How did Tiger Woods make his fortunes on the golf course?

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Tiger Woods has been a professional golfer since 1996 and has seen massive success – reaching over a billion dollars in net worth – from his many major wins and endorsement deals. Along with his success has also come struggles including many major injuries and an explosive public cheating scandal with his now ex-wife, Elin Nordegren. There have been many books and movies made about the world-renowned golfer, including a two-part 2021 HBO documentary called "Tiger" that explores Woods' life on and off the course.

What is Tiger Woods best known for?

Woods is known for his many wins in the world of professional golfing and the multitude of awards he has received during his time in the pros. He started his career as a professional golfer in 1996 and has gone on to earn 107 worldwide wins and 15 major championship. He has a total of 82 PGA Tour wins which makes him tied with Sam Snead for the most wins in history. Woods has taken home five Master wins, four PGA Championship wins, three U.S. Open Championships wins and has won three British Open Championships. He is also the first golfer in history to hold four professional championship titles at the same time and was the youngest golfer to ever win the Masters at 21-years-old. 

Although Woods has been golfing professionally since 1996, he has had to take time off through his career for the many injuries he has battled. He has had various knee surgeries and back issues resulting in five back surgeries. His most recent and most detrimental injuries came in February 2021 when he got into a single car crash in California where the car rolled several times with Woods inside, leaving him with a rod in his right leg and screws and pins in his right foot and ankle.

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Woods started golfing professionally in 1996.  (Oisin Keniry/Getty Images)

How did Tiger Woods get so rich? 

Woods has banked over $1 billion, making him one of the wealthiest athletes in the world. He started making millions very quickly after he became a professional golfer. He signed his first deal with Nike in 1996 once he went pro with a 5-year $40 million deal and signed a 5 year $20 million deal with Titleist. His deal with Nike was one that would stay with him through his whole career. He still works with the brand today and continues to make millions from the partnership. 

Woods also makes money through his endorsement of brands like Hero Motocorp, Bridgestone, Rolex, AT&T, American Express and Monster Energy. He worked with Gatorade in the past, where they created a custom drink called Gatorade Tiger. This deal made him $100 million over the course of 5 years. He also earned $20 million for endorsing Gillette.  

Woods gets paid millions in prize money for every tournament that he wins. He also owns a golf course design company called TGR Design, owns TGR Live which managers and produces events and The Woods, a restaurant located in Jupiter, Florida. 

Woods has surpassed a billion dollars in lifetime earnings from prize winnings, long and short term endorsement deals and from the businesses he has created.  (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

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With his wealth, Woods has made a lot of very luxurious purchases induing a $20 million yacht, which he named Privacy, a $63 million Gulfstream G550 jet and a multimillion dollar home in Jupiter Island, Florida. 

Is Tiger Woods part of Nike?

Woods has a partnership with Nike and has for pretty much the entirety of his professional career. There was brief speculation that maybe Woods was no longer associated with the brand after he wore FootJoy shoes during a practice round before the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in April 2022. He was quick to say that the reason for the shoe change was because of the limited mobility he has now due to his leg injury. Nike released a statement too, saying that they will continue to work with the athlete and his new needs. 

Is Tiger Woods an only child? 

Woods is the only child of his parents Earl and Kultida Woods, but he does have half siblings. His father had three children from his first marriage, Earl Jr,. Kevin and Royce. 

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Woods has had three caddies through his long golfing career. His caddie makes a percentage of his prize winnings on top of their base salary.  (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

How much does Tiger Woods caddie make? 

Even though Woods has had an extremely long career, Woods has only had three caddies. His very first was Mike "Fluff" Cowan who started working with Woods at the start of his professional career in 1996. The pair went their separate ways in 1999. Woods then worked with Steve Williams who caddied for him from 1999 to 2011. After William, Joe LaCava became Woods caddie.

In general, caddies earn around $1,500 to $3,000 every week plus a percentage of the golfers winnings, which is usually about 5% to 10%. Being that Woods wins millions of dollars in prize money, it can be assumed that his caddies can also make millions themselves over time working with Woods.