Tiger Woods made $8 million from the PGA Tour in 2021 despite not taking a competitive swing
- Tiger Woods earned $8 million from the PGA Tour in 2021 without playing a tournament.
- Woods won the cash from the Tour's new "Player Impact Program."
Tiger Woods hasn't played much golf recently, but he's still finding ways to cash in on the PGA Tour.
On Wednesday, the Tour announced that Woods had won the Tour's inaugural Player Impact Program or "PIP" and the $8 million top prize that came with it.
PIP measures a player's popularity based on several metrics rating the amount of interest a player drives to the Tour. It was developed to reward the biggest stars in golf with a bonus for the attention they bring to events.
For Woods, the win was fitting. While he has not played a competitive round of golf since his car accident in February of 2021, he is still the most important golfer ever to swing a club. He is greatly responsible for the interest in the sport today.
After the win, Woods took a victory lap on Twitter, roasting career-long rival Phil Mickelson, who had previously declared victory in the PIP race.
Mickelson, who came in second, would not go home empty-handed, earning $6 million for his PIP performance.
Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, and Justin Thomas each earned $3.5 million through the program after coming in placed 3-6, respectively. Rounding out the top ten were Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, and Bubba Watson, who each earned $3 million.
Aside from playing alongside his son Charlie at the exhibition PNC Championship, Woods has not played PGA Tour golf since his accident but could potentially make his return at some point during the 2022 season.
Even if he doesn't, it's hard to think he's not the front-runner to win the top PIP prize again this year.