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Golf Monthly
Golf Monthly
Sport
Ben Fleming

What Are Tiger Woods' Career Earnings?

Tiger Woods (L) of the United States celebrates on the 18th green after winning the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 14, 2019 .

As Tiger Woods reaches the twilight of his career, many will begin the look back on his record-breaking career. With a legacy spanning from the early nineties as an amateur right up to the modern day, there can be no disputing his influence on and off the course.

While his current physical condition may not allow the American to compete regularly, his trophy cabinet is still full to the brim having won 82 PGA Tour titles, including 15 Major championships, to date.

As one of the game's most recognisable and successful figures, he has become by far the richest golfer on the planet. In 2022, Forbes estimated his net worth to be at least $1 billion, based on his lifetime earnings, making him one of just three known athlete billionaires, alongside NBA legends LeBron James and Michael Jordan.

While plenty of that money has come from sponsorship deals, endorsements and other business ventures, a sizable amount of that money has come from earnings on the PGA Tour.

How much? Let's take a look...

In 1996, when Woods turned pro, Tom Lehman topped the PGA Tour money list with £1.78m and Nick Price was 50th with $402,000. Fast forward 10 years to 2006 and he topped the money list with $9.94m and Richard Johnson in 50th place won $1.56m. 

Now, in 2023, the 47-year-old has far surpassed that total, with his career PGA Tour earnings sitting at a mammoth $120,954,766. The next best is Phil Mickelson, who has won $96,572,310 in prize money. 

Having won his first PGA Tour title in 1996 - the year he turned pro - at the Las Vegas Invitational, the Californian would go on to earn more than $2million the following year alone, capturing four titles including his first Major at the 1997 Masters.

Since 1997, Woods has only earned less than a million dollars in a season on seven occasions in which he played an event  - once in 2011, a three-year spell between 2014 and 2017 and the last three years when he has only played in eight total events. All seven seasons saw him struggle with injury. 

On three separate occasions - the 2005, 2007 and 2009 seasons - Woods has earned more than $10m in prize money. In 2005, the golfing legend won six times, including Major triumphs at the Masters and Open Championship, and earned a cool $10,628,024.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

His highest-earning season would come in 2007 when he brought in $10,867,052 in prize money. In that season alone, Woods captured not only his fourth PGA Championship at Southern Hills but also two WGC events as well as the final two events in the season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs.

Just two years later, in 2009, Woods would break the $10m prize money total again, although he did not add to his Major tally in that calendar year. 

Instead, Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, AT&T National, Buick Open, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, BMW Championship and JBWere Masters. That season also saw him take home the season-long FedEx Cup for the second time, earning him an additional $10m bonus.

The 15-time Major champion's most recent triumph came in 2020 at the Zozo Championship in Japan, with his three-shot victory earning him the $1,755,000 winners cheque. 

More recently, injuries have hampered his ability to compete, with Woods earning just $167,200 in prize money since the start of 2021. He could, however, have added a sizable amount to his bank balance when approached by LIV Golf in 2022, with reports suggesting he turned down an offer between $700m-$800m to join the 54-hole circuit.

Tiger Woods’ Earnings per season

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