on a number of mini-tours and small foreign tours before hitting it big on the PGA Tour.

``He's the workingman's workingman,'' Herron said. ``And people like hearing his story.''

Lehman has a lucrative deal with Dockers, which matches well with his blue-collar image.

That, Herron said, is very important.

``Tommy Hilfiger has signed David Duval, Tommy Tolles and Brett Quigley because they are young and hip,'' Herron said. ``You want your clothes to fit the player.

``We also handle Larry Mize, and he's got a good body for clothes. He's lean and of a good height. Clothes look good on him, and Munsingwear knows that.''

Having a certain uniqueness doesn't hurt, either. When Jesper Parnevik turned up the bill of his baseball cap years ago to work on his tan, he had no idea what a marketing ploy he was creating.

Now, SAP America, which bought the underside of Parnevik's hat this season, is a most recognizable sponsor because Parnevik gets a lot of television air time.

``Jesper's almost always a top finisher, and he's a European Ryder Cup player,'' said Bill Richardson of International Management Group, which handles Woods, Parnevik and over 100 other pros. ``SAP America has benefited greatly from this deal.''

Sure, the television exposure is important, but it's only part of it.

``We value the on-site exposure as well,'' Herron said. ``A tournament like the Phoenix Open draws 100,000 people a day. It all expands your brand awareness.''

While players may not know the extent of the endorsement world when arriving on tour, they find out very quickly that it pays to wear a hat, anybody's hat, out here.

``The players who don't wear hats are very few,'' said Steve Lowery, who plays today at the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill. ``Phil Mickelson doesn't wear one, and I guess you could say that's because he's selling Phil Mickelson. But if the hat wasn't a big selling tool, I'd say maybe only 50 percent of the players would wear hats on an average day. As it is, it's part of the uniform and part of the deal.''

As for bags, Hart has a backup bag he'll pull out soon. Now that hockey season is under way, Hart's almost ready to switch back to his Florida Panthers bag. Again, he has a friend in the Panthers' front office and did it as a favor.

The favors, however, have proven to him just how much the public pays attention to this subtle form of advertising.

``I hear a lot about these bags,'' Hart said. ``It's taught me just how valuable uniqueness can be.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

David Duval...

Photo

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Golfer Russ Cochran advertises a vitamin company on his bag.

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