The British Open champions profiting the most from social media

  • Post published:July 25, 2019
  • Post category:News
Open Golf
Ireland’s victorious Shane Lowry (132k followers) who despite ranking 6th and being paid £535 on average, won the British Open Championship


No one could have predicted Shane Lowry’s victorious win at the 148th British Open Championship, topping the leader board 15 under par on home soil – Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush Golf Club. His win is an accolade that will be celebrated for years to come, and although his win signifies many positive rewards, one that cannot be underestimated is his social media presence – which will no doubt strengthen as his career soars.

 
Due to the rise of social media, top athletes are no longer just considered sports idols or mere celebrities – they are increasingly operating as social media influencers. The use of sports players to endorse brands, products and services is nothing new. However, companies have begun to capitalise on sports stars social presence to tap into niche audiences with profitable returns.

The influence of major sporting stars on social media has been explored tenfold, so intrigued about the biggest golfers on Instagram and their real worth, discounted online golf shop GolfSupport.com sought to find out which of the 2019 British Open Championship top 10 earn the most per post on Instagram – and Shane Lowry’s account may prove surprising.

To achieve this, Golf Support inserted the Instagram handle of each golfer who made it to the top 10 into the Instagram Money Calculator by Influencer Marketing Hub, which estimates how much each golfer might earn per post on average, on their Instagram account*.

Golfsupport.com can reveal that the highest paid golfer on Instagram is the US’s Rickie Fowler, who thanks to his 1.6 million followers earns an average of £3,529 per Instagram post.

Thereafter, Brooks Koepka, is the second highest earning golfer on Instagram with an average of £1,761 per post (558k followers) and Tony Finau with £701 on average (222k followers).

The following golf pros also dominated the list of highest paid per social post:

Ireland’s victorious Shane Lowry (132k followers) who despite being paid £535 on average, won the British Open Championship much to the surprise of the bookies. England’s Lee Westwood (198k followers) earns on average £624 whilst Tommy Fleetwood (175k followers) profits £552 on average per Instagram post.

At the lower end is Danny Willett (60k followers) with an average of £253 per post. Following suit is Tyrrell Hatton (53.1k followers) and earns approximately £227 per post.

And finally, Scotsman Robert Macintyre (2,662 followers) who made his debut at the British Open benefits from a mere £40 on average per post.  

Open 1



*The Figures are based on the 12 previous posts. The data was extracted on 22/07/2019 and is subject to change. 
https://golfsupport.com