Stanford golfer Rose Zhang becomes first NIL athlete for Adidas

Stanford women’s golfer Rose Zhang has become the first student-athlete to sign an NIL deal with Adidas. The top-ranked amateur women’s golfer in the world, she just captured the NCAA Division I individual and team championship with the Cardinal as a freshman.

Now she enters the U.S. Women’s Open this week as the only college athlete to have inked a deal with sportswear-giant Adidas. An exclusive, multi-year agreement, the deal calls for her to wear Adidas on and off the course in all competition, training and play outside of events with Stanford. She will also be included in brand marketing campaigns with new golf apparel and footwear.

A two-time AJGA Player of the Year, she has represented the United States at the Junior Solheim Cup, Junior Ryder Cup and Curtis Cup teams. And at the age of just 17 years old, she captured the U.S. Women Amateur in 2020 before winning the U.S. Girls’ Junior in 2021.

“Adidas has been a major part of some of my biggest wins as an amateur, so this is an exciting moment for me,” Zhang said in a statement. “I’m most comfortable wearing the 3-Stripes on the course and can’t wait for what’s ahead.”

The 19-year-old golfer already has NIL deals in play with Amundi Assset Management, Uswing Sunglasses and Beats by Dre. She is also represented by Excel Sports Management, which launched its women’s golf division last year.

Rose Zhang first step of Adidas’ NIL rollout

While Zhang is the first student-athlete to sign with Adidas, the company has much larger plans to expand its brand across college athletics.

The sportswear business announced Tuesday it is moving into the next phase of its NIL program featuring athletes as brand ambassadors, the first group of which will be women competing in multiple different sports. Adidas previously announced earlier this year that it plans to have an NIL network reaching over 50,000 student-athletes across 23 sports at 109 Division I schools.

Adidas is not far behind competitors in the NIL space, though. Nike only signed its first athlete in UCLA soccer’s Reilyn Turner late last year, and the company just announced this month the signing of sisters and high school soccer stars Alyssa and Gisele Thompson.