Farmers Insurance will continue to sponsor golfer Rickie Fowler for the next three years. Fowler will continue to serve as a community ambassador and help support initiatives at the PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open, which began today at Torrey Pines, and nationally throughout the year (Farmers). Farmers CMO Mike Linton said, “We like this partnership for two really big reasons. First, it’s great for our brand. I mean you have a charismatic, dynamic golfer who is really, really good at golf. But the second thing that's really important to us is we think Rickie shares our core value of giving back to the community” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 2/5). Fowler counts Cobra Puma Golf, Titleist, Red Bull, Rolex and EA Sports, among others, as sponsors. In California, Jim Alexander writes in a sport "where the bottom line is 'If it moves, slap a sponsor's logo on it,' [Fowler] seems to be doing quite well." Fowler said, "Good play creates attention. And it's been good, so I'm not complaining. It's been a lot of fun" (Riverside PRESS-ENTERPRISE, 2/5). Meanwhile, Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner looked to define Fowler and wrote, “Millenial star, marketing whiz kid, DiCaprio-Depp doppelganger, good player and by all accounts good guy.” Lerner: “But great player? He hasn’t proven that. Yet” (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 2/3).
THE PERFECT PAIRING: SI GOLF+'s Cameron Morfit writes Fowler's “star power” has been enough to make Cobra Puma Golf a “player” in the golf industry. Puma, which broke into golf in ’06, signed Fowler “the day he turned pro three years later,” and by the time Puma acquired Cobra in '10, "it was the perfect synchronicity of man and brand.” Cobra Puma Golf President Bob Philion said, “He moves the needle. You see the crowds that follow him. ... He moves product, bottom line. We’ve done well over a million units on just the hat.” Morfit notes while several other pro golfers wear the company’s apparel, “everyone knows who’s top cat.” One player agent said of Fowler, “He’s absolutely made that brand. The only thing I can compare it to is Tiger and Nike Golf.” OB Sports Golf Management Regional Manager Matt Schalk “marvels at how fans, especially kids, connect with Fowler.” He said, “You look at my junior program, which is around 500 kids per summer, and 80% of them are wearing some sort of Rickie Fowler apparel” (SI GOLF+, 2/2 issue).
