Bryson DeChambeau’s Ben Hogan-style Kangol golf cap is one of the details that has helped him stand out on the PGA Tour since his arrival four years ago.
Now, on the heels of DeChambeau’s impressive U.S. Open victory and on the eve of The Masters holding its long-delayed annual tournament on Nov. 12-15, that golf cap’s Puma logo is about to get some company.
DraftKings on Monday announced an exclusive, multi-year relationship with DeChambeau as the first active professional golfer to represent it. And the DK logo will be on the cap at tournaments beginning at Augusta National.
Golf is the fourth-most popular sport for daily fantasy play on DraftKings, said company CEO Jason Robins. And in states where DraftKings offers sports betting, the amount bet — or “handle” — on golf has grown 10 times this year over 2019, he added.
Excluding NFL games, the 2019 Masters ranked among the top five highest bet sporting events on DraftKings.
“DraftKings has been at the forefront of innovation for how people experience golf, and the company continues to modernize the game through technology built by and for sports fans,” DeChambeau said in a statement.
Bryson “The Mad Scientist”
DeChambeau is perceived as the most tech-savvy golfer on tour, with a unique set of irons that each are the same length — ignoring a century of sets with the low irons having significantly longer shafts than, say, a 9-iron or a pitching wedge.
The 60-degree wedge in DeChambeau’s bag is called “Arnold Palmer” in honor of that legend’s 1960 Masters victory. The 42-degree wedge, meanwhile, is “Jackie Robinson.”
But beyond the unusual clubs and cap, DeChambeau also caught the attention of golf fans by adding 50 pounds of muscle in the past year on a 5,000-calorie per day diet that is complemented by hours of intense workouts — propelling an already long driver off the tee to almost mythical status.
The SMU alumnus even conquered the iconic Winged Foot course in Westchester County, N.Y. in September, while sitting out Tour events for the past month to, as DeChambeau put it, “push the limits” of what he can do physically.
Put it all together — including DeChambeau being just 27 years old — and DraftKings figures to garner plenty of “free” advertising at every major event for many years.
Honored to be on the team 👊🏼 https://t.co/E0yFAXkLH3
— Bryson DeChambeau (@b_dechambeau) November 2, 2020
Most sportsbooks have installed DeChambeau as the favorite at The Masters with odds of lower than 10/1.
DeChambeau’s deal has inspired a first for DraftKings: a Masters/NFL two-sport contest taking place on Nov. 15. The $100,000 pool will be free-to-play.
An informal rival for DeChambeau will be veteran Tour player Charley Hoffman, who in May signed a deal with daily fantasy sports upstart Monkey Knife Fight to wear the MKF logo on his golf apparel.
And last month, 10-year pro Jason Kokrak finally won his first Tour event while sporting a BetMGM logo on the front of his golf hat.
Clearly golf, like almost all pro sports, is learning to embrace having its fans risk money on its players as a way to make them more fully engaged in their product.
Photo courtesy of DraftKings
