Tiger Woods has reportedly topped the PGA Tour 's Player Impact Programme (PIP) once again, despite only playing three events in 2022. Woods has spent the majority of the season watching on, as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in a car crash in February of last year.
This has not stopped the 15-time major champion's influence on the game though, after AP revealed the 82-time PGA Tour champion topped the PIP standings for a second successive year. Woods also earned the prize in 2021, despite not playing a single event due to his fitness.
And whilst 2022 only saw the 82-time PGA Tour winner compete three times - at the Masters, PGA Championship and The Open - he has remarkably topped the charts once again.
The programme recognises players' efforts off the course rather than off it, hence Woods' back-to-back triumphs. It instead measures which players have had the biggest influence with fans of the sport and the media.
When winning in 2021, £35 million was handed out to the top 10 influential players, but this time around £87 million will be rewarded to an expanded 20 PGA Tour members. The official list and prize monies is expected to be announced by the American circuit later this month.
The mega-money programme received a financial revamp in the wake of the PGA Tour's ongoing battle with the LIV Golf Series, which has looked to lure away some of the game's biggest names with funding from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. One man who has reportedly pushed Woods close in the standings is his ally, and business partner, Rory McIlroy.
Both Woods and McIlroy have been used as key weapons in the PGA Tour's war with LIV, with arguably two of golf's biggest names looking to keep some of the fellow players on side on behalf of the American-based circuit. Earlier this year, the pair headed a player meeting in Delaware in attempt to sustain their fellow stars' loyalty to the PGA Tour.
Speaking after their meet up in August, McIlroy outlined just how much of an influence Woods has on his fellow players and the game as a whole, commenting: "I think it’s pretty apparent that whenever we all get in the room, there’s an alpha in there, and it’s not me...
What do you make Woods winning the PIP prize? Let us know in the comments section below.
"It’s impactful, and I think it shows how much he cares about the Tour. I think it shows how much he cares about the players that are coming through and are going to be the next generation. Like it or not, they can’t really sell Tiger Woods anymore. The Tour had an easy job for 20 years.
"They don’t have Tiger — yes, they’ve got a bunch of us and we’re all great players, but we’re not Tiger Woods. He is the hero that we’ve all looked up to. His voice carries further than anyone else’s in the game of golf. His role is navigating us to a place where we all think we should be.”
