How Tiger Woods made $60 million without hitting a single golf shot

Tiger Woods made $2.3 million over the past year in golf. 

He made $60 million in endorsements. Or about 96 percent of his overall $62.3 million in earnings.

Essentially, his main job was a side job. 

It pays to be Tiger Woods. 

From June 1, 2019, to June 1, 2020, Woods was the eighth highest-paid athlete in the world, according to the annual Forbes Magazine list, released Friday. Tennis player Roger Federer topped the list, a spot Woods held previously in his career a record 12 times, and three other golfers – Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth – were in the Forbes top 100. 

Woods’ endorsement total was tied with basketball player LeBron James for the second-highest figure on the list, behind Federer’s $100 million. Woods’ salary/winnings total was 96th on the list, which was still higher than Spieth’s ($1.6 million; 98th) and Mickelson’s ($800,000; 100th).  

Woods’ endorsements were spread across eight companies – Bridgestone, Discovery Communications, Inc., Hero Motocorp, Monster Energy, Nike, Rolex, TaylorMade and Upper Deck. Some companies are tied directly to his play – Bridgestone supplies his golf ball; Nike supplies his golf clothing; and TaylorMade supplies his golf clubs. Some companies are tied indirectly to his play – Discovery Communications, Inc. is the media company that owns GolfTV and Golf Digest; Hero Motocorp is a motorcycle and scooter manufacturer; Monster Energy produces an energy drink; Rolex makes watches; and Upper Deck is a sports card and memorabilia maker.  

The $60 million in endorsements is $45 million less than Woods’ highest total. According to Forbes, Woods made $105 million in endorsements in 2009, with deals with Accenture, AT&T, EA Sports, Gatorade, Gillette, Golf Digest, NetJets, Nike, Tag Heuer, TLC Laser Eye and Upper Deck. 

Various off-the-course troubles dropped that figure to $37 million in 2017, according to Forbes. 

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• Tiger Woods

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

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