Amateur Golfer’s Apple Ad Could Cause Headaches For USGA
Lucy Li might be a poster child for the razor-thin difference between an elite amateur vs. pro golfer. The world’s top female amateur recently appeared in an Apple ad–which to some meant endorsing their product–even if her family says no money was exchanged.
The rub is Li desperately wants to play in the first Augusta National Women’s Amateur event in three months. To do so, she might have to apply for reinstatement of amateur status to the USGA. And as Randall Mell reports, ’tis a slippery slope of perception, reality and public reaction.
Without some extraordinary USGA discovery, this looks like a black-and-white violation.
It’s even more than that, though. It’s a brazen insult upon the amateur principle, whether it comes with a plea of ignorance or not.
If you missed all the fuss, here’s the rewind: Li appears in Apple.com’s new “Close Your Rings” campaign, where she is featured using her Apple Watch to help her train.
Li’s family told Golf Digest there was no compensation for Lucy’s participation in the promotion, but that doesn’t matter.
The bad news for Li is that there isn’t much wiggle room in the USGA’s Rules of Amateur Status. The prohibition under Rule 6:2 states “even if no payment or compensation is received, an amateur golfer is deemed to receive a personal benefit by promoting, advertising or selling anything, or allowing his name or likeness to be used by a third party for the promotion, advertisement or sale of anything.”
The provision also states: “A person who acts contrary to the rules may forfeit his amateur status and as a result will be ineligible to play in amateur competitions.”
Li has some great golf chops and thus has much to lose (or at least cough up her entry into the Augusta National event). The USGA is on thin ice depending how they rule. It used to be amateur status was a fairly black and white issue. But the world is infinitely more complicated depending on a party’s motives–and how wily the attorneys. You can feign ignorance but we all know that doesn’t necessarily mean guiltlessness.
As Mall wrote, This might all be due to a big mistake, incredible naivete, or it might be marketing genius.
Or, all three.
