Tiger Woods has been golfing since he was just 2 years old, but not every child prodigy grows up to be one of the most successful and highest paid athletes in the world. Due to his success, his net worth is $800 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Along with winning tournaments and the cash prizes that come along with it, Tiger makes money through different avenues as well. Keep scrolling to find out how Tiger earned his fortune.
He Is a Professional Golfer
Putting a tiny ball in a hole has earned Tiger $1.7 billion in career earnings and he is the highest paid golfer of all time. According to Forbes, as of 2017, Tiger is the second highest paid athlete of all time — just underneath Michael Jordan.
Tiger has countless accolades to his name (which, actually, is just a nickname. His real name remains Eldrick Tont Woods), including 81 PGA Tour wins, 41 European tour wins and five Masters wins.
From 1996 to 2007, Golf Digest reports he made $769,440,709. In 2009, Tiger became the world’s first pro athlete to earn more than a billion dollars in his career, according to Forbes.
His PGA tour pension plan is worth at least $20 million.
But he does so much more than whack a ball with a stick.
Tiger Has Multiple Endorsements
The rich get richer. Thanks to Tigers extreme success on the green, multiple brands scrambled to get him to endorse their products, including Nike, Gatorade, American Express, Asahi, General Mills (Wheaties), Golf Digest, Rolex, Gillette, Accenture, Tag Heuer, AT&T, EA Sports, NetJets, Upper Deck, TLC Laser Eye Centers and Buick, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Gatorade alone paid him $100 million in five years. Tiger was paid $20 million to endorse Gillette. At one point, his deal with American Airlines earned him $30 million. Nike paid him $20 million for five years — then his second deal with Nike earned him $20 million for five years, every year, to the grand total of $100 million.
He’s an Entrepreneur
Tiger owns a restaurant in Jupiter, Florida, called The Woods. On top of that, he is paid $10 million to design golf courses around the world.
He Gets Paid Just to Show Up
Tiger can earn up to $1.5 million just to appear at a golf tournament.
He Has Assets to His Name
Tiger has a number of very expensive assets, including a yacht worth $25 million, which he named “Privacy,” a 12-acre ocean-front property in Florida worth $55 million and a $54 million Gulfstream G550 private jet. Tiger hasn’t flown commercially in more than a decade, except in 2017 when he flew from Los Angeles to Dubai, which means his carbon footprint is probably as high as his net worth.