Tiger Woods Back On Top As The Highest Paid Athlete In The World

Tiger Woods is back on top of the world - in more ways than one. The iconic golfer returned this year to the world No 1 spot he had held for so long until his self-imposed exile from the game December 2009.

And now the 37-year-old is back at the top of Forbes' annual list of the world's 100 highest paid athletes.

The American has earned $78.1million in the last year. The vast majority of which came from endorsement deals worth $65million and the remaining $13.1million came from winnings. 

Woods was top of the list for 11 consecutive years until 2012, when he was usurped by Swiss tennis star Roger Federer. This has been a year of rehabilitation for Woods, who has come out from seemingly self-imposed hiding after the fallout from his multiple extramarital affairs surfaced.

Now he is very publicly dating Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, and the two have attended a number of red carpet events together including the annual ball at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Though Vonn is wealthy in her own right from her endorsement deals following Olympic medals, she did not make the cut of Forbes' top 100 athletes.

The next four spots are held by Americans who are at the top of their fields: Kobe Bryant and LeBron James came in third and fourth with $61.9million and $59.8million respectively.

Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers with $51million and $49million respectively. The highest represent Brit on the list is David Beckham in eighth, having taken home $47.2million last year. The former England captain is also the highest placed footballer, just ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo in ninth and Lionel Messi in 10th.

The World’s Top 10 Highest-Paid Athletes:

Rank	Athlete	Sport	Total ($m)	Salary/winnings ($m)	Endorsements ($m)
1	Tiger Woods	Golf	78.1	13.1	65.0
2	Roger Federer	Tennis	71.5	6.5	65.0
3	Kobe Bryant	Basketball	61.9	27.9	34.0
4	LeBron James	Basketball	59.8	17.8	42.0
5	Drew Brees	American Football	51.0	40.0	11.0
6	Aaron Rodgers	American Football	49.0	43.0	6.0
7	Phil Mickelson	Golf	48.7	4.7	44.0
8	David Beckham	Football	47.2	5.2	42.0
9	Cristiano Ronaldo	Football	44.0	23.0	21.0
10	Lionel Messi	Football	41.3	20.3	21.0

  
Source: Daily Mail