Tiger Woods' Popularity and Earnings Remain Strong Despite Scandal

What has the most publicized sex scandal of all time done to Tiger Woods’ earnings and popularity?

Well, almost nothing.

Sure, this whole ordeal may be affecting Woods’ ability to win golf tournaments, depending upon whether you think Woods’ current on-the-course struggles are because of mental or physical flaws.    

But Woods’ bank account and popularity have suffered