Tiger shoots 9 straight 0s

When Earl Woods, late father of Tiger, predicted his son would become the first billion-dollar sportsman there were sniggers of derision.

After all Earl was the bloke who groomed his son to be golf champion, who fortunately dropped Eldrick in favour of Tiger, who wore a cap embroidered with the words “Tiger Woods” while his son was still an amateur and who said his boy would became the most famous person in the world.

They also laughed at Phil Knight, founder of Nike, when he paid $40-million to secure Tiger’s first professional contract.

Well guess who’s laughing now?

Forbes magazine, well-known for its “leader boards” of the well-heeled, has announced that Woods has become sport’s first billion-dollar man.

In the latest addition Forbes’ Kurt Badenhausen writes that according to the magazine’s calculations the $10-million bonus Tiger earned for taking the season-ending FedEx Cup nudged him over the $1-billion mark in career earnings.

Woods, according to Forbes’ estimates, had earned a cumulative $895-million going into 2009 from prize money, appearance fees, endorsements, bonuses and his golf course design business. If you add his $10.5-million in 2009 prize money, the FedEx bonus and his earnings so far this year from his more than $100-million in annual off-the-course earnings, Woods' career earnings are now 10 figures.

Forbes has been tracking athlete earnings since before Tiger turned pro.

Woods’ has only two real competitors when it comes to career earnings among athletes, a pair of Michaels, Jordan and Schumacher, who dominated their respective sports for nearly 15 years. Jordan's earning peaked during his last season with the Chicago Bulls (1998-'99), when he earned $69-million in salary and endorsement income.

Jordan, amazingly, continues to earn $45-million annually, almost entirely from Nike. Forbes says “His Airness” has earned $800-million since he entered the NBA in 1984. Annual sales of the Jordan brand are now $1-billion for Nike, so Jordan should hit the $1-billion mark in career earnings in the next four to five years.

Schumacher's earnings peaked at $80-million in 2003, when he won his record sixth World Drivers' Championship (he won a seventh title the following year). His $40-million salary was the highest in sports at the time and his income doubled when you factored in endorsements, licensing deals and championship bonuses. Schumacher has earned $700-million, by Forbes’ count, since his Formula One debut in 1991.

Forbes concedes that as for Woods, only his accountant knows if Tiger is a billionaire athlete yet, but if it did not happen last weekend it is likely only a matter of months or his next cheque from Nike.

Woods has been the world’s highest-paid athlete since 2002, when he surpassed Schumacher. His earnings have surged in recent years as he launched a golf course design business. He currently has three courses underway that pay him more than $10-million per project.

The launch of the FedEx Cup has been a bonus for Woods, who has taken the $10-million top prize in two of its three years (a knee injury prevented his participation last year). Woods also commands $3-million appearances fees when he plays outside the United States.

Woods lost General Motors' Buick division as a sponsor at the end of last year, but he quickly added AT&T as the brand on his golf bag. PepsiCo launched Gatorade Tiger last year in a revenue-sharing deal that potentially could be very lucrative for Woods. His other biggest endorsement deals include Accenture, Electronic Arts, Gillette and Upper Deck.

It is Nike, though, that has been Woods' most lucrative partner. The relationship has been hugely beneficial for both parties, as Nike launched a golf division from scratch, with Woods carrying the brand, and sales are now $800-million annually. Nike pays Woods upward of $30-million annually for his signature.

The most stunning part, as Forbes points out, is that Woods is only 33 years old - he might have 15 years of competitive golf left in him, and 30-plus years of designing courses so this is only the first billion for the American Tiger.