The wages of sin-the cost to Tiger Woods

By Ed Travis  www.bunkershot.com

The well-chronicled fall from grace of the world’s number one player has had a far reaching impact on Tiger Woods, his family and golf in general. However, in spite of reports of a three quarter of a billion (yes, that’s a B) divorce settlement pending Woods is not going to have to peddle his used Nike clubs on eBay to make ends meet.

Tiger Woods

He still has plenty of off course income from Nike, Gillette and others who evidently were able to hold their collective corporate noses even after being fired from endorsement contracts with Gatorade, AT&T and Accenture.

An article on Forbes.com by Kurt Badenhausen puts numbers to the wages of sin. According to the story Woods lost about $30 million in endorsement deals but retains the estimated $30 million Nike pays him.

Of significance though is the state of Woods course design business and the troubles there are not linked to Woods’ actions as much as the worldwide economic slowdown and real estate collapse.

The high profile Al Ruwaya Golf Course project in Dubai for which Badenhausen reports Woods received $20 million plus a slice of real estate sales, has stopped construction. The Cliffs Communities in North Carolina promotes a Woods design that is has now been delayed for the second time and lack of financing casts doubts it will ever be completed. Finally the Punta Brava development in Mexico is having problems with permitting and an opening for a to-be-built golf course is in the far distant future.

He presumably will also get back to winning at some point so those on course earnings will help.