Pro-Am Kismet: Inside SoFi Signing Wyndham Clark Ahead Of The ...

Wyndham Clark adds SoFi to his list of sponsors.

The No. 4 ranked golfer in the world will play in his very first ever Masters with a new logo on his polo. SoFi, the online financial services company, scoops up the coveted left chest placement.

Anthony Noto, CEO of the San Francisco based fintech player, was partnered with Clark at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this year and found himself very impressed with the play and character of the PGA Tour’s current leader in putts made over 20-feet.

“We were able to spend two days together getting to know each other and it was very clear to me from those two days how committed Wyndham is to becoming great at his profession,” Noto noted.

The company had been searching for a professional golfer to join Celtics star Jayson Tatum and Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in their stable of endorsed athletes for some time. SoFi’s team had presented Noto with a variety of available big-name options with large social followings. But none really clicked. As a student of the game and high-performance individuals, in the end, after walking side by side with Wyndham the CEO arrived at the decision.

“Sports performance is dependent on not just your athletic ability but your ability to stay focused, bounce back from setbacks, overcome challenges, be resilient and gritty. He’s been able to do that in other ways but I was able to witness it firsthand,” Noto said. He watched his playing partner go from two over through fifteen holes played on soggy turf to find his groove and birdie seventeen and eighteen to get back to even. Noto has a near photographic recollection of the hole-by-hole the following day’s action as the duo made a bit of a run up the leaderboard.

Ahead of the pro-only rounds, Noto sent Clark a text with a photo his brother had taken of the leaderboard when they were tied for third and wrote: “we were right there. This course is perfect for your swing and your game, dial in your irons and I think 62 or 63 is in the cards.”

The U.S. Open champion went on to shoot a course-record 60 in the third round to ascend to the top of the leaderboard and would win the tournament after those 54-holes. The final round was cancelled due to inclement weather.

“He just had a phenomenal day. He was hitting the same driver but hitting greens with his irons and making phenomenal putts. It was a living testimonial to who he is, an athlete, a great golfer and a resilient gritty guy and SoFi is a company that wants to go above and beyond for our members. We grind every day to deliver differentiated capabilities. The financial services industry is regulated, it’s hard, it’s difficult. You got to have that longterm vision and be able to bounce back from setbacks.”

Coming out of those couple days walking side by side with Wyndham, Noto knew he wanted to bring him aboard—it was just a question of how to make it happen. Post victory, he tapped out another message to Clark where he revealed that in that earlier text he had originally put in that he felt Wyndham could “shoot 60 or 61” but then upped that tally after a quick gander at historic Pebble Beach stats.

“I changed it to 62 or 63 because I didn’t want you to think I was an idiot saying you were going to break the course record after going even with a 72 on day one and 67 on day two. I couldn’t be prouder of you,” Noto wrote.

The SoFi team then connected his agent to hash out a multiyear contract, the terms of which have not been disclosed. From Clark’s perspective it was also great fit.

“We had a great time together and as we progressed through those two days. We really hit it off. I learned lot about SoFi—what they value and how they go about their business and we had similar values. When they approached me to represent the brand I felt very confident in doing so because of everything I heard from their CEO and from my research and due diligence,” he said.

The timing of the announcement in the second week of April, right ahead of golf’s equivalent of the Super Bowl of course was no happy accident. Once Noto convinced his team Wyndham was the right choice, his directive was to get it done before the Masters.

“He’s going to be on television on Sunday at the most important golf events each year and he’s going to win [more] majors—he’s a generational talent. He has the swing capabilities very few players have and combining that with the desire to play big and win the big events which takes mental toughness and resilience,” Noto said.

Jumping on the Clark train is not the financial services provider’s first foray into golf partnerships. SoFi is the presenting sponsor of the TGL, the indoor golf league spearheaded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy set to tee off at Palm Beach State College in early 2025 at the purpose built SoFi Center.