It’s a good thing Tiger Woods is making his return to competitive golf next week, because he’s chasing Roger Federer now. And it has nothing to do with Major titles.
Forbes reports the tennis great has passed Woods on the all-time list of prizemoney earners in individual sports. Federer didn’t win last week’s ATP Finals, but he did enough to move in front of Woods with total tournament winnings of $US110,235,682. Woods, meanwhile, remains stuck on $US110,061,012 in prizemoney for his career that has been derailed by an assortment of injuries over the past few years. Since earning more than $8.5 million during his US PGA Tour Player of the Year campaign in 2013, Woods has earned only $556,873.
Federer, 36, has 95 wins, including 19 grand slam singles titles. Woods, 41, has 105 worldwide wins (79 US Tour titles), including 14 Major championships, which trails only Jack Nicklaus’ record total of 18.
If Woods, who underwent a fourth back surgery in April, can put forth one more sustained comeback, he should probably wind up ahead of Federer, who continues to defy the odds of competing at such a high level of tennis at his age. But even if Woods can’t (actually, he probably still is ahead of him because Forbes doesn’t count money he’s earned on the European Tour for some reason), we shouldn’t feel too badly for him. In total earnings (including endorsements), Forbes’ $1.65 billion figure for Tiger crushes Federer’s $600 million.
That’s right, Woods has made $1 BILLION more than his friend and fellow legend. So the next time the two meet up for a meal, Woods should still be shouting.
