The former NBA star is Smith is Lululemon’s first male golf ambassador.
J.R. Smith went to the NBA immediately following his high school graduation in 2004. The two-time NBA champion was a first-round draft pick of the New Orleans Hornets, but also played for the Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers during his 16-year career.
After a long and successful career in the NBA, Smith walked on to the North Carolina A&T golf team in 2021. He is currently in his second semester of his freshman year as a full-time student.
According to ESPN’s Nick DePaula, J.R. Smith signed a name, image and likeness deal with Lululemon, a popular activewear brand. Smith is Lululemon’s first male golf ambassador. Smith is not able to wear Lululemon at NCAA sanctioned events, but he can wear Lululemon in the company’s branded advertisements.
OFFICIAL: North Carolina A&T freshman golfer JR Smith has landed a brand ambassador NIL deal with @lululemon.@TheRealJRSmith is featured across lululemon’s latest Golf campaign imagery highlighting their Evolution Polo. pic.twitter.com/AdunlVGDvn
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J.R. Smith is continuing to set the bar as a former pro athlete turned student athlete, and we love to see it.
The ex-NBA player has signed with Excel Sports for NIL representation. It’s the first such deal for a high-profile former professional, ESPN reports.
Smith, now a freshman golfer at North Carolina A&T, is receiving significant NIL interest from video game companies and golfing equipment manufacturers that could earn him well into the six figures, according to the report. Under the new NCAA rule, his deal with Excel will allow him to cash in on the endorsement opportunities his name, image and likeness provide.
Smith, 36, won two titles and a Sixth Man of the Year award during a 16-year career in the NBA, with the 2019-20 season being his last. Though he expressed interest in suiting up again amid the wave of COVID-related absences in the league this winter, Smith has enjoyed a successful transition into life as a Div. I student-athlete at North Carolina A&T, an HBCU in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Chronicling everything from midterms to his first GHOE (Greatest Homecoming on Earth) to a 4.0 first semester and, of course, the golfing, Smith has built a significant audience on social media. He has nearly seven million followers between Instagram and Twitter.
During his NBA career, Smith made over $90 million in salary. Now, he’ll be able to cash in on the interest his post-NBA journey has garnered. As a student, there are still limitations on what and how he can endorse, but the opportunities should be endless for someone as recognizable as he is.
The highly ranked ASU teams as well as host Grayhawk must wait another year for the NCAAs because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a best case scenario for Arizona State, the women’s golf team would have been playing for a ninth NCAA championship on Wednesday at Grayhawk Golf Club with the men’s team on deck for a chance at its third national title starting Friday.
Instead, the ASU teams and Grayhawk must wait another year because of the coronavirus pandemic for the NCAA Championships to make their debut in Scottsdale in what was to have been a three-year run.
The 2021 and 2022 men’s and women’s nationals still will be played on Grayhawk’s Raptor course and ASU is bidding for 2023 to replace 2020. The NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments have been held at the same site since 2015, but Grayhawk will be the first site to host in consecutive years with a three-year award made in June 2017.
“We had a short timeline to get ready,” said Gregg Tryhus, Grayhawk managing partner. “The team here has done an incredible job, the community has stepped up, the Thunderbirds were ready to go, ASU was fully engaged. We were ready to pull it off. It would have been as could as you could do in that window of time. Now that we have another 12 months, we’re going to be ready for next year.”
Sun Devils were in good position
The ASU teams were poised to contend when the season ended March 12 with the NCAA cancelling winter and spring championships. The Sun Devil women were ranked No. 3 nationally and the men No. 6 by Golfstat, with both coaches believing the best was yet to come.
“We had just won in Mexico with our younger guys and Blake (Wagoner),” ASU men’s coach Matt Thurmond said. “We had this feeling within the team we’re really trending in the right direction, which we always knew we would. Our goal was to be at our best today, and we were on our way.”
