15-Year-Old Golfer Signs NIL Deal with Transcend Capital Advisors
The Name, Image and Likeness game continues to filter down into the youth sports ranks, as one of the best junior golfers in the country recently signed an NIL deal.
Transcend Capital Advisors has entered into an NIL deal with Miles Russell, who is the No. 1 ranked player in the American Junior Golf Association, the nation’s top junior golf circuit.
Russell is only 15, but he lives in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., and the state allows high school athletes to sign NIL deals. This deal with Transcend is reportedly a multi-year deal.
Financial services companies have long been supporters of professional golf, so a tie into the junior ranks isn’t a huge leap. This gives Transcend a chance to build a relationship with a player who could be a pro one day.
But Transcend is hitching its wagon to a player who has already matched the legendary Tiger Woods in one respect. He was named the AJGA’s Rolex Junior Player of the Year for 2023, doing so at a younger age than Woods, who set the record 32 years ago.
In fact, last year was Russell’s first on the AJGA Tour and he won the AJGA Junior All-Star events, the TaylorMade TP5 Junior All-Star and Moon Golf Junior All-Star. He also joined Team USA at the 2023 Junior Ryder Cup in Rome.
Russell also won the Junior PGA Championship and the Junior PLAYERS Championship to wrap up his season.
Transcend has been in the NIL space with high school and college golfers for a while now.
The most prominent of those partners is Virginia golfer Benjamin James, who is a sophomore for the Cavaliers and is the world’s No. 5 amateur golfer.
Transcend is also partners with the NO. 1 girls junior player, 17-year-old Yana Wilson and one of Russell’s top rivals in the AJGA rankings, 16-year-old Blades Brown, who is No. 5 in the AJGA rankings and was Tennessee Junior Player of the Year in 2023.
Wilson and Russell played in foursome and four-ball matches together during the Junior Ryder Cup.
