Agent: 5-Hour Energy Wanted Furyk For "Family-Man" Persona, Not For His Kinetic Acting Presence

Alan Bastable follows up with Jim Furyk's agent following a New York Times report of health issues initiated by the 5-hour Energy drink that has become synonymous with the veteran pro.

Witlieb would not reveal how much his client is paid to endorse the supplement, but he did say, "Lord knows this deal was out there for everyone." According to Witlieb, the company also considered signing Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, or Gary Woodland, but settled on Furyk because of his "family-man" persona.

The ad, in case you were just released from Guantanamo Bay:

Comments

[Kevin part deux]

"But they're not going to find anything conclusive. If there were people dying from this, there would have been lawsuits by now."

Good enough for me!

[D.]

Do people die from coffee too?

[digsouth]

Five hours is enough for about 12 holes with his putting ''routine''.

Jim may be a great guy, but I would not want him on my team on the island

[No Longer Used to be Former Stack & Tilt Convert]

I thought the commercials were very effective. I had to buy the product to summon the energy to watch the commercial over and over and over during a telecast.

[chicago pt]

the 5 hour limit + slow pace of play must be why Jim couldnt finish all those tournaments this year!

[Cheeks]

Another great moment in his 2012 season.

[sgolfer]

5 Hour Energy was looking for "family man persona?"

I guess FUSE was looking for "p*rnstar banging persona."

[StephenP]

I cringe everytime I see this "snakeoil" commercial. Associating this product with golf is something I could never figure out. 5-Hour-Energy is a multi BILLION dollar success story that trumpets stupidity. The change in advertising from try it (once in awhile) if you need a boost, to use the product every day so you can PERFORM at work is sickening. Hey it can't be bad since the company now supports breast cancer research with the new lemonade flavored pink bottle!

You may remember EXTENZE, the bogus penis enlargement product that carpet bombed late night TV a few years back. They are now out of business. Not because they make a worthless product that dripped with snakeoil hucksterism. I read that what tripped them up was that they failed to give refunds to dissatisfied customers and provided inadequate custom service phone lines/return functionality. If the EXTENZE company was wiling to make those refunds and actually have a body at the other end of the phone they would still be in business making a lot of money, but just a little less than before.

To SUMMARIZE., make a worhtless, lying product - OK. Not have an effective customer service team and actual effective return policy for worhless lying product, you are out of business. That is until you form a new shell company with a new name......

What do you expect from a PGA TOUR PLAYER whose TOUR's biggest sponser is CIALIS, a product that works but is just as sickening with the 4 times a hour commericals. Cialis is advertised so relentlessly their manufacturer may as well be calssified as a drug dealer since the production of the product far exceeds legitmate clinical need (which they created with their own advertising!). That is the definition of a recreational drug. Reality can never invade business hucksterism.

It would be comical if it were not all true....

[tlavin]

Geoff,

Thanks for the plug. Guantanamo was tough, but the weather is pretty good.

[RLL]

I would guess that "family guy" Jim Furyk actually felt compelled (by his good guy conscience...?) to use this product after he allowed it to be plastered all over his visage creating one of the more ridiculous avatars on the professional golf circuit. (The guys wearing UPS and Mastercard logos just under their faces come in a close 2nd...) But in this case, the product turned an oddball OCD athlete who was kind of like the talented odd man out relief pitcher on a lot of baseball clubs into a twitching fetus who could no longer keep a putter on line when the adrenaline of nerves interacted with the hyper-caffeinated energy coursing through his body. I don't know how much he made from the "endorsement," but I doubt it was equal to the amount of prize money he gave up on 18th holes around the globe.

P.S. You can give yourself a heart attack by drinking too much espresso, too...

[Chris]

I like RLL's comments, was going to say something similar, but not as cleverly. I found some years ago that I putted much better when I didn't drink Diet Coke on the course, so I can't imagine what 5-HE would do for one's putting nerves.

[NC Phyllis]

To pick up on something RLL mentioned...Furyk looks ridiculous with the 5-Hour stamped on his hat. I understand the money, but come on. $52M in career PGA Tour earnings. I guess it's something I can't relate to but I would much rather be sporting something halfway decent in apparel and logo choices then what some of these guys do. I understand when you're young, or if you're John Daly you do what you gotta do to pay some bills, but how much money does someone need, in exchange for looking ridiculous?

It's not just Jim Furyk, bunch of guys look silly. I'd much rather something more discrete for logoes. Sure will be nice when he's rifling through the photo album at 80 years old with his grandkids, "Nice bucket grampa, what were you thinking?"

Of course, I am not on tour, and the last offer I got for endorsement was a hearty pat on the back from a 2 year old.

[Fifth Column]

Doubt he used 5 hour energy on the course. Perfect compliment to the 4 hour erections from Cialis.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I wonder what the 5 Hour Energy people thought of the family values that were portrayed this weekend when both Clint Boyer, the driver of the 5 Hour Energy sponsored Neckcar, the Crew Chief (who uttered an expletive on the television) and crew took on Jeff Gordon & crew for crashing into them at the Phoenix NASCAR race?

Thank you You Tube!

http://youtu.be/wkUgv57J0Tg

[gov. lepetomane]

I felt Jim's decision to endorse the product was unwise. My impression is that few of the demographic groups comprising most golfers have use for something like 5 Hour Energy. Indeed, it may be negatively viewed by most of these groups. It strikes me a strictly a money decision and as noted by NC Phylis, he's won $52 million (this is just PGA Tour winnings - subtract the expenses such as travel and caddy and the tax and add other income from other endorsements and non-PGA events and my guess is his net is actually $52 million or more).

It's doubtful he took it during competition. His poor year is probably secondary to other factors. It's a shame, but I think this endorsement genuinely hurts his reputation.

[LA Man]

I could see a struggling young pro stamping those ridiculous 5 Hour Energy logos all over himself. He needs the money. But a guy with $50M in Official Earnings - not including the off-course millions? Jim Furyk? Jesus. Isn't that why you try to make a lot of money? So you don't have to do things just for the money? Why doesn't he put the logo of his favorite charity all over himself instead? He makes (or should make) more money in interest and dividends than 98 percent of the people in America. All this adds up to bad karma for Jim - at the U.S. Open, Bridgestone, Medinah, Sea Island - and the fact that 5 Hour Energy obviously doesn't last long enough.

[Anon]

More on Furyk and this deal here:

http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/2012-10/peter-finch-finance

Says he makes between $1.2 and $1.5 million on it.