This Brand is Doing Something to Solve a Massive Sponsorship Problem in Pro Golf

The life of a professional golfer isn't always a glamorous one. Over the last several years, more and more players have opened up about their financial struggles trying to keep up with their playing aspirations. Between all the travel, tournament fees, equipment, coaching, and so on, you can imagine the last thing a player wants to mull over is what they're wearing.

It's unclear exactly how many LPGA players are unsponsored and competing on tour, but enough of them are to alarm apparel brand Rhone.

The brand has uniquely positioned itself to focus on high-quality, high-functioning everyday essentials for people in active lifestyles while also aiming to raise awareness for mental fitness. In January 2024, Rhone announced its official partnership with the LPGA Tour.

In this partnership, Rhone is named the official on-course apparel partner of the LPGA Tour and Epson Tour, as well as the official staff uniform provider for both tours. The brand will also continue to help elevate and amplify fan expo displays at certain events, sponsor and engage with the LPGA*USGA Girls Golf program, and support the Athlete Development Program—an initiative that offers resources, programs, and services to players for nutrition, strength and conditioning, and mental health and wellness.

Since the announcement, Rhone also signed on two LPGA players as brand ambassadors, Lilia Vu, who is currently ranked No. 6 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, and Lauren Hartlage, who is entering her fourth year on the LPGA Tour this season.

Over a year into the partnership, Rhone is finding more innovative ways to help and show support. Which has come in the form of helping LPGA Tour athletes who don't have apparel sponsorships.

"Women’s sports continue to be underserved, and we’re committed to playing a role in changing that," explains Emma Crepeau, Chief Growth Officer at Rhone. "By supporting these players, we hope to provide them with one less thing to worry about while they focus on their game.”

Many LPGA players compete without dedicated apparel sponsors and to help bridge the gap, Rhone has offered to gift unsponsored athletes pieces from the brand's Course to Court women's golf collection that launched last May.

Here's what we know about who will participate in this initiative.

Around 25 percent of active LPGA tour athletes have opted into/participated in this gifting, including players like Gemma Dryburgh and Gina Kim.

"It’s fantastic what Rhone is doing and we need more brands to step up and support women’s sports," said Dryburgh, who has been on the tour since 2018. Dryburgh has been vocal about brands and sponsors being more active, and has been sporting blank hats since 2023 to send brands a message that "it's open" and she should be paid.

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On top of gifting players, Rhone will also be outfitting 44 instructors and 200 girls attending 5 different LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Leadership Academies this summer.

It's a topic being discussed more often, but we haven't seen many solutions outside of raising event purses to help mitigate the problem that golfers still need clothes, and lots of them. From training to the course, what you put on matters just as much as your game and is such an integral part of competing.

Rhone has opened the door for more brands to find ways to show support that doesn't alway solely rest on monetary gifts. Just showing a little bit of support, with a touch of style, is just as good.