Tiger gets $8 mn PGA Tour Bonus

Tiger managed to win without playing in 2021 !

Despite not playing an official tour event since the 2020 Masters, Tiger Woods has topped Phil Mickelson to win the PGA Tour’s inaugural Player Impact Program (PIP). The result is further proof, if any was needed, that Woods remains the most popular golfer of his era. Woods will receive $8mn for heading the list.

The new program – designed to reward the most popular players on tour , used five metrics to determine the winner: Nielsen ratings, Google searches, MVP Index, Meltwater Mentions and Q-Rating, which is based on a player’s appeal and popularity on social media.

The program considered factors such as internet searches, sponsor exposure and social media engagement, and pays 10 players a combined $40 million. Phil Mickelson will get $6 million for finishing second. However, the winners have to honour certain commitments to get half their money, such as playing in a designated tournament.

The results demonstrate that the program will benefit golf’s most famous stars, who have been around for longer and have established fan bases. The 46-year-old Woods spent most of 2021 recovering from a car crash, and the only tournament he played was the PNC Championship with his son, Charlie. That was an unofficial Tour event.

Since the crash, fans have been eagerly awaiting his comeback. A video Woods posted in November of him swinging on a driving range that simply said “making progress” received almost 200,000 likes on Twitter.

Woods’s triumph adds to a rough few weeks for Mickelson, who has been widely criticised for recent comments he made about the PGA Tour and the proposed Saudi Golf League. In December, Mickelson had prematurely declared he was the winner of the PIP in a tweet. After the results were revealed last Wednesday, Woods retweeted Mickelson saying, “Whoops.’’