Woods still the game’s biggest earner
Tiger Woods has
once again ended a calendar year as golf’s top earner, despite
suffering a pay cut of $48 million after losing his swing and his
marriage and failing to win a single tournament.
The American world
number two, who celebrated his 35th birthday on Thursday, topped Golf
Digest magazine’s annual list for 2010 with overall earnings of $74.2
million.
Of that, only $2.29
million came from tournament purses with the rest accumulated
off-course through endorsements and appearance fees.
Fellow American
Phil Mickelson was second with total earnings of $40.18 million,
followed by Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman fourth and Jack Nicklaus fifth.
Jim Furyk, who
collected a $10 million bonus for winning the PGA Tour’s season-long
FedExCup in September, was sixth on $23.58 million.
Other players
featuring in the top 50 included South Africans Ernie Els seventh and
Gary Player eighth, Britain’s Lee Westwood ninth and Ireland’s Padraig
Harrington.
Overall earnings
were compiled by Golf Digest through interviews with agents, players,
executives of companies involved with endorsements, industry analysts
and also via the official money lists of the leading professional tours.
In 2009, Woods led
the standings with a mind-boggling $121.9 million but his earnings have
dipped following his unexpected fall from grace after being engulfed by
a sex scandal.
The 14-times major
champion spent much of 2010 unsuccessfully trying to repair his
marriage and also undergoing the fourth swing change of his career.
His troubles led
such firms as AT&T and Accenture to end sponsorship deals, costing
Woods up to $35 million in annual revenue.
He ended his PGA
Tour season without a single title for the first time since he turned
professional in 1996 and was deposed as world number one by Britain’s
Lee Westwood on November 1.
However, since
Woods joined forces with Canadian swing coach Sean Foley after the PGA
Championship in August, his form has steadily improved and he remains
the biggest drawcard in the game.
He is still paid more than $60 million annually by Nike,
Electronic Arts,
Procter & Gamble’s Gillette, Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets unit,
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s Tag Heuer, Upper Deck and TLC Laser
Vision Centers.
Pull quotes: only $2.29 million came from tournament purses with the
rest accumulated off-course through endorsements and appearance fees
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