Rolex and Golf: The Story Behind One of Sport’s Longest Partnerships
From Arnold Palmer and the Big Three to The Open and today’s leading players, Rolex has been woven into elite golf for almost six decades.
1967: where the Rolex golf story began
Rolex dates its enduring relationship with golf to 1967, when an association was sealed with Arnold Palmer and centred on Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. The three great rivals and friends became known as the Big Three, helping to take professional golf to a much wider international audience.
That starting point matters. The relationship was built around golfers whose reputations rested not only on winning, but on consistency, sportsmanship and performing under pressure — qualities that made golf a natural sporting fit for a precision watchmaker.
The Big Three changed golf
Palmer brought enormous popular appeal, Nicklaus became the benchmark for major-championship success and Player took an unusually international approach to the professional game. Together they helped turn elite golf into a global sporting spectacle.
Gary Player’s own Rolex story gives the relationship a human dimension. Player has recalled that his father told him that, if he kept working hard, one day he might be able to buy a Rolex. After completing the career Grand Slam with his 1965 U.S. Open victory, Player did exactly that. Two years later he joined Palmer and Nicklaus at the beginning of Rolex’s formal golf relationship.
1981: Rolex and The Open
For British golfers, perhaps the most familiar part of the partnership is The Open. Rolex has been an Official Partner of the championship since 1981, and its clocks have become a familiar sight at the links courses that host golf’s original championship.
The connection is particularly appropriate for Golf Gear Lab’s UK audience. The Open combines history, changing conditions, links golf and exacting shot-making — while Rolex’s involvement now spans generations of champions including members of the Big Three, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods.
From players to the whole game
The relationship has expanded far beyond individual ambassadors. Rolex now supports the four men’s majors and five women’s majors, leading professional tours and major team competitions including the Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup and Presidents Cup. It is also a partner of the Rules of Golf alongside The R&A and USGA, and supports amateur and junior golf.
That breadth is one reason Rolex appears so frequently around the sport without producing a GPS golf watch. Its place in golf is primarily about timekeeping, partnerships, players and the traditions of the game rather than measuring yardages or tracking a scorecard.
The next generations
The original Big Three were followed by other celebrated golfers associated with Rolex, including Tom Watson, Annika Sörenstam and Tiger Woods. The current generation includes major champions such as Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepka and others.
The names change, but the basic idea has remained remarkably consistent: associate the watchmaker with golfers competing at the highest level over long careers rather than with a short-lived technology trend.
Why Rolex and golf fit together
Golf and mechanical watchmaking have an obvious common language: precision, fine margins, patience, repeatability and respect for tradition. That does not mean a luxury mechanical watch will improve anyone’s golf — it will not give you a front-of-green number or calculate slope — but it helps explain why the relationship has endured for nearly 60 years.
From golf history to the watches themselves
For some golfers the interesting question is no longer simply why Rolex appears at major championships, but which models make sense for a golfer to own. That is where our buying coverage begins. We look at the Submariner, Explorer, Datejust and other models from a golfer’s perspective — while keeping luxury-watch appeal separate from on-course GPS performance.
Sources and further reading
This history is based primarily on Rolex’s published golf history and its official material covering the Big Three, Gary Player and The Open. Golf Gear Lab has independently written and structured this article and receives no payment from Rolex for this coverage.
- Rolex — Rolex and golf
- Rolex — The Open Championship
- Rolex — Gary Player