Injuries have limited Tiger Woods to just 13 PGA Tour events and $212,000 in total prize money during the past six years, with a top finish of 38th at the 2020 Masters. Yet, when the computers spit out the results for the 2024 Player Impact Program that awards $50 million to the PGA’s biggest stars, Woods ranked first and collected the top $10 million bonus.
The power of Tiger remains strong despite his on-course absence. Woods had the highest fan awareness and was the most Googled golfer during each year of the Player Impact Program, which was retired in 2025. The associated payout added to an estimated career earnings tally of $2 billion as of Dec. 30, when Tiger turned 50.
“Tiger will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity,” Earl Woods told Sports Illustrated about his then 20-year-old son in 1996. “I don’t know exactly what form this will take, but he is the Chosen One.”
Tiger didn’t quite live up to Earl’s Jesus/Gandhi off-course impact expectations, but he was a huge hit on the course from the get-go. He turned pro in 1996 with sponsorships from Nike, Titleist and Upper Deck. The five-year Nike deal was worth $40 million.
At Augusta the following year, he set records with his -18 score and 12-stroke victory, while CBS notched its own record: 44 million tuned in to watch Sunday’s final round. For some perspective, Rory McIlroy’s historic 2025 Masters win had 12.7 million Sunday viewers, up 33% from 2024. Tiger’s win was the first of 15 major titles and sent his marketing profile to the moon.
Sponsors poured in, including Accenture, AT&T, Buick, Gillette, Electronic Arts and PepsiCo. He earned more than $100 million per year from endorsements, royalties and appearance fees at his peak in the late 2000s. The Woods brand was badly dinged by his November 2009 car crash and infidelity scandal, but sponsors returned for the comeback story, including his 2019 Masters title.
Nike built a golf division on the back of Woods that peaked at $792 million in revenue in 2013. The company and athlete parted ways after 27 years at the end of 2023. Woods subsequently launched a new brand, Sun Day Red, with TaylorMade.
Other current Woods sponsors include Bridgestone, Full Swing, Hero MotoCorp, Kowa, Monster Energy, Rolex and 2K Sports. In August, he partnered with human resources firm Insperity, and the deal also covers his foundation, golf design business and TGL team, Jupiter Links.
Elite golfers can often remain popular pitchmen long after their biggest victories. Arnold Palmer still earned nearly $40 million a year off his name and brand when he died in 2016 at 87. Those long-term earnings profiles helped golfers land eight slots among Sportico’s April study on the highest-paid athletes of all time. Woods ranked second behind Michael Jordan, while fellow Dec. 30 birthday boy LeBron James ranked fourth.
More than 90% of Woods’ career earnings come from sponsors, royalties, appearance fees and his course design business. He also still ranks first in career PGA Tour prize money with $121 million, $13 million ahead of McIlroy, who tops Woods if adding in FedEx Cup bonuses, where McIlroy has doubled Woods, $56.1 million to $28.6 million.
Woods’ on-course resume includes records for consecutive cuts (142), weeks at No. 1 (683) and tournament wins (82, tied with Sam Snead). He had the career Grand Slam at age 24. Lately, it’s his injury log that keeps growing; he’s gone through seven back surgeries, at least two Achilles procedures and multiple knee operations. Yet, he remains at the center of the golf business.
Woods and McIlroy launched TMRW Sports in 2022 with former Golf Channel executive Mike McCarley. Its first project was the tech-driven team golf league TGL, and TMRW was valued at nearly $500 million in 2024 during its Series A investment round co-led by Dynasty Equity and Connect Ventures.
In 2023, Woods was appointed to the PGA Tour policy board, and he also now heads up the Future Competition Committee. Woods was on the search committee for the PGA Tour’s new CEO, where it landed longtime NFL executive Brian Rolapp.
