Tiger Woods Earnings; Billionaire Athlete; Rich List Leader

World no.1 Golfer Tiger Woods is sure to pass over $1 billion in his total career earnings by 2010. A massive achievement, goes without say;

However actually officially becoming billionaire--means having a net worth above $1 billion, which will take just a little bit longer since a decent stack of Woods' prize and endorsement money is gobbled up by taxes and management fees--estimates around 45%. In terms of other investments, it seems Woods earns around 8% each year.

From when he kicked off his golf career in 1996 (This is when Tiger Woods turned pro) to the current day (2008), the figures are based on the Forbes' Celebrity 100 list. Last year (2007), we estimate Woods raked in around $115 million in dollar earnings, amazingly $65 million more than runner-up David Beckham. Interestingly it seems that Tiger Woods TV Ads and Commercials have even more potential to bring in more earnings for the Tiger.

Considering all these statistics and figures on what Tiger Woods earns from golf and endorsements, we project Tiger Woods should join our list of the world's billionaires in 2011.

Think of it this way; There are plenty of billionaires who have excelled at sports, like Switzerland's richest man and champion sailor Ernesto Bertarelli. But there are no billionaires who accumulated their fortune by playing sports. A representative for Woods did not respond to a request for comment. Look at other Golf high earners; such as Greg Norman - certainly a market leader at endorsements, Greg Norman Golf and/or the Shark Golf is nothing when compared to the might of the Tiger Woods endorsement machine.

A billionaire Tiger would also be unique for earning his money through paychecks. If a billionaire didn't inherit his or her money, he or she typically made it by holding a stake in a company with a soaring valuation: Think Bill Gates. He didn't make his billions from his Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) salary, but from all the stock he owned.

From a sponsor point of view; the relationship between Tiger Woods and NIKE is simply amazing. With the backing of Tiger Woods, NIKE quickly become a massive if not leading golfing brand. Originally NIKE didn't play in the golf niche, but with the partnership of Tiger Woods - NIKE golf is now a massive machine.