Tiger Woods Net Worth: Why It’s Not a Billion Yet

In 2016, Tiger Woods’ net worth is $825 million. 90% of the Tiger Woods net worth total comes from sponsorship money. Woods has made $1.3 billion in sponsor dollars since 1996, but his net worth comes in shy of a billion for two reasons: divorce and taxes.

All in all, Woods has earned nearly $1.5 billion during his career. Another $29 million comes from investments and business deals. However, $576 million in taxes and a divorce settlement of $100 million knock the superstar golfer’s net worth down below the billion mark. For full data on our Tiger Woods net worth math, see the tables below.

Tiger Woods hit the golf scene like a birdie bomb in 1996 with $790,000 in PGA money and another $100,000 in additional winnings. That would be impressive for any 21 year old, but more impressive still was his sponsor purse of $43 million. Smart Woods moves include his choice to live in Florida (no state income tax) and dumb ones include a high profile and costly divorce.

Tiger Woods Net Worth Facts

  • Tiger Woods net worth is $826 million.
  • Woods’ net worth of $826 million is almost 3 times bigger than Jack Nicklaus’ net worth of $300 million.
  • Phil Mickelson’s net worth of $180 million is about 1/5th Tiger Woods’ net worth.
  • Tiger Woods made $113 million in 2013.
  • In 2015, Woods made 111 times more from sponsorships than he did from playing golf.
  • Woods will earn about $40 million from endorsement deals in 2016.
  • Woods makes more money in a day than the typical American does in 3 years.
  • At an average of $73 million a year, Tiger woods makes 182 times more money than the President of the United States.
  • Tiger Woods’ net worth is five times bigger than Tom Brady’s net worth of $172 million.
  • Taylor Swift’s net worth of $302 million is about 1/3 the Tiger Woods net worth sum.

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Tiger Woods Net Worth Comparisons

Tiger Woods Net WorthThe Tiger Woods net worth figure of $826 million is 41 times bigger than Bubba Watson’s net worth of $20 million. Phil Mickelson’s net worth is 1/5th the size of Tiger Woods’ net worth with $180 million. What about Jack Nicklaus? The legendary golf star has an estimated $280 million. That’s 1/3 the Tiger Woods net worth sum.

Arnold Palmer comes close to Tiger Woods’ net worth with $675 million. Another golfer who does fairly well compared to Tiger Woods is Greg Norman with $300 million. That’s about a third of Tiger Woods’ net worth.

Outside the world of golf, musicians Madonna and Dr. Dre are each worth about $700 million. That puts them about 15% behind Tiger Woods’ net worth. Combining Hillary Clinton’s net worth with husband Bill’s net worth gives a total Clinton wealth figure of $111 million. That’s about 1/7th the size of the Tiger Woods net worth fortune. Finally, the typical American household has just $68,000 saved. It would take 12,147 American families pooling all their resources to match the total monetary worth of Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods Net Worth Through Time

Here’s a look at how Tiger Woods’ net worth has grown to almost a billion since 1996.

Tiger Woods Net Worth 1996$19,927,876
Tiger Woods Net Worth 1997$44,431,036
Tiger Woods Net Worth 1998$70,524,529
Tiger Woods Net Worth 1999$98,813,966
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2000$131,012,874
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2001$166,529,269
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2002$203,568,857
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2003$241,227,993
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2004$284,642,075
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2005$328,550,326
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2006$373,118,658
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2007$424,278,440
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2008$470,407,343
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2009$542,797,505
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2010$490,749,962
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2011$555,274,949
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2012$622,670,409
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2013$696,527,543
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2014$746,785,101
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2015$796,752,256
Tiger Woods Net Worth 2016$825,626,558

Tiger Woods Net Worth Timeline

The chart above shows graphically how Tiger Woods’ net worth has grown. The big dip in the graph reflects his $100 million divorce settlement in 2010. Without that settlement, Woods would be worth $950 million thanks to the additional investment dollars.