ASU women’s coach Missy Farr-Kaye said, “We really hadn’t really clicked yet, but you want to peak at the end. You don’t need to be No. 1 in January. You need to be No. 1 today.”
Key seniors returning
To that end, both teams are welcoming back senior stars who otherwise would have been finishing their college careers this year. The NCAA is allowing spring sport seniors whose season was cut short to return if they wish.
Thurmond announced on Wednesday that Chun An Yu, already a two-time U.S. Open qualifier and third individually at the 2019 NCAA Championships, will join Wagoner as returning seniors.
Arizona State’s Chun An Yu.
“Kevin (Yu) had been prepared to turn pro,” Thurmond said. “He’d gotten a good feel of where he stacked up. Basically he would have been the equivalent of a first or second overall draft pick coming out of college golf.
Mehaffey also was waiting to see if she would have a chance to qualify for the LPGA Tour, which cancelled its Q-school on May 20.
“She was ready to graduate and finish school,” Farr-Kaye said. “She’s trying to figure out whether she wants to do graduate level classes or start a minor (degree).
“Hopefully she’ll get to play in the ANA (Inspiration, an LPGA major tournament postponed until Sept. 10-13). We want her to be ready to go to Q-school in 2021 and be ready to be the rock star she is. We want her coming back to be very positive for her. She’s the leader, it’s very natural for her, and it’s really been her team for two years.”
New recruits on the way in
Both teams are adding elite talent — Jeewon Park for the men, Ashley Menne out of Xavier Prep for the women — that will add fuel to the daunting prospect of a national-title sweep, something the Sun Devils managed in 1990.
The ASU women won their eight national title in 2017, when Monica Vaughn also was the individual champion. The Sun Devil men are in pursuit of their first team title since 1996 and third overall.
“I believe we have the most talented team in college golf right now,” rising senior Mason Andersen said of the men before knowing Yu was returning. “I think our team is so deep we could travel with the B team and they would probably compete just fine. That’s what breeds competition within our team. It’s really tough to get in the top five and if you get in, you’d better make sure you play well because somebody might take your spot.”
There will be a home course familiarity advantage at Grayhawk, provided the Sun Devils make it through sectionals to nationals, and with the Arizona heat.
Andersen of Chandler already knows the Raptor course well.
“If you want to go out there and study the course then there shouldn’t be any surprises by the time nationals roll around,” he said. “You should know that course like the back of your hand. It’s a tricky course, a lot of elevated greens and slopes you might not see the first time around. It’s something we need to take advantage of.”
The NCAA announced Wednesday it is taking steps toward allowing athletes to earn income from endorsements, social media content.
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The NCAA took a dramatic step Wednesday toward allowing college athletes to earn income for things like product endorsements and social media content when its Board of Governors approved a broad set of recommendations to address an issue that has put college sports leaders under significant political pressure over the last year.
With state legislatures across the country passing or looking into laws that would allow for college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness and members of Congress also sounding the alarm on the issue, what the NCAA announced Wednesday represents a significant change from prior NCAA policy.
“Allowing promotions and third-party endorsements is unchartered territory,” Ohio State president and Board of Governors chairman Michael Drake said in a release.
Still, it’s unclear whether the NCAA’s action to broaden name, image and likeness rights will be enough to get lawmakers to back down. Though the working group presented broad recommendations that would be seen as a significant win for college athletes’ rights, there are several details that remain unresolved on exactly how the new rules would be written and enforced.
The process of codifying those recommendations into NCAA legislation will occur over the course of 2020, with an expected vote happening at the next NCAA convention in January.
“While we wait optimistically for changes, we’ve been down this road before,” said state representative Chip LaMarca, who sponsored the Florida bill that passed in March and is waiting for a signature from Gov. Ron DeSantis. “It is my hope that this is not another hidden ball trick allowing the NCAA to punt this issue down the field. With this global pandemic challenging our economy, now more than ever we must give flexibility to all students to both continue their education and provide for themselves and their families.”
