Under Armour scored big on early signing of Jordan Spieth

Josh Peter | USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption Jordan Spieth's win marks changing of guard USA TODAY Sports' Nancy Armour details how Jordan Spieth has shifted the landscape of golf.

Correction/clarification: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Hunter Mahan's relationship with agent Jay Danzi. Danzi is no longer representing Mahan.

Kevin Plank, CEO and founder of sports apparel maker Under Armour, poked his head into the office of the company's director of golf. It was January 2013, and Plank was on the verge of signing a four-year sponsorship deal with a golfer largely unknown to sports fans, much less the general public.



"Is he the real deal?" Plank asked.

"He's the Bryce Harper of golf," replied Ryan Kuehl, referring to the baseball phenom Under Armour had signed a year before Harper was named National League rookie of the year.

Plank looked at Leon Duncan, who works under Kuehl.

"What do you think?" he asked.

Replied Duncan: "Kevin, he absolutely cannot miss."

Two weeks later, with Under Armour having signed the deal, the Bryce Harper of golf went to Q-School and failed to earn his PGA Tour card.

"Needless to say, I made a point to stay away from Kevin Plank for a while," Duncan told USA TODAY Sports with a laugh.

There's a lot of laughter at Under Armour these days, because the golfer in question is Jordan Spieth, the 21-year-old who won the Masters last weekend while outfitted in Under Armour apparel from head to toe.

The TV exposure during the four-day broadcast on ESPN and CBS — during which Spieth led wire-to-wire and tied Tiger Woods' 72-hole scoring record at 18 under par — was worth $33.6 million to Under Armour, according to Eric Smallwood, a sports sponsorship analytics expert.

Although Under Armour is growing fast, it's far behind Nike, having reported $3 billion in net revenue last year compared with Nike's $27 billion. But Mary O'Connor, senior vice president of sports with The Marketing Arm in Dallas, said the impact of Spieth's victory on Under Armour cannot be measured yet as the company generates more sales in golf apparel and shoes.

"What's not quantifiable is the instantaneous brand elevation that occurred," O'Connor told USA TODAY Sports. "The apparel they had on him is mainstream apparel, and it's a whole new marketing and sales platform available to the general public.

"People are saying, 'I want to be like Jordan,' only this time it's not Mike. Under Armour has capitalized on that beautifully."

The company promptly shipped product to its retail partners, and apparel Spieth wore during the Masters was available for purchase online.

"We've tried to capitalize on this opportunity and turn it into real sales at the register," said Kuehl, who did the early work on what might ultimately rank as the shrewdest golf-related marketing deal since Nike signed Tiger Woods.

Under Armour, which signed Hunter Mahan as its first golfer in 2003, was looking for another in 2012 to serve as the face of its emerging golf division, according to Kuehl.

"We thought our golf business was at a point where we really needed a charge," Kuehl said.

The courting of Spieth started in the summer of 2012 during the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., near Under Armour's headquarters in Baltimore. Through a friend and Tour contacts, Kuehl said, he set up an on-course meeting with Spieth's father and secured time to talk with Jordan Spieth.

Though Plank and many people had no idea who Spieth was, the kid was a rising star in the world of golf. In 2010, the 16-year-old finished 16th in the Byron Nelson Classic playing on an exemption. He also played on the University of Texas team and was a member of the U.S. Walker Cup squad in 2011.

But Kuehl said he was assessing more than Spieth's game.

"In golf, you can walk up and down the driving range and see beautiful shots being hit," Kuehl said. "But to me, what separates the great players is what's in their heart and their head and their willingness to compete. By the third time I met him, I believed he had that."

He also believed Nike and other established golf brands might have an advantage, so he carefully monitored rumors that Spieth, then a sophomore at Texas, was considering turning pro. It happened in December 2012, and Under Armour got a call from Spieth's agent, Jay Danzi, who formerly represented Mahan and brokered his deal as well.

Spieth is interested in you guys, Danzi told them.

Under Armour went into overdrive. It brought in Spieth for a tour of their campus and a pitch about what they had in mind for him. During an interview with USA TODAY Sports this year, Spieth recalled "the recruiting trip."

"I went up there, and when I left Baltimore it was a no-brainer," he said. "I was going with them. I saw where they were going in golf. The whole atmosphere there, seeing the headquarters, I loved the attitude there. It kind of reflected my own attitude.

"I was in the underdog role. I looked at myself as the underdog, I still do. Rory (McIlroy) set the bar, and I'm the underdog trying to chase them.

"Under Armour, that's kind of been their grit, being the underdog, finding out-of-the-box ways to innovate, to get things done. And their growth in golf is going to be phenomenal. They showed so much trust in me."

It paid off. In 2013, Spieth got his first PGA Tour win, the John Deere Classic, finished seventh in the FedEx Cup standings and was named Tour rookie of the year. In 2014, he finished second in the Masters and became the youngest American to play in the Ryder Cup. This year, he had six top-10 finishes in nine events, including a victory, before capturing the Masters last week.

"It's almost like it's a tsunami off the coast," Kuehl said. "You see it coming, you know it's coming, it's just a question of when it's going to hit the shore."

Well before the Masters victory, Kuehl said, he encouraged Plank to renegotiate Spieth's original four-year deal that was set to expire in 2016.

"I told Kevin, 'You really want to negotiate with this guy in two years?'" Kuehl said. "The risk we were taking was tremendous."

Plank acted.

A new 10-year deal was signed in January. Terms were not disclosed, but considering what happened at Augusta National, it's safe to say Under Armour got a bargain when it locked up Spieth for the next decade.

"Brilliant," said O'Connor, the marketing executive in Dallas, "and a lot of luck."

Three months later, Spieth is emerging as a force not only on the course but in the marketplace. Kuehl points out that Under Armour has doubled its golf business since the company signed Spieth, and Duncan said, "This kid is carrying us on his back."

There are no plans for Under Armour to manufacture golf equipment, Duncan said.

"We're not really focused on that at the moment," he said, adding the company has "many more wins" with its apparel line.

The new Masters champion is offering input, too.

"If something is tugging here or there, if the sleeves are tight, I tell them," Spieth said. "They like the input. I talk to them about color schemes. It's one phone call away.

"They'll make something, send it to me. I'll try it, and if it works, great. If I want the sleeve to be an inch longer or shorter on one arm, I'll tell them."

They're listening closely, and suddenly he's as important to Under Armour as Bryce Harper, the Jordan Spieth of baseball.

Contributing: Steve DiMeglio