Tiger Woods Golf Pay vs Sponsor Money

Tiger Wood Net Worth SponsorsWhen it comes to the source of Tiger Woods’ money, there’s no contest. 90% of the Tiger Woods net worth purse comes straight from sponsor money.

If Woods hadn’t earned a penny of endorsement pay in his entire career, he’d still be rich. The golf star has earned $156 million in golf winnings since 1996. Even after taxes and expenses, he’d still likely have a net worth of around $80 million just from playing the game. But sponsors have paid Woods an unprecedented $1.3 billion since his professional career began. That makes Woods the highest paid athlete in history. Thinking of golf as entertainment, Woods would rank behind such superstars as George Lucas ($5 billion) Oprah Winfrey ($3 billion) and Paul McCartney ($1 billion). But he’d rank ahead of Dr. Dre, Madonna and James Cameron ($700 to $800 million).

Woods hauled down Jack and the Beanstalk sized endorsement pay right from the start. In 1996, he inked a 12-year deal with General Motors worth $11 million a year. In the same year, he also signed a $20 million, 5-year deal with Titleist, a 5-year deal with Nike worth $40 million and additional multi-million dollar deals with American Express, General Mills and others. Since then, deals with the PGA, Nike, Buick, Tag Heuer, Gillette, Gatorade and many, many more have added to the Tiger Woods net worth numbers.

The table below shows how Woods’ golf pay and sponsor pay contribute to his total wealth. The golf pay is publicly available through the PGA, while the sponsor dollar figures come from a mix of published numbers, media reports and estimates.

YearGolf EarningsSponsorship EarningsTiger Woods Total Earnings
1996$894,000$43,000,000$43,894,000
1997$2,381,000$50,000,000$52,381,000
1998$2,928,000$51,000,000$53,928,000
1999$7,682,000$49,000,000$56,682,000
2000$11,035,000$52,000,000$63,035,000
2001$7,772,000$60,000,000$67,772,000
2002$8,292,000$60,000,000$68,292,000
2003$6,700,000$60,000,000$66,700,000
2004$6,370,000$70,000,000$76,370,000
2005$11,993,000$62,000,000$73,993,000
2006$11,942,000$60,000,000$71,942,000
2007$22,903,000$60,000,000$82,903,000
2008$7,738,000$60,000,000$67,738,000
2009$21,015,000$100,885,000$121,900,000
2010$2,294,000$60,000,000$62,294,000
2011$2,067,000$100,885,000$102,952,000
2012$9,124,000$95,000,000$104,124,000
2013$12,092,000$100,885,000$112,977,000
2014$611,000$54,489,000$55,100,000
2015$448,598$50,000,000$50,448,598
2016
Totals$156,281,598$1,299,144,000$1,455,425,598

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Taxes, Expenses and Tiger Woods Net Worth

Taxes and Tiger Woods Net WorthTiger Woods gets a $300 million net worth boost from deciding to live in Florida. It’s not likely the choice was made by accident. Florida has no state income tax. It’s true that Woods is in the highest federal tax bracket of 39.6%. If he lived in California instead of Florida, he would also pay a staggering 13.3% state tax. That extra tax each year since 1996 would have knocked his net worth down to $545 million by now. Woods was born in California but it likely wasn’t worth $300 million for him to stay there.

Another slice taken from the Tiger Woods net worth pie is expenses. Expenses estimated at 15% of annual income take a $218 million from the final total. Those expenses almost certainly include the cost of staff, living expense, travel, trainers, sports agents, marketing agents and lawyers. Woods after all is more than just a golfer. He’s a multi-million dollar business.

Investment income estimated at 6% of net worth per year adds back $29 million to the Tiger Woods net worth amount. The table below shows estimates for tax, expense and investment income.