As revolutionary as they are within the college sports ecosystem, the NCAA’s recommendations will not come without critics.
One of the major points of contention will be regulation of potential marketing deals for college athletes. The NCAA working group has recommended that any financial transactions be disclosed to the schools and that the fees for those activities should be within an established range of market values.
In other words, if an average commercial for a car dealership is worth $50,000, a college athlete being offered $500,000 would potentially raise a red flag. How those issues are adjudicated will be watched closely, and some NCAA critics will argue it shouldn’t be regulated at all. From the beginning, the NCAA has maintained that it does not want money associated with name, image and likeness rights to be a proxy for recruiting athletes to a particular school.
The recommendations also do not deal with the notion of group licensing rights, which would be key to a revival of the EA Sports college football video game, for instance.
The NCAA’s release Wednesday calls on Congress to pass a law that would “ensure federal preemption over state name, image and likeness laws” and established a “safe harbor” for protection against lawsuits filed against the NCAA over name, image and likeness rules.
After a shortened college golf season, both the Haskins and ANNIKA Awards will still be presented to the top men’s and women’s college players. Players, coaches, sports information directors and golf media were eligible to vote for the awards. After the voting period, three finalists remain on each side. Haskins finalists include Vanderbilt senior John Augenstein, Pepperdine senior Sahith Theegala and Georgia junior Davis Thompson. Augenstein notched a victory at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate and had two other top-five finishes, including a runner-up showing at the Nike Golf Collegiate. Theegala finished an abbreviated season as the top-ranked college player in both the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings and the Golfstat individual rankings. Thompson won the Jim Rivers Invitational in the fall for one of four top-10 finishes on the season. ANNIKA finalists are Arizona freshman Vivian Hou, LSU freshman Ingrid Lindblad and Furman senior Natalie Srinivasan. Hou was a collective 17 under in 16 competitive rounds during her freshman year at Arizona. Lindblad won two times in an abbreviated season at LSU. Srinivasan’s season included three individual titles and ended with a runner-up at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. Award winners for both the Haskins and ANNIKA will be announced May 8.
After a shortened college golf season, both the Haskins and ANNIKA Awards will still be presented to the top men’s and women’s college players. Players, coaches, sports information directors and golf media were eligible to vote for the awards. After the voting period, three finalists remain on each side. Haskins finalists include Vanderbilt senior John Augenstein, Pepperdine senior Sahith Theegala and Georgia junior Davis Thompson. Augenstein notched a victory at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate and had two other top-five finishes, including a runner-up showing at the Nike Golf Collegiate. Theegala finished an abbreviated season as the top-ranked college player in both the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings and the Golfstat individual rankings. Thompson won the Jim Rivers Invitational in the fall for one of four top-10 finishes on the season. ANNIKA finalists are Arizona freshman Vivian Hou, LSU freshman Ingrid Lindblad and Furman senior Natalie Srinivasan. Hou was a collective 17 under in 16 competitive rounds during her freshman year at Arizona. Lindblad won two times in an abbreviated season at LSU. Srinivasan’s season included three individual titles and ended with a runner-up at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. Award winners for both the Haskins and ANNIKA will be announced May 8.
Notre Dame got plenty of love when a record four players from the men’s golf program were named to the PING All-Midwest team.
Notre Dame got plenty of love when a record four players from the men’s golf program were named to the PING All-Midwest team, which was determined by the Golf Coaches Association of America. That’s double the number from last year. The players so honored are Hunter Ostrom, Taichi Kho, Palmer Jackson and repeat honoree Davis Chatfield.
Chatfield’s 70.75 strokes a round ranked second on the squad, and had an overall 11-under par for the season. His best individual finish was fourth in the Fighting Irish Classic, which Notre Dame won.
Jackson was 14-under for the season and averaged 70.79 strokes a round. His individual title in the Quail Valley Collegiate also gave the Irish the victory.
