The week every golf fan looks forward to is upon us, as the Masters Tournament begins at the iconic Augusta National Golf Club with practice rounds beginning on Monday.
It’s not only the first major tournament of the PGA Tour schedule every year, but from a business perspective, the Masters acts as a massive hub for new deals, networking and much more for the golf industry.
In short, think of the Masters as the Super Bowl of golf.
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But the traditional business behind golf, especially the marketing side of the industry, has completely changed the sport. It requires a new playbook, as the nine-figure tour and player sponsorships just to get visibility on brands has become a thing of the past.
WME Sports, which represents some of the best athletes, coaches, broadcasters, executives and more across all sports, has been leading the charge on that altered playbook, and this week is critical in doing so with golf above all else in the industry.
WME Sports golf agents Sean Guerrero and Jordan Lewites gave an inside look at Masters week within the industry during an interview with FOX Business, where they shared insight and their own excitement for what this week means for them and their clients.
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“Masters week within the golf industry is interesting,” Guerrero, who has been in the golf business for well over a decade, explained. “Obviously, it’s the most magical week of the year, and all of us getting into the golf industry have had so many different memories along our journey. As you enter the golf industry, you find it’s a unique opportunity where all of the decision makers are in one concentrated area, and everybody’s obsessed with golf. They want to grow how they show up in the sport in new, creative ways.
“While in the industry, we’re excited for the glitz and glam of the Masters, we’re also excited that we all get to gather together to meet, catch up, and really network across the industry to provide new ways, at least from our perspective, to create how these companies show up in the sport we love.”
Lewites, who works with PGA Tour star Jordan Spieth, golf influencer Paige Spiranac and many more, echoed Guerrero’s sentiment, as he believes the Masters allows access to every sector of the industry.
“We’re so lucky in the golf industry, especially us that work around the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour and any professional golf tours, there’s one event per week that is the focus. Specifically, there’s four weeks a year – I’ll even throw The Players in there. There’s five times a year where it becomes an industry conference for us,” he said. “… We can see everyone from the brand side, the media side, the talent side, and the event side of the business. The governing bodies, everybody’s there. And the Masters is our kick-off to start having latter half of ’26 and ’27 discussions for new deal flow, pipeline and see what folks have planned. It’s everybody’s big launch. Domestically, half the country is going to start playing golf for weather changing. So, it’s the biggest week for the golf industry and kinda kicks off the year.”
The Masters is built on tradition, and it’s why so many, from the casual fan to the golf superfan, tune in to watch every April. But golf has seen a tremendous shift in how brands can get involved in the sport, and agents like Guerrero and Lewites are helping those brands make an impact they didn’t think was possible in the past.
While meetings “under the tree” by the clubhouse still occur, as Lewites mentioned considering the technology ban at Augusta National, brand activations, dinners, conferences and much more occur in town all week long. Whether it’s stepping into a brand’s hospitality house to check out new gear and interact with their visionaries, or meeting PGA Tour legends during a dinner after watching some golf, or even playing at courses around the area, this is where agencies like WME Sports thrive in building connections and bridging gaps for their clients to enter the golf space.
“I think it’s like 500-plus corporate houses that we have through (WME’s sister company) On Location, and a lot of our golf consulting clients use On Location as well for their corporate housing meetings. Whereas we used to do it ourselves, we have an amazing sister company to do that with. It’s become very structured and very detailed-oriented,” Lewites detailed.
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“There are hosted dinners every single night that we are providing talent to on most cases. Cameron McCormick, Jordan’s coach, Sean Foley is booked every single night at the Masters, doing speaking engagements sometimes as intimate as six people.
“We’re seeing a lot of inbound finally across the board from companies that realize the Masters is truly the ultimate hospitality opportunity.”
A prime example of the type of opportunities WME Sports is creating for their clients is what Guerrero did with a great Masters tradition – John Daly’s “home” for the week.
While he hasn’t played in the Masters in years, Daly, a fan-favorite in the golf world, would stay in an RV, specifically at a Hooters restaurant in town, where he would interact with fans with autograph signings and picture taking. But his usual set-up was scrapped, as that Hooters location was torn down before this year’s tournament.
Enter Guerrero, who helped Daly’s team get connected with Topgolf, the high-tech driving range and lounge company, who wanted some more eyes and attention on their Augusta location.
“They re-homed him on Thursday and Friday out there. Keeping that tradition alive,” Guerrero said. “We can be a resource for these brands in so many different ways.”
Guerrero called “Creative and change” the optimal words to describe what is happening in the golf space today. Whether it’s data and technology companies like CapTech helping the governing bodies in golf with their statistics and analytics, or smaller, cult-favorite brands like Swag Golf find that corporate avenue, WME Sports uses events like the Masters to get the ball rolling, or keep it rolling, in the right direction to make impacts they might not have thought possible.
In fact, Swag Golf created a partnership with Bryson DeChambeau, the two-time U.S. Open champion who has also embraced the creator space in golf, which is something WME Sports has helped pioneer, especially with its work alongside Good Good Golf.
“We started working with Swag when they were doing a couple million bucks in revenue,” Lewites said. “We knew they were on pace to do $50 million in shared revenue, and we’d help build their entire licensing program, so all of their head covers that you see that are everything from WWE, MLB, NBA, NFL – they have partnerships with all of them. They have an amazing partnership with DICK’S. They’re in every DICK’s and Golf Galaxy location with their hometown heroes collection, and their collegiate licensing program we put together for them. Again, here’s a small golf company now that showed how brands can activate and how that’s changed.”
Guerrero added: “Golf is unlike any other sport. If you’re a fan of golf, you play it and you consume it’s products. I’m a big baseball guy, I’m a big football guy. I’m not playing baseball on the weekends. It’s such a unique lifestyle sport, where if you’re a fan of it, you consume it’s products and you have a consumer for life. Yeah, you can start at three and play until 93.
“So, all of these brands on the outside of golf wanting to join the industry and see the value of it – I truly root for everybody across the space. Whether we work with them or not, we all grow together.”
Golf truly is a lifestyle compared to other sports. Not only do golfers play the game throughout the year, they’re also consuming the products they see their favorite athletes using each day on the course.
The Masters also accentuates that point, which is why WME Sports and the rest of the industry is excited to get down to Augusta and continue its impact on this ever-evolving game at one of its signature events.
“Everybody’s thinking about golf, and after the Masters hits, everybody’s got the bug,” Guerrero said. “A lot of these companies place a premium on either showing up at or around the Masters, or launching products or new services or new whatever it is along that same timeline.”
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