Tiger Woods Wins $8 Million Prize Money For Generating Media Interest In Golf Last Season

Tiger Woods has become the first winner of the Player Impact Program (PIP), an initiative introduced by the PGA last year to reward the players who helped generate the most media interest in the sport for a season. Woods topped the list, and received the $8 million prize money, despite playing in just one tournament last year.

The five-time Masters winner beat the likes of Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, and Brooks Koepka, all of whom participated in more than one tournament, to claim the star prize. Woods was involved in a ghastly motor accident last year February that kept him away from the game for a long time. He returned to the sport in December to team up with his 12-year-old son, Charlie, at the PNC Championship, where they finished second.

Woods had revealed in a press conference last year that he was not sure of when he would come back to the Tour and there is still no sign of when he might show up. At the PNC Championship, he had to move around in a golf cart as he was not fit enough to stand and walk all by himself. He revealed that during the course of his treatment following the accident, the doctors contemplated amputating his legs.

Mickelson, who came second-place, was given $6 million in prize money. The 51-year-old had prematurely claimed, in December, that he was the winner of the PIP. But the results revealed this week show that he was topped by Woods. Mickelson is currently dealing with backlash following his comment and supposed involvement with the Saudi Golf League, a proposed golf league that is expected to rival with the PGA. He said that the PGA was acting like a dictatorship and that a new league might be needed to reshape things with the PGA. But he has taken back those comments, even though he still agrees that the PGA needs a new direction.