Paul Dunne’s rise to the upper echelons of golf has been meteoric over the past eight months and his rise in terms of ranking is being matched if not overtaken by his appeal to corporate sponsors.
Yesterday it was announced that Dunne would be joining the international roster of golfers endorsed by global accountancy practice KPMG. It’s an exclusive club headed by multi major winners Phil Mickelson and Stacey Lewis.
The brand has long been associated with the sport and runs a major golf advisory practice producing in depth research and headed by Andrea Sartori from the company’s Hungary offices.
The move was announced by the company’s Irish office yesterday but with the endorsement of John Veihmeyer, Chairman of KPMG International who welcomed the move saying “We are excited to enter into this relationship with Paul. We believe that Paul’s passion for the game and maturity make him a natural fit to represent KPMG.”
Ireland has a strong presence with Irish Managing Partner Shaun Murphy being the current Lead Director of the International Advisory Board.
“Paul Dunne is a tremendous young golfer. Our sponsorship with him reflects our passion for investing in young Irish talent. We applaud his commitment and skill and look forward to working with Paul.”
He will be wearing the KPMG logo on his cap as has been made famous by Mickelson and the first day of the partnership comes today when he tees off in the AT&T Classic at Pebble Beach in California.
“It is an honour to join Phil Mickelson and Stacy Lewis as a KPMG ambassador, two players whom I greatly admire and I look forward to learning from them as I embark on my professional career,” said Dunne.
Sport for Business understands that the baseline value of the endorsement taking in a number of appearances for the company and wearing the branding as well as featuring on the company’s extensive online golf inventory will be worth almost €250,000 over the course of the two years but that this could rise steeply depending on appearances and performance in golf’s major tournaments.
It was at the Open Championship last year that Dunne shot to prominence. His commercial appeal was highlighted by the fact that he was wearing Under Armour gear the same as Jordan Spieth though he was not paid to do so. The brand did not seek to leverage that early relationship and his existing ‘golfing’ endorsements prior to yesterday are with Titleist and Footjoy.
Only last month Dunne signed a deal with Davy, their first major step into sport and it is not clear yet whether they will see any conflict in the relationship with another company in the financial services sector.
Part of the deal with Davy is that they will help his own wealth management over the course of the next two years. He will also wear the Davy brand on his shirt. Whether they advised on the KPMG deal or indeed were aware of it is not clear.
