Tiger Woods Makes Grand Return Among World’s Top Athletes With 3rd Highest Endorsement Earnings

Back in the day, Tiger Woods claimed the top position of every prestigious golf list. He commonly would also hold the same position when golfers were compared with other sporting athletes. However, that had been lacking for the last few years. Nonetheless, in a new list of highest-paid athletes of 2022, Tiger found himself in familiar territory.

Woods has been the face of golf for nearly two decades. Apart from his dominance in the sport, the 15-time Major winner also enjoyed prize money and enormous endorsement deals with some of the biggest brands. Thanks to this, he still finds himself on the list of the rich.

Tiger Woods is one of the top 10 highest-paid athletes of 2022

Earlier this year, Forbes announced that Woods became the first golfer to have Billionaire status. Nonetheless, his earnings on the course in recent years have lessened considerably. According to the recent list released by Sportico of the 100 highest-paid athletes of 2022, Tiger only earned $8.5 million on the course.

However, his $65 million off the course was more than enough for the Hall of Famer to earn the 10th position on the list. Though he hardly competed this year, Tiger still is signed to a dozen of brands such as Monster Energy, Gatorade, and Nike, to name a few.

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Although Tiger Woods returned to a list that he is quite familiar with, many were surprised to not see any LIV Golf star despite the high earnings publicly mentioned. The second golfer on the list was Tiger’s PGA Tour buddy Rory McIlroy. The world number one was placed at 39th position with $38.4 million in total earnings.

Though Sportico may have done a thorough study for the list, it didn’t display McIlroy’s $12 million PIP earnings which he earned after finishing as runner-up below Woods. Moreover, the list also didn’t have any golfers from the Saudi-funded Tour, despite Dustin Johnson earning $35 million in prize money alone.

Sportico list: Tiger IN, LIV Golf Out

Similar to Sportico’s list, Forbes too had released a list of the highest-paid golfers earlier this year. Unlike the current list, LIV Golf stars dominated the rich list of Forbes. Phil Mickelson topped it, with total earnings of $138 million.

He was followed by fellow defectors such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia, and many others. Then why were LIV stars snubbed by Sportico? Though no specific reason can be pointed out, as per reports, there have been questions revolving around LIV Golf’s on-course prize money and also the player’s contracts.

Nonetheless, whether they make the list or not, the defectors are enjoying the exorbitant prize money of the Breakaway Tour. It would be intriguing to know what the next year’s list of highest-paid athletes would look like. Whether it would have more LIV Golf stars? Or will Tiger Woods continue to outshine them on the list? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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