Tiger Woods by PaddyBriggs via Wikipedia Commons.
Tiger Woods has fallen a long way from the top in recent years. Rocked by a public infidelity scandal in 2009, the golf superstar has had not just his reputation tarnished, but he also has yet to regain his top form, He hasn't won a major event since 2008. As a result, both his net worth and income have suffered. Having said that, he still was one of the 10 highest-paid athletes last year and he still has a net worth most of us won't even attain in our wildest dreams.
Tiger Woods by the numbers
Because of lingering injuries, Woods has only made the cut in seven of his past 13 events, which is a startling fall for a player who once made a record 142 straight cuts. However, despite not performing as well as he once did, Woods still made $50.6 million this year, according to Forbes. That ranks him as the ninth highest-paid athlete in the world and the second highest-paid golfer behind Phil Mickelson at $50.8 million. Those earnings have pushed Woods' total career earnings up to more than $1.37 billion since turning pro. He's likely on his way to making more than $2 billion before all is said and done.
That being said, Tiger Woods is not a billionaire today. And while how much Tiger Woods is worth is still open to debate, he is thought to have a current net worth of around $600 million, the bulk of which has come from endorsement deals and not from golf earnings. In fact, Forbes pegs his tournament prize money at just $600,000 this year, while in his best year he earned only $10.8 million playing golf and his career earnings from the PGA Tour are just a shade over $100 million. On the other hand, Woods' biggest endorsement deal is with Nike, which he has been with since turning pro in 1996, and it is estimated to pay him as much as $20 million per year. The company is one of the few that have remained with Woods since his scandal broke, as well as in spite of his poor play in recent years.
Tiger Woods could be worth much more
Speaking of Woods' scandal, it has significantly tarnished his reputation, cut deeply into his earnings, and took a huge chunk out of his net worth. While we can't put a price tag on his reputation, we can say that Woods his deals with the likes of Accenture, AT&T, PepsiCo, Gillette, and Electronic Arts, many of which surely valued his reputation as much as, if not more than, his ability to play golf. While Woods has attempted to rebuild his endorsement empire in the years since the scandal broke, his $50.6 million in earnings this year will be well off his peak in 2007m when he earned $122.7 million. Meanwhile, his now ex-wife, Elin Nordegren, was awarded $110 million as part of their divorce settlement, taking a big chunk of his net worth.
Woods is no longer the superstar he once was on or off the field. However, he has tried to rebuild his financial empire by signing new endorsement deals in recent years, including an $8 million-a-year deal with Indian motorcycle and scooter company Hero. However, while Woods isn't exactly hurting financially, he's a long way from his former peak.
Takeaway
Clearly, Tiger Woods is worth a whole lot of money, but he has lost a lot in recent years because of his infidelity scandal. His reputation, income and net worth have all experienced serious blows. That's a life lesson to us all, and the lesson isn't to avoid getting caught, but to avoid the situation in which one's reputation can be tarnished entirely. It's just not worth it, and as we can see from Tiger Woods' own experience, it's hard to clean up a tarnished reputation -- not to mention the potential impact that can have on one's net worth.
The other takeaway is that Tiger Woods makes far more money outside his day job playing golf. It's a subtle reminder that there's often money to be made in things relating to our jobs -- such as consulting, for example -- that can have a big impact on one's net worth.
