Tiger Woods Could Be First American Billionaire Athlete

It doesn't take me saying it for you to know that Tiger Woods is an incredible golfer, financially successful, well-known around the world, and signed to several lucrative endorsement deals. However, you probably didn't realize that Tiger, not unlike all other PGA Tour members, has an excellent retirement plan paid for by the Tour. In fact, the retirement plan is so good, that Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports speculates it can help Tiger Woods become the first American billionaire athlete.

If Woods keeps winning at his current rate, enjoys a nine percent annual return and captures just seven FedEx Cups in his career, he could reach $1 billion in retirement payouts courtesy of the PGA Tour Inc.
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Even without this retirement plan, Woods is well on his way to becoming the first American billionaire athlete. He might accumulate several billion. In 2006 Forbes reported he cleared $100 million in on- and off-course revenue.
But even if he found a way to spend every last penny of that fortune and his own personal retirement savings, he might have $1 billion coming to him after he turned 60 thanks solely to the contributions of the PGA. Golfers are independent contractors and not employees of the PGA. But the governing body, in lieu of a traditional pension, offers contributions based on a number of performance variables to a retirement fund that each player controls.

Sure, it sounds a little diminished once you figure in the inflation rate, but still, Tiger is set to become a billionaire athlete. A-Rod, who makes megabucks and is the highest paid player in American professional team sports, is only making a quarter of that projected amount. And he certainly doesn't have MLB chipping in millions towards his retirement. I don't know what it will look like for Tiger over time given inflation, but I sure know that the sound of being a billionaire athlete is pretty darn cool. Congrats Tiger, you're earning it.