Tiger Woods closed 2010 as the world’s highest earning golfer, despite his particular annus horribilis in which he did not win any tournament, ceded the world number one to Lee Westwood and liquidated, after acknowledging numerous infidelities, his marriage to Elin Nordegren, to whom he has had to pay 100 million dollars.
Wooods, who turned 35 in December, earned a total of 74.2 million dollars (55.6 million euros) last year, 48 less than what he pocketed in 2009. Of that amount, only 2.29 million corresponds to money won in tournaments and the rest corresponds to income from sponsorships.
Despite its poor form, the Tiger, which closed the year without a win for the first time since 1996, continues to receive $60 million in sponsorship from Nike, lectronic Arts, Gillette, Berkshire Hathaway, Tag Heuer, Upper Deck and TLC Laser Vision Centers.
Next in the list of earnings is Phil Mickelson, who earned 40.18 million dollars, followed by such illustrious players as Arnold Palmer (36 million), Greg Norman (30) and Jack Nicklaus (25). Jim Furyk, who received an extra ten million for winning the FedExCup, was sixth with 23.58 million.
Tiger again tops list
of golfing earners
Tiger Woods, as usual, tops the list of earners for the professional golfing world. Even though he missed time due to his rehab/sex scandal fiasco and lost out on a number of endorsements, Tiger still brought home a cool $74.2 million.
Incidentally, only about $2 million of that came from actually playing golf, something Tiger had a hard time doing in 2010, losing the number one ranking for the first time in years. That total is down from $121.9 million in earnings from 2009. Add that to the $100 million he had to pay his now ex-wife and it adds up to one expensive year for Tiger.
Number two on the list is Phil Mickelson. Although he earned a lot more on the links he is not quite the marketing magnet that Tiger once was; he totalled out at $40.2 million. The rest of the top-five don’t play on the tour and haven’t in years: Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus.
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