YearTaxes (39.6%)Expenses (15%)Investment Income (6%)
1996$17,382,024$6,584,100$0
1997$20,742,876$7,857,150$722,186
1998$21,355,488$8,089,200$1,610,181
1999$22,446,072$8,502,300$2,555,809
2000$24,961,860$9,455,250$3,581,018
2001$26,837,712$10,165,800$4,747,907
2002$27,043,632$10,243,800$6,035,021
2003$26,413,200$10,005,000$7,377,335
2004$30,242,520$11,455,500$8,742,102
2005$29,301,228$11,098,950$10,315,429
2006$28,489,032$10,791,300$11,906,664
2007$32,829,588$12,435,450$13,521,820
2008$26,824,248$10,160,700$15,375,851
2009$48,272,400$18,285,000$17,047,562
2010$24,668,424$9,344,100$19,670,982
2011$40,768,992$15,442,800$17,784,779
2012$41,233,104$15,618,600$20,123,164
2013$44,738,892$16,946,550$22,565,576
2014$21,819,600$8,265,000$25,242,158
2015$19,977,645$7,567,290$27,063,492
2016$28,874,302
Totals$576,348,537$218,313,840

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Divorce and Tiger Woods Net Worth

In 2010, Tiger Woods went through a highly publicized divorce from wife Ellen Nordegren. The divorce was rumored at the time to cost Woods upwards of $700 million. As the tables above show, that $700 million figure wouldn’t have made much sense since Woods was only worth about $543 million total at the time. The real figure was reported eventually at $100 million. That $100 million resulted in about another $10 million to $25 million in lost investment income over the next five years. Had Woods remained married, the Tiger Woods net worth figure would be just shy of a billion today.

$60 Million Mansion

Tiger Woods Net Worth MansionA mansion worth $60 million doesn’t subtract a penny from the Tiger Woods net worth math. In fact, the giant Jupiter Island, Florida house probably adds to Woods’ net worth.

To put it bluntly, there’s no way Woods will lose a penny on the home. Looked at purely as an investment, the home would probably only appreciate in value over time left to itself. However, there’s no denying some would pay a premium for a home previously owned by a legendary golfer like Woods. Think about whiskey as an example. The average bottle of scotch can cost anywhere from $30 to $100. There are certain vintages though, that cost a lot more. How much more? How about $30,000 to $600,000? Most of those high-priced spirits sell for so much because of one thing: rarity. In most cases a storied master blender pulls from a select variety of old, rare casks and releases only ten or 100 bottles of the blend.

Like one of those rare, expensive whiskeys or like an auctioned piece of clothing once worn by Mark Twain, Woods’ house will have gained some rarity from having housed him. How much that’s worth is hard to say, but it’s almost certain that the home he bought for $60 million will sell for a lot more than he paid.

Tiger Woods Net Worth in the Future

Tiger Woods Net Worth FutureThere’s no question that Woods’ golf career is winding down. Compared to the golfer’s heyday in the 90’s and early 2000’s, he’s just not performing well. Injuries and scandals have started his ability on a journey downward from its peak. In 2014 and 2015, his golf winnings didn’t even break a million.

That said, Woods’ endorsement career seems far from over. With many athletes, their endorsement pay potential is tied directly to performance. If Tom Brady falls from the limelight or Peyton Manning retires, the endorsement dollars will seek the current champion. That’s not the case. In fact, the Tiger Woods net worth juggernaut will likely keep attracting sponsor dollars for a long time to come. That’s because Woods has moved on into legend. The golfer’s career blazed so brightly for so long that he won’t soon be forgotten. In evidence, he still earned  over $50 million a year in sponsor dollars in 2014 and 2015, despite his poor performance on the links both years.

Beyond sponsor deals, Woods is making forays into business. He recently bought a bar and grill in Jupiter, Florida and he has started his own golf course design company. There’s no telling what other businesses the golfer may start up, but with an $826 million net worth to play with, he certainly won’t be stopped by lack of capital.