Ross Berlin, Michelle Wie’s Agent, Leaving WMA For PGA Tour

Wie’s Agent Leaving WMA To Return To PGA Tour

With Ross Berlin leaving William Morris Agency (WMA) to return to the PGA Tour, golfer Michelle Wie will now be repped by Nike exec Greg Nared, who “led Nike’s recruitment of Wie to a $20[M] endorsement deal,” according to Ron Sirak of GOLF DIGEST. Berlin had repped Wie since she turned pro a year ago. Nared had been with Nike for 15 years, most recently as Special Projects Manager for the U.S. Sports Marketing Division. He also was the company’s Business Affairs Manager for Tiger Woods during Woods’ first eight years on tour (GOLFDIGEST.com, 10/18). WMA sources said that Berlin’s role “was not to sign on sponsors, but as the day-to-day golf expert, smoothing the way for Wie.” In L.A., Thomas Bonk reports the “key players in Wie’s sponsor machinery” at WMA are David Wirtschafter, Philip Button and Jill Smoller, who hired Berlin. Smoller reps T’Wolves F Kevin Garnett and tennis player Serena Williams, among others, and she is “highly regarded by the Wie family and perhaps most closely associated with the deal making” (L.A. TIMES, 10/19). Berlin, whose previous title with the PGA Tour was VP/Title Sponsor Relations, will return to the Tour in December, and his specific duties will be detailed in the future (THE DAILY).