Despite Participating in Only 3 Tournaments... 'Tiger Woods' Tops Golf Player Earnings

Woods Earns About 95.4 Billion KRW This Year... Top-Earning Golfer
LeBron James, Top Basketball Player, Earns About 164.8 Billion KRW
2nd Lionel Messi · 3rd Cristiano Ronaldo

Tiger Woods. Photo by Yonhap News.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seohee] Tiger Woods has been ranked as the highest-earning golfer this year.

According to Sportico, a sports business media outlet, Woods earned $73.5 million (approximately 95.4 billion KRW) this year, making him the top-earning golfer. Second place went to Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) with $38.4 million (approximately 49.8 billion KRW), and third place was Phil Mickelson (USA), who moved to LIV Golf, earning $37.1 million (approximately 48.2 billion KRW).

Woods ranked 10th among all athletes across sports, up three spots from 13th last year. He made his return to the PGA Tour's first major of the season, the Masters, in April after 509 days since his accident. He participated in two more major tournaments afterward but withdrew due to leg pain, playing only 3 events and 9 rounds. He missed the cut at the Open Championship in July and recently competed in the events The Match and the PNC Championship.

The highest-earning athlete this year was LeBron James of the NBA's LA Lakers, who earned $126.9 million (approximately 164.8 billion KRW). Second place went to Lionel Messi, who led Argentina to victory in the Qatar World Cup, earning $122 million (approximately 158.4 billion KRW).

Third and fourth places were also football players. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) earned $115 million (approximately 149.3 billion KRW), and Neymar (Brazil) earned $103 million (approximately 133.8 billion KRW), ranking third and fourth respectively. Mexican boxing hero Canelo Alvarez ranked fifth with $89 million (approximately 115.6 billion KRW), while basketball players Stephen Curry ($86.2 million) and Kevin Durant ($85.9 million) took sixth and seventh places.

Meanwhile, Woods, who will turn 47 on the 30th, has earned a total of $2.1 billion (approximately 2.7253 trillion KRW), making him the highest-earning golfer of all time. Second place is the late Arnold Palmer, who earned $1.5 billion (approximately 1.9488 trillion KRW) during his lifetime, and third place is Jack Nicklaus, who earned $1.38 billion (approximately 1.7931 trillion KRW).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.