Tiger Woods Is Back On Top Of The World's Highest-Paid Athletes

Tiger Woods had a dramatic fall from grace after his 2009 Thanksgiving car crash. He lost five sponsors, $50 million in annual income, his place atop the world golf rankings and his marriage. 

But with six victories over the last 12 months, Woods is back at No. 1 on the course and on Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s highest-paid athletes—a spot he occupied every year from 2001 until 2012, when boxer Floyd Mayweather ranked first.

Here is the top five from an extensive list you can view over at Forbes. 

1. Tiger Woods - $78.1 million 
2. Roger Federer - $71.5 million 
3. Kobe Bryant - $61.9 million 
4. LeBron James - $59.8 million 
5. Drew Brees - $51 million

Forbes estimates that Woods pulled in $78.1 million over the last year from prize money, endorsements, appearance fees and golf course design work. His resurgence on the links boosted his prize money over the last 12 months to $13.1 million, double his total from the prior year. He now has 78 career PGA Tour wins, only four short of the all-time record held by Sam Snead.

Woods’ off-course income is also up big thanks to sponsor bonuses tied to his strong play. Woods continues to get a healthy payout from his Tiger Woods PGA Tour video game franchise, with new versions released annually by Electronic Arts. This year’s is the 16th in the series, which is the fifth biggest sports franchise all-time for EA and has generated $754 million of revenue in the U.S. since its initial launch in 1998, according to research firm NPD Group.

Other partners in Woods’ endorsement stable include Nike, Rolex, Upper Deck, TLC Eye Centers, NetJets, Japan’s Kowa and sports nutrition firm Fuse Science.

Nike remains Woods’ biggest meal ticket, paying him more than $20 million annually by our count, and the company is on the verge of signing Woods to a contract extension, which will keep Woods as the top golf endorser at the $25 billion-in-sales sports behemoth. Woods first partnered with Nike when he turned pro in 1996 with a five-year, $40 million deal. Nike rolled out a new ad campaign featuring Woods in March with the slogan: “Winning takes care of everything.” Critics howled that the ads pardoned Woods for his transgressions revealed in 2009. Revenues at Nike Golf rose 10% last year to $726 million after three straight years of declines.

Fellow golfer Ernie Els famously referred to the end of the golf season as the time when “you’ve got the wheelbarrow out” for the lavish appearance fees splashed on the world’s best golfers. Woods was in full wheelbarrow mode last year, collecting more than $10 million in appearance fees from stops in Abu Dhabi, China, Malaysia and Turkey. Woods also reportedly picked up a $1.5 million fee for a PGA Tour stop at West Virginia’s Greenbrier Resort in July, which stirred up controversy because appearance fees are against the rules on the U.S. Tour. (Though those rules have long been flouted in a variety of ways.)

Woods’ golf course-design business has also picked up after his initial projects in Dubai, Mexico and North Carolina were halted due to the real estate crash. Developers broke ground on a new course in October in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, which is likely to be the first completed Woods-designed course.