A Surprising Revelation About Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, and the Millions They Make

Sheer sportsmanship may have been what drove these Masters of their games on to the road to cementing their legacies, but what we can’t deny is the bewildering amounts they’ve made in individual earnings. ‘Money’ is not just a factor by which we determine an athlete’s range of earning or how well they do at their respective sport. With that said, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer are two of the richest athletes in their respective sports.

It is, however, what sometimes determines the range of how well they play and how far apart from their direct competitors do they really stand, especially in games such as golf, where each player personally invests in themselves to get a shot at the purse that not everyone can earn from. So what two better men to pit against each other to understand this difference than the King of Golf and the Wizard of Tennis.

When The Money Talks, it is Tiger Woods over Roger Federer…

To be as accurate as possible when comparing apples to oranges, we should consider both athletes’ earnings at the peak of their careers and now as it stands into the later half or ‘the twilight years’ of their sports. Tiger Woods enjoyed peak success longer than any athlete in sporting history. He is probably the most dominant of all time. However, Federer can make a solid case against that with his incredible trophy cabinet at home.

2019 US Open Tennis Tournament- Day Nine. Roger Federer of Switzerland during his match against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the Men’s Singles Quarter-Finals match on Arthur Ashe Stadium during the 2019 US Open Tennis Tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 3rd, 2019 in Flushing, Queens, New York City. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

Read More: How Roger Federer Turned His Fortune and Earned $600M After Leaving Nike’s Endorsement Deal

Both Federer and Woods have earned several millions through endorsement and marketing. They’ve made a huge fortune out of it, but in the end, it is Tiger Woods who holds an advantage over the 20-time Grand Slam Champion.

In 2022, their individual Net Worth come up to around 800 Million and 550 Million for both Tiger Woods and Roger Federer respectively according to ‘CelebrityNetWorth.com‘. Sounds about right doesn’t it? Except that it really shouldn’t and that the math doesn’t quite add up.

Also, according to the website, Federer earns more money through endorsements than Woods does at the moment. The same goes for on-field earnings as well, barring 2021, where the Swiss Maestro did not play competitive tennis enough. However, it is surprising to note that Federer has a significantly lesser net worth that Woods despite making more than him annually.

As per Sportico’s latest revelation, Federer pips Woods as the top-earning athlete amongst the two this year. Federer is estimated to make north of $85M, while Woods’ earnings sit at $73.5M, on and off-course earnings combined.

To simplify the math, even though Tennis ends up being more tasking/physically intensive and athletes have shorter primes, Tiger’s final few years have seen not only the deterioration of his legendary skills and abilities with a set of clubs but also his endorsements and earnings off of the Golf Course as well.

While in that sense, Federer sees himself retaining more of his endorsements and has gone on to make upwards of ‘$90 Million’ alone in 2021 according to ‘therichest.com‘. To be completely clear, we here at ES dread the days that we have to see either of these Titans retire, but alas such are the ways and lives of a pro athlete.

Dec 19, 2021; Orlando, Florida, USA; Tiger Woods and his son Charlie Woods walking down the 18th fairway during the final round of the PNC Championship golf tournament at Grande Lakes Orlando Course. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Reper-USA TODAY Sports

Before the Rolex Time Runs Out for Roger Federer

What remains in the final few years or months of these epic sagas are something that is yet to be seen. Personally, we’d love to see them blaze out in one final glorious spark of prime year of form.

As it stands at the moment, Tiger sits comfortably atop his pile of earnings as one of the most undisputed champions of his respective sport as well as others, when it comes to the bare bone questions such as “How much did you see yourself play for?”. The irony though? On one of the episodes of the ‘Chasing Majors‘ podcast, Steve Williams would go on to reveal that in his time spent caddying for arguably the greatest golfer to ever live, never once did Tiger check his sheet to determine the earnings he would go on to make while playing.

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