Ostrom made history with a program-record 70.68 strokes a round. He was 16-under for the year, and he earned five top-25 finishes, including top-10s to begin the season.
Kho played 16 rounds over six tournaments. He finished the top 25 four times and the top 10 twice en route to an average of 71.44 strokes a round.
The Forecaddie writes instead of preparing to host the first of three NCAA championships, Grayhawk Golf Club sits while coronavirus rages.
Welcome to the college golf twilight zone.
Instead of spending the spring doubling down in preparation for conference championships, college golfers were packing boxes and headed home. The Forecaddie wasn’t surprised to hear many players say they hadn’t touched a golf club in days, the general consensus being that with no tournaments on the horizon, what is there to prepare for?
After tournaments began toppling like dominoes, it wasn’t long until the biggest fell. The NCAA announced March 12 that it would cancel all its winter and spring championships.
In Scottsdale, Arizona, where Grayhawk Golf Club was set to start a three-year hosting commitment for the NCAA championships, organizers were on pins and needles. Preparations – logistics, personnel, infrastructure – had been rolling for months. The cancellation was met with disappointment but understanding.
Del Cochran, captain of the club at Grayhawk, says college golf fans are in for a treat whenever the NCAA championships do arrive. Over the past several months, Cochran and a planning crew of at least 25 to 30 people have worked to iron out the nuances of hosting a major event – one that has its own unique stamp.
“If you do your job correctly, the enthusiasm grows, your event gains in stature and the excitement around it continues to increase so that by year three, you’ve got a different event than you started out with, just because you have a system in place with the marketing presence and with a community that is now beginning to support it,” Cochran said.
That said, Cochran hopes Grayhawk will still get its three-year hosting opportunity. The local commitment is there despite the fact that the two-week NCAA hosting block falls at the end of Scottsdale’s high season. Cochran expects Grayhawk will get some play back now that the tee sheet is empty at the end of May.
The college golf world will see Grayhawk again, but the seniors? There’s a much larger asterisk there.
The Man Out Front gives kudos to the NCAA for answering a most pressing question relatively quickly. Less than 24 hours after the NCAA postseason was canceled, the organization clarified that athletes competing in spring sports would get additional eligibility. It’s just that things have yet to get much clearer than that.
The Forecaddie’s head was spinning after scanning a memo sent to NCAA member schools acknowledging the extraordinary situation that left college seniors’ golf careers abruptly kaput. It would be appropriate, the NCAA wrote, to grant additional eligibility while it also recognized that several issues still need to be addressed, financial aid implications among them.
TMOF couldn’t agree more. For college seniors, it presents both a beacon of hope and an agonizing decision. At the very least, it’s an opportunity for closure. Gwk
This story originally appeared in Issue 2 – 2020 of Golfweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.
At this point, we know little about how the USGA will react. A statement released after the NCAA’s vote did little to clarify the matter.
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Back in September, news out of California stirred up a college athletics debate across the country.
When California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that will make it easier for college athletes in the Golden State to profit from their name, image and likeness, it wasn’t simply a matter of opening the door for students to make some extra cash. The problem with the new law is that the concept has always been a big no-no for student-athletes under the NCAA umbrella.
Surely the NCAA and its army of legal representatives would never agree to this, right?
Wrong. The NCAA’s policy makers voted “unanimously to permit students participating in athletics the opportunity to benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness in a manner consistent with the collegiate model.”
We all should be careful here because the NCAA release did not provide much detail. The NCAA used the word “benefit,” but what does that actually mean? It’s doubtful college athletes will be allowed to wear school uniforms or be linked to their school in any way when benefiting or profiting from their name, image or likeness.
The NCAA also announced these rule changes would be put in place no later than January 2021. That means we have a full year to learn more about how lenient the NCAA will be with this concept. There are other things to consider when talking about how a college golfer could benefit, too.
“It all hinges on how the USGA and R&A respond,” Oklahoma State coach Alan Bratton said. “This name, image and likeness, I would expect, will jeopardize a collegiate golfer’s amateur status in their eyes. If they don’t change their definition of an amateur, then this is a moot point for college golf.”
Forward Press podcast: Host David Dusek and college golf insider Lance Ringler take a deep dive into the NCAA’s decision and what it could mean for the future of college golf.
The USGA and R&A have guidelines in place that go against what will soon be permissible by the NCAA. In other words, golf’s governing bodies likely would deem any player who benefits from the sport to no longer be an amateur. Those governing bodies do allow golfers to receive free equipment and such, but they certainly can’t be paid for endorsing those products – or anything else, for that matter – because of their relationship with the sport.
Will those rules apply to NCAA golf? Could a player be ineligible to compete in the Masters yet still be eligible to compete in the Western Intercollegiate?
“I guess you could see golfers choose to earn money on their name, image and likeness, while choosing to play collegiately from the months of September to June, then choose to not play the summer amateur circuit,” said Virginia coach Bowen Sargent. “But I think that would be for a select few athletes who stand to earn a substantial, life-changing amount of money.
“The other more likely or probable scenario would be a senior who might take advantage of the rule knowing he’s turning pro after NCAAs.”
At this point, we know little about how the USGA will react. A statement released Oct. 29 after the NCAA’s vote did little to clarify the matter.
NCAA golf
“We have been reviewing these same issues for some time,” Thomas Pagel, the USGA senior managing director of governance, said in a statement. “It’s clear that this topic has the potential to impact many amateur sports, including golf. It will continue to be a primary area of discussion as we review the Rules to reflect the modern game, while still staying true to the spirit behind what it means to be an amateur golfer.”
It’s doubtful the USGA would change its view of an amateur golfer. But then again, I don’t think many people expected the NCAA to do what it did.
The question remains: What do student-athlete benefits look like in college golf?
Critics don’t see how this will dip down into a non-revenue sport like golf. Oh, but it could – maybe not to the tune of life-changing money, but certainly enough to pad a college kid’s bank account.
In fact, golf may be the one non-revenue sport in which this change could go a little deeper than most think. A lot of decision-makers play golf. A lot of boosters play golf. A lot of boosters who are prominent business owners play golf.
“I have known a lot of people or boosters who are not always looking for something in return, they are just looking to help our program provide for the student-athletes,” said New Mexico coach Glen Millican.
He’s not wrong. Every staff member in a college athletic department probably knows a booster who fits that description, and now those types of supporters can directly help student-athletes.
That person, for example, may own a local car dealership and want to have a Saturday afternoon fun day on the car lot. To drum up business, he or she pays a local college golfer to hit some chip shots on a green set up in the showroom. Or how about this: That dealer decides to give the player a car to drive around town for the year.
How about a player who is planning to play professionally holding a golf outing to raise money during his or her final year of college golf?
What about a local course paying female college golfers to attend the weekly Thursday night ladies’ clinic to give swing tips to boost attendance?
Today that’s a violation, but it probably wouldn’t be when the NCAA’s new rules kick in.
Think back to Matt Kuchar’s career at Georgia Tech or Ryan Moore’s time at UNLV. More recently, Oklahoma State’s Matthew Wolff is a great example. Each could have benefited nicely in his final year of college golf.
Where could this new rule have the most traction? For incoming athletes who have a significant following on social media accounts such as Instagram and Tik Tok, and thus a valuable reach. Just last year USC’s Muni He had north of 100,000 followers on Instagram and likely could demand a decent amount of money from a company wanting to reach that audience.
The single biggest concern with the NCAA’s new rules could be in relation to recruiting.
“That’s going to be one of the biggest challenges in coming up with real bylaws,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement.
At the end of the day, California’s new law and the NCAA’s subsequent discussions to explore compensation options for student-athletes certainly have created buzz. They also leave many unanswered questions and a year to get it figured out.
This story originally appeared in the October issue of Golfweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.
