Orlando March 3 (US): Tiger Woods still moves the needle in golf even when he’s barely playing.
The PGA Tour reported to players on Wednesday that Woods was the winner of a new $40 million “Player Impact Program” that rewards those who generate the most positive interest in golf measured by five metrics.
Woods won the $8 million prize over Phil Mickelson, who claimed on Twitter in December that he was the winner, according to the Associated Press.
The tour said the program will be measured until the end of the year. Woods captured golf in December when he came back from a shattered right leg in a car crash in February to play the PNC Championship with his son Charlie. They took second place.
Mickelson took to Twitter in December to “thank all the crazy people (and true supporters) for helping him win a PIP award.
He ended his letter with words that did not age well: “Note: I will try to find another controversial topic soon??”
Woods responded with one word above Mickelson’s tweet – “Oops.”
Mickelson’s public image has been badly damaged in recent weeks by revealing in an interview with Alan Shipnock, who is writing an unauthorized bio about him, that he was willing to support a rival Saudi-funded golf association as leverage – while acknowledging human rights atrocities. In Saudi Arabia – to get the changes he wants on the PGA Tour.
In another interview, he accused the tour of “hateful greed”.
Mickelson is taking time away from the game and hasn’t played since the Saudi international a month ago.
Mickelson finished second on Player Impact and grossed $6 million. He was followed by Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas, who each earned $3.5 million.
The rest of the top ten, who each received $3 million from the bounty program, were Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jon Ram, and Bubba Watson.
The PIP program was among those affected by the threat of a rival league that Greg Norman is trying to raise with Saudi Arabia money. Prize money and reward programs like the FedEx Cup have already increased based on new media contracts that began this year.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in an interview with The Associated Press in January that threats from the rival league allowed the tour to look at “holy cows, or some of the areas where people said you could never do that.”
The PIP program, along with “Play 15” that pays each player $50,000 to enter a minimum of 15 tournaments annually, is not performance dependent.
The five metrics used in PIP are Internet searches (Google Search); Unique news articles that include the player’s name (Meltwater Mentions); TV sponsor exposure (Nielsen reviews); Awareness (Q-Score) and Social Media Engagement (MVP Index).
Woods is ranked #1 in Google Search, Meltwater, and Q-Score. It was No. 8 in the MVP Index and 43 in the Nielsen Ranking.
Woods appeared Sunday at CBS’s booth in Riviera last year for his book Genesis Invitational. Two days later, he drove his SUV through an average speedometer at high speed and descended down a hill on a suburban road in Los Angeles.
Woods sustained multiple fractures to his leg and foot, and later revealed that doctors were considering amputation. It has been out of the public eye except for an interview with Golf Digest (for which he has an endorsement) and wasn’t available in public until the Hero World Challenge he is hosting in the Bahamas in late December.
A few weeks ago, he posted a three-second video of him swinging that dominated golf conversations. And in the Bahamas, he was seen hitting balls at the back of the range.
DeChambeau ranked first in the Nielsen ranking, while Watson won the MVP index.
Mickelson, who last May won a PGA Championship at the age of 50 to become golf’s oldest major champion, was the only player to finish 10th in each class – 2nd in Google search, 6th in Meltwater, 10th in Nielsen, 2nd in Q-score and 5th in the MVP indicator.
The PIP is going to $50 million this year.
The player receives half of the bonus up front, and the second installment is paid when the player completes the PGA Tour service day and plays in a specific tournament agreed upon by the player and the tour or an “equivalent activity”.
Woods has not played a PGA Tour event since the Masters in November 2020 and has not indicated when he will be able to play again. Ride a bandwagon in the PNC Championship.