The American world number two, who celebrated his 35th
birthday on Thursday, topped Golf Digest magazine's annual list for 2010 with
overall earnings of $74.2 million.
Of that, only $2.29 million came from tournament purses
with the rest accumulated off-course through endorsements and appearance fees.
Fellow American Phil Mickelson was second with total
earnings of $40.18 million, followed by Arnold Palmer ($36 million), Greg
Norman fourth ($30 million) and Jack Nicklaus fifth ($25.17 million).
Jim Furyk, who collected a $10 million bonus for winning
the PGA Tour's season-long FedExCup in September, was sixth on $23.58 million.
Other players featuring in the top 50 included South
Africans Ernie Els seventh ($21.5 million) and Gary Player eighth ($15.01
million), Britain's Lee Westwood ninth ($14.73 million) and Ireland's Padraig
Harrington ($11.61 million).
Overall earnings were compiled by Golf Digest through
interviews with agents, players, executives of companies involved with
endorsements, industry analysts and also via the official money lists of the
leading professional tours.
In 2009, Woods led the standings with a mind-boggling
$121.9 million but his earnings have dipped following his unexpected fall from
grace after being engulfed by a sex scandal.
The 14-times major champion spent much of 2010 unsuccessfully
trying to repair his marriage and also undergoing the fourth swing change of
his career.
His troubles led such firms as AT&T and Accenture to
end sponsorship deals, costing Woods up to $35 million in annual revenue.
He ended his PGA Tour season without a single title for
the first time since he turned professional in 1996 and was deposed as world
number one by Britain's Lee Westwood on Nov. 1.
However, since Woods joined forces with Canadian swing
coach Sean Foley after the PGA Championship in August, his form has steadily
improved and he remains the biggest draw card in the game.
He is still paid more than $60 million annually by Nike,
Electronic Arts, Procter & Gamble's Gillette, Berkshire Hathaway's NetJets
unit, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton's Tag Heuer, Upper Deck and TLC Laser
Vision Centers.
