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Imago

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Imago

It doesn’t matter if he hasn’t played that actively lately; Tiger Woods might just be the undisputed best. Back in 1996, only a few would’ve dreamed he’d unleash a record-busting, mind-boggling, earth-shattering run over the next two decades. Not to mention, his last professional win at the 2019 ZoZo Championship helped him cross $120M in prize money alone. If you crunch that big number into smaller ones, that’s a cushy $95,603 per pro round and $1,337 per shot. The stage for it all was set in the early 2000s.

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Year 2000

Tiger Woods’s 2000 season was (and still is) the greatest year anyone has ever seen. Fresh off four straight wins closing 1999, Woods nabbed his first two official titles before Torrey Pines snapped the streak. He cooled for three months, then dominated summer from the Memorial onward, including winning the U.S. Open, The Open, and the PGA Championship.

In 19 PGA Tour starts, not including the World Golf Championships-EMC World Cup (a two-man team event), Woods made every cut and won nine times, pocketing a ludicrous $9,188,321.

Now, crunching the numbers: In 2000, Tiger Woods logged 76 stroke-play rounds, firing 5,181 shots with a 69.17 average. That breaks down to $1,773.46 per shot. Per-round haul? Roughly $120,898. And he earned approximately $483,596 per tournament. If you add the team event, Woods earned another $500K from the WGC-EMC World Cup.

Year 2001

While 2000 was his THE YEAR, Tiger’s 2001 sneaks under the radar. Woods snagged another Masters, his first of two Players titles by a whisker over Vijay Singh, and crushed David Duval by 2 at Augusta National to grab all four majors simultaneously, thus creating what is now touted as the “Tiger Slam.”

All told, Tiger played 19 events, made the cut every time, and won five times, earning $5,687,777. He played 76 rounds and made 5,234 shots, and his stroke average was 68.87.  That roughly translates to these numbers:

  • Per tournament earning: $5,687,777 ÷ 19 = $299,357
  • Per round earning: $5,687,777 ÷ 76 = $74,840
  • Per shot earning: $5,687,777 ÷ 5,234 = $1,087

Year 2002

Let’s give you a flashback to Tiger Woods’s 2002: he defended his Masters title, surging in the last two rounds, edged Phil Mickelson by 3 at the U.S. Open, underwent left knee surgery to drain fluid inside and outside of the ACL, and removed benign cysts from the knee. He still tackled 17 PGA Tour starts (not including the match play event he played at the Target World Challenge), made every cut, won five times, and banked $6,912,625.

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Excluding the match play event at the Target World, where he earned $158,333, Woods logged 68 rounds that year and made 4,692 shots. His stroke average was a crisp 69.00. Now, based on those numbers, this is what his earnings looked like that year:

  • Per tournament earning: $6,912,625 ÷ 17 = $303,323
  • Per round earning: $6,912,625 ÷ 68 = $101,657
  • Per shot earning: $6,912,625 ÷ 4,692 = $1,473

Year 2003

Tiger Woods skipped the season opener, yet nabbed five wins across 18 events, but flamed out at Oak Hill, Rochester, NY, carding T39 at 12-over 292. The season was a little bummer, though no less entertaining and stellar, as was often the case with Tiger Woods in those days. He earned three wins in his first nine starts, then won again at the World Golf Championships-American Express Championship.

Though he did not win any majors, Woods finished T20 or better in three of them. In total, he earned $6,673,413 that season. He played 68 rounds and 4,718 strokes, and his SG: Total was at 69.38. Regardless, Woods managed to crunch big numbers when it comes to average earnings:

  • Per tournament earnings: $6,673,413 ÷ 17 = $370,745
  • Per round earnings: $6,673,413 ÷ 68 = $92,686
  • Per shot earnings: $6,673,413 ÷ 4,718 = $1,335

Year 2004

Tiger Woods’s 2004 season can easily be called the most surprising season he experienced. At least, on this list. His only win in the 19 starts that season came at the match play event Target World Championship, in the latter part of the season. Still, keeping his 13 top 10s in consideration, Tiger Woods earned $5,365,472 from the PGA Tour.

He played 72 rounds, had a stroke average of 69.68, and made 5,017 shots. Here’s how much he made with that:

  • Per tournament earning: $5,365,472 ÷ 18 = $282,393
  • Per round earning: $5,365,472 ÷ 72 = $70,598
  • Per shot earning: $5,365,472 ÷ 5,017 = $1,015

Year 2005

Here’s how Tiger Woods spent his ninth year on the PGA Tour: he claimed the Ford Championship at Doral, besting Phil Mickelson thanks to a 30-foot birdie bomb on 17, he reclaimed World No. 1 title, he nabbed fourth Green Jacket via a first-hole playoff against Chris DiMarco, and bagged 10th major, The Open, also marking Woods’s sixth major in the last nine swings.

Yet, it wasn’t a perfect season.

Woods played 21 events and missed cuts in 2 of them, including the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and the FUNAI Classic at the WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort. That translates to these numbers:

  • Per tournament earning: $10,628,024 ÷ 21 = $506,096
  • Per round earnings: $10,628,024 ÷ 76 = $136,256
  • Per shot earnings: $10,628,024 ÷ 5,114 = $1,912

Overall, Woods earned $97,490 per round between 2000 and 2005. That’s almost a $100K payday for 18-20 weeks a year. Now, had it not been for the several injuries, Tiger could’ve enjoyed an even better era on the PGA Tour, as per this analysis. That is hardly a wonder. To understand that, consider this: despite pocketing under $11 million total across his last 10 PGA Tour seasons, Woods tops the all-time money list at $120,999,166, which is $13 million ahead of No. 2 Rory McIlroy.

On that note, happy 50th birthday, Tiger.