Last month, Canadian golfer Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson) became the second-youngest winner of a PGA championship after besting Lydia Ko in the KPMG tournament at Sahalee Country Club in Washington.
While we know how well she can play on the green, we’re looking at her social media pages to see how she stacks up online. Athletes will be graded in four different categories, each scored out of 10.
Fan engagement score: 10/10
Henderson shows some serious dedication to her fans online, and for that, she gets a 10 out of 10. Between high-fiving young fans and answering personal questions on Twitter, Henderson has made herself very accessible.
Thank you to all of the fans that came out to support us. Huge crowds all week & loud roars! #LittleGirlsBigDreams pic.twitter.com/Udz1Sp5N7E
— Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson) June 13, 2016
Henderson also replied to a tweet from a mother asking when her young children should start golfing.
Three years old. They are so cute…never too early to start!! https://t.co/I4TSXV8yp1
— Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson) June 2, 2016
One Twitter user asked Henderson who owned more golf shoes between her and her sister (who’s also her full-time caddy.)
Golf shoes me…dressy shoes Brit! https://t.co/rYmtSlW7qr
— Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson) June 1, 2016
Visual media score: 8/10
For this section, we look at how effectively an athlete is using photos and videos on their social media channels. Henderson scored an eight for her great use of images, but missed out on the extra two points due to a lack of videos.
A life size me!! @PortlandClassic pic.twitter.com/XIKkJxJeOp
— Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson) July 1, 2016
— Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson) July 10, 2016
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEZc4GNMXfm/?taken-by=brookehendersongolf
Super cool performance by @dariusrucker at the @CVSClassicGolf tournament! pic.twitter.com/ubSD0u8qBu
— Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson) June 28, 2016
Popularity score: 8/10
For the popularity measure, we consider the amount of followers an athlete has as well as how they are generally regarded by the online public. While Henderson has won over the hearts of most golf fans, she lost two points here due to her smaller online audience. Henderson’s 33,000 Twitter followers are certainly impressive, but golf stars like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have racked up millions of online fans.
Canadian LPGA phenom Brooke Henderson effortlessly wins over crowd with her charm https://t.co/2FXFQ8VNcv pic.twitter.com/zMtzxlsytO
— Women's Golf (@WomensGolf) July 19, 2016
Canada's newest Olympian – Brooke Henderson – already inspiring the next generation #LikeAGirl @TheGolfCanada pic.twitter.com/ZFxqOOfnGe
— Chris Dornan (@dornan10) July 19, 2016
Huge congrats to @BrookeHenderson on her big win! Joining a legend like Sandra Post is a huge accomplishment!
— Mike Weir (@mweirsy) June 13, 2016
Product placement score: 7/10
It’s considered quite normal for sponsored athletes to advertise brands through social media channels, although sometimes it can get a little overwhelming. No fan wants to feel like their favourite athlete is bombarding them with product placement. For this measure, a high score indicates less product placement, while a low score indicates lots of product placement.
While Henderson’s social media pages do feature a fair amount of content supporting her sponsors, she’s able to keep it from taking over her feeds completely.
https://www.instagram.com/p/-C535bsXcH/?taken-by=brookehendersongolf
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEZjquyMXZz/?taken-by=brookehendersongolf
Having fun with our new @AndroidWear watches – perfect to stay on top of things during #USWomensOpen! #newsponsor pic.twitter.com/BVlH8ngn86
— Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson) July 5, 2016
Final score:33/40
Finishing with a very respectable score of 33, perhaps Henderson will have a chance to improve upon it after she represents Canada at the Rio Olympics this summer.