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During the past 20 years, the author has watch China move from being a developing country into an industrial superpower
Money Moves, 5/24: Chocomize Co-Founder Fabian Kaempfer talks with Bloomberg’s Deirdre Bolton about the business of customizing chocolate
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The Italian automaker and others are adding hybrid technology to elite cars
The storied bridge that links San Francisco and Marin County changed the face of California
Schools cultivate ties with startups before they're big successes
Dave McClure's traveling venture capital show scours the world for promising startups
Get Four
|  | APRIL 1, 2005
By Mark Hyman Phil Mickelson's Family Values [Page 2 of 2] WON'T "THINK TWICE." Mickelson takes the sniping at his wholesome image in stride, as do his corporate backers. "Some of it is professional jealousy," says Larry Dorman, Callaway Golf's (ELY ) senior vice-president for global public relations. "People who are relentlessly positive are always portrayed as being phonies or Pollyannas." And what's known about Mickelson's sports bets wouldn't trouble most sponsors, says Marc Ippolito, senior VP at Burns Entertainment & Sports Marketing, which helps companies in search of sports endorsers. "Sports bets are legal in Las Vegas. Nothing I have heard would make me think twice." Mickelson, who played college golf at Arizona State University, was a star even before turning pro. He's the last amateur to win a PGA Tour event, a trick he turned in 1991 at age 20. He has tacked on 24 more wins since then, a record that would stand out more if it hadn't been compiled during the Age of Woods. Until his Masters win, Mickelson was known as the best active player never to have triumphed in one of golf's four major tourneys. Woods still often prevails over Mickelson. In March, the duo locked up in a shootout at the Ford Championship in Miami, in which Woods rallied to eke out a single-shot victory. And his endorsement deals with Accenture (ACN ), American Express (AXP ), and Nike, among others, put him on a sponsorship planet of his own. Nike alone pays Woods $20 million a year. ROLLING GREEN. But in luring sponsors, Mickelson is no slouch. Before the Masters triumph, deals with Ford, Rolex, and business consulting firm BearingPoint (BE ), among others, were earning him more off the course than on -- even though Mickelson took home $5.7 million last year from golfing, third on the PGA Tour money list. His price, naturally, has shot up since the big victory. Mickelson inked a $10 million equipment deal with Callaway Golf, doubling his former deal with Titleist. (He picks up a $1 million bonus from Callaway if he repeats as Masters champ.) And his new deal with ExxonMobil could expand into a gusher of endorsements. Mickelson sponsors rejoiced during last year's Masters. As part of his deals, he wears Ford's logo on his shirt and the BearingPoint logo on his visor. During the final round of the tournament, the year's highest-rated TV golf program, cameras showed Mickelson's Ford logo for more than nine minutes, roughly $2.9 million in free advertising, according to Joyce Julius, a research firm that tracks brand exposure. PERSONAL HISTORY. The exposure was even more precious considering the tourney aired without TV commercials. "He has brought us media coverage and advertising time we never could have afforded," says Linda Rebrovick, BearingPoint's chief marketing officer. As this year's Masters nears, Mickelson's sponsors are revving up. Ford is blitzing the airwaves with commercials for a contest to win a round of golf with Mickelson, National Football League quarterback Brett Favre, and country singer Toby Keith. A similar promotion last year registered 700,000 potential car buyers at Ford's Web site, a company official says. Sales of Mickelson's 204-page autobiography also could catch fire. In it, Mickelson shares a shot-by-shot account of the nail-biting final round of last year's Masters. As usual, he doesn't slight his family, writing about his first meeting with Amy, a former Phoenix Suns cheerleader, and her life-threatening delivery of Evan in 2003. "If it had been up to Phil, he would have written a third of the book about each child," Amy jokes. "Obviously, that would have been boring to a lot of people." Well, maybe not to the sponsors betting on Mr. Mickelson's Neighborhood.
 Hyman is a BusinessWeek correspondent in Baltimore Edited by Thane Peterson Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
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