Lauren Hartlage prepares to tee off at the Mizuho Americas Open, one of the events rolled out by Excel.getty images
Golf continues to evolve to include more nontraditional events, and one legacy agency is at the forefront of those efforts.
Excel Sports Management ramped up its golf events business in the last decade and has rolled out several events or tournaments, including the recent Netflix Cup, the Mizuho Americas Open and “The Match,” the made-for-TV event that has spanned six years at this point.
The brainchild for these events is Kevin Hopkins, Excel’s vice president of golf.
Hopkins came over to Excel after a meeting with his old boss at IMG, Mark Steinberg, at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in 2018. Steinberg told Hopkins he had a big opportunity.
“He said, ‘Kev, I might have an opportunity here that would be a high-profile one but also something we can grow bigger here at Excel,’” Hopkins said. “Sure enough, it turned into not running just that event but overseeing our events division here and growing something from scratch.”
The first edition of “The Match” took place later that year between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, and eight editions later, Hopkins sees endless possibilities.
“I love the product and as long as people continue to watch, I think it is different,” Hopkins said. “Any time you have Charles Barkley on the mic, it’s going to look and sound different than any other golf event out there. We continue to push ourselves to innovate, whether that’s with the broadcast or to be creative with the pairings.”
Excel’s golf events division has grown to include six executives under Hopkins, though Excel’s sales team will also jump in to sell sponsorships for tournaments. Connor McCarthy is Hopkins’ No. 2 on “The Match” and Netflix Cup, while Caila Roberts leads the Mizuho Americas Open and Emily Norell leads the Kroger Queen City Championship on the LPGA.
Excel's revenue for the events comes through selling sponsorships and media rights. As an example, the agency sold the event concept to Netflix that eventually became the Netflix Cup. Excel also sells sponsorships for each of its event properties, in conjunction with the event partners.
Shown at The Match (left to right) are: Kevin Hopkins, Mark Steinberg and Tracy Ogrean of Excel, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Excel’s Connor McCarthy and Kyler O’Shea.Courtesy of Excel Sports Management
The next iteration of “The Match” is Feb. 26, in Florida, featuring Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang competing against one another in a skins game on TNT. Notable about next week’s competition is that it features women for the first time, with Zhang and Thompson being two bona fide stars on the LPGA.
Excel is also staying outside the box with the locale, as the match will be played at The Park, a relatively new public course in West Palm Beach. Previous editions have been contested at pricey, exclusive clubs.
One of Excel’s innovations for “The Match,” Hopkins says, has now become commonplace on traditional golf telecasts. Excel miked up players with Apple AirPods for the second edition just after the COVID-19 lockdowns started, and now those are commonly worn by players during “walk-and-talk” interviews during rounds.
“I think that was the first one that had these guys wearing an earpiece talking back and forth to the broadcast team,” Hopkins said. “Now you can’t watch a broadcast without seeing a walk-and-talk.”
Speaking of broadcasts, Netflix decided to make its live sports debut with golf via the Netflix Cup, the November event in Las Vegas that created a stir in the sport. PGA Tour players teamed up with Formula One drivers in a “Match”-like competition that was described as chaotic by some, but that pushed new boundaries.
“We have this, I would say made-for-TV business, which is going to continue to grow,” Hopkins said. “We have concepts we want to continue to build out, maybe even beyond golf. We have such a great relationship across the board with networks.”
Conversations between Netflix and Excel started as early as the summer of 2022, said Gabe Spitzer, Netflix’s vice president of nonfiction sports.
The goal for the production, Spitzer said, was to find the best of both worlds: something that appealed to core golf fans, as well as something that may draw in a younger crowd.
“We really leaned on them,” Spitzer said. “They know golf and know how to execute this type of event. When we first met them, this wasn’t the only idea we talked about. But to their credit they know the golf world so well, they can look for that nontraditional angle.”
One of Excel’s other events that falls in the more traditional bucket is the Mizuho Americas Open on the LPGA, which made its debut last May.
There’s plenty of synergy there for Hopkins, who runs the event. He represents Zhang, who made her professional debut and won the tournament, which Michelle Wie West, another Hopkins client, hosts.
Another twist to the Mizuho Americas Open: It partnered for its debut with the American Junior Golf Association and had junior players competing right alongside LPGA professionals.
“The world of golf in general is going to an unparalleled period of disruption, which ultimately will breed more innovation,” said Tuck Burch, Excel’s head of brand marketing. “It’ll take some time to seep into the mindset of how we consume golf. Every idea that we pursued today isn’t going to exist in four [or] five years down the road.”
