Golf NIL Valuation Rankings: Week 22 Movement
- Golf NIL
- May 31
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
May 31, 2025
Money Moves
Charlie Woods topped a 72-player field at the AJGA Team TaylorMade Invitational at Streamsong Resort’s Black Course, carding a bogey-free 68 in the final round to finish 15-under and win by three strokes. The field included several top-ranked AJGA juniors—No. 1 Miles Russell, No. 5 Luke Colton, No. 6 Michael Riebe, and No. 7 Tyler Watts—who are among the most talked-about juniors in the country. Woods led in greens in regulation and closed with birdies on 16 and 18.
"It means so much because I haven’t really performed at the highest level yet. And to finally do it after all the work I have put in and not playing well in big events in the past. Even though, I know I am so much better than that and for it all to finally come together is such a great feeling,” Woods said, according to the AJGA.
Woods’ name, story, and visibility continue to command attention; elite play turns up the volume. The 16-year-old holds the No. 1 spot in the Golf NIL High School Boys Rankings. Russell, Colton, Watts, and Riebe slot in at two, three, four, and seven.
Charlie Woods at the 2024 PNC Championship | Zuma Press/Alamy
Pro cards in hand, college golf’s elite don’t wait around. David Ford officially locked up his PGA Tour card by finishing No. 1 in the PGA Tour University Rankings, climbing to No. 3 in the final 2024-25 College Men’s Rankings. Six additional players in our final top 25 finish inside Tour U’s top 10: José Luis Ballester Barrio (Golf NIL College Men's No. 6), Ian Gilligan (No. 7), Brendan Valdes (No. 8), Jackson Van Paris (No. 9), Preston Summerhays (No. 16), and Phichaksn Maichon (No. 22).
All punch their tickets to the Korn Ferry Tour through 2025 and gain exemptions to the final stage of PGA Tour Q-School.
Summerhays, Jackson Koivun (No. 4), and Ben James, (No. 10) head into U.S. Open final qualifying with their amateur status intact. Koivun is set for Atlanta’s Piedmont Driving Club, James takes on Canoe Brook in New Jersey, and Summerhays lines up at Valencia Country Club in California, each looking to play their way into Oakmont.
Meanwhile, Luke Clanton (No. 1), who locked up a U.S. Open spot with the 2024 Mark H. McCormack Medal last August, forfeits his exemption after declaring he would turn pro at the RBC Canadian Open—swapping amateur accolades for his first start in the paid ranks.
Lottie Woad, Golf NIL College Women's No. 1, at the 2025 U.S. Women's Open at Erin Hills | Kathryn Riley/USGA
Five of six amateurs making the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open hold spots in the Golf NIL College Women’s Rankings: Lottie Woad (No. 1), Kiara Romero (No. 3), Maria José Marin (No. 4), Farah O’Keefe (No. 10), and Carolina Lopez (No. 17). The low amateur locks up an automatic invite to the 2026 U.S. Women’s Amateur. For the first time, every amateur making the cut also earns a LEAP (LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway) point, the LPGA’s fast-track to tour status. With 20 points needed to clinch a card, Woad currently sits at 16, Marin at five, Romero at four, Lopez at two, O’Keefe at one.
Last year’s U.S. Women’s Open weekend viewership quadrupled weekday numbers, with 943,000 tuning in for Sunday’s final round—a major spotlight opportunity, as Chowchilla High School golfer Asterisk Talley found out, turning a lesser-known name into a breakout story.
Major Moves
Ole Miss' Michael La Sasso climbs four spots to No. 11 in the College Men’s Rankings after capturing the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Championship, locking up exemptions to the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont and the 2026 Masters. He closes the season with a program-record 69.48 scoring average.
The Raleigh, N.C. native, represented by The Familie agency, is several months into his NIL partnership with lifestyle brand Johnnie-O and has seen a 25% jump in social followers in recent weeks—joining a select group of college golfers whose marketability rivals their on-course results.
