Tiger Woods has raked in a £13 million bonus from the PGA Tour for his efforts in 2022 despite playing just nine rounds of competitive golf.
Just over a year after the high speed car crash that left him with multiple fractures in both legs, Woods made a remarkable return to action in April to play the US Masters. Despite clearly being hampered physically, the icon made the cut and lasted all four rounds and finished six over par.
He then survived until the weekend at the US PGA in Southern Hills, but had to withdraw after three rounds having limped for much of the 72 holes. Woods subsequently struggled at The Open Championship in St Andrews, although in emotional scenes, received a standing ovation as he walked down the 18th hole on the Friday.
The American didn't manage to take to the first tee in any other professional tournaments, but he was still awarded the top prize of £13 million in the PGA Tour's Player Impact Program (PIP). The programme is designed to reward players who draw attention to the game and generate positive interest in the Tour.
Undoubtedly, the return of Woods at Augusta generated mass publicity and interest in the tournament, and sure enough, he was ranked No 1 in four of the five PIP categories. The only exception was 'TV Sponsor Exposure,' which is the amount of time a player's sponsor logos appear on the screen during weekend rounds.
But he topped 'Internet Searches', for the number of times a player’s name is searched using Google, and 'Earned Media', the number of unique news articles that include a player's name. The 15-time major champion was also ahead of the rest for 'Awareness', relating to a player's general awareness score among broad US population, and 'Social Media', that considers a player’s reach, conversation and engagement metrics.
Woods beat Rory McIlroy into second, with the world No 1 still bagging a £10.13 million bonus. Jordan Spieth narrowly edged third place to make £7.57 million, with Justin Thomas fourth (£6.39 million) and Jon Rahm (£5 million) fifth.
A breakthrough year for Masters champion Scottie Scheffler could only see him finish sixth (£4.68 million). The quartet of Xander Schauffele, US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Will Zalatoris and Tony Finau made up the top 10, each receiving an extra £4.2 million. Overall, the bonus pool totals £84 million, and was recently expanded from 10 to 20 players after its first season in 2021.
Woods has been very much in the public eye off the course this year too, having been a vociferous opponent of the Saudi backed LIV Golf series. Him and McIlroy have established their own TGL venture, a virtual concept designed to attract a new audience to the PGA Tour and stave off the threat of LIV.
