Tiger Woods is no longer at his peak, but is still the most attractive name in golf.
Sportico is a unit specializing in monitoring sports business activities. When ranking, they base on income (inflation calculated) from salaries, bonuses, advertising/sponsorship contracts, exploitation of personal franchises, prizes for participating in awards, etc.
If inflation is removed, basketball icon Jordan still ranks first with 2.05 billion USD, Woods is second with 1.66 billion USD. In this calculation, the legendary Palmer and Mickelson ranked T8 with 885 million USD, while Woods is still the only billionaire golfer.
Woods joined the PGA Tour in 1996 and holds the record of 82 PGA Tour titles with legend Sam Snead. He received 121 million USD from PGA Tour tournaments and held the world number one position for the longest time with 683 weeks. At the prestigious major level alone, “Super Tiger” won 15 championships.
At his peak, Woods earned up to $100 million a year from off-course activities. At one point, his tournament fee reached three million USD.
Woods currently has nine sponsors, of which Nike is the largest, plus a contract with Discovery Television Group to produce content for the GolfTV channel. He is expanding the field of both traditional and entertainment yard designs. The latest product is the 12-hole cluster The Hay in the Pebble Beach golf resort complex, California, opened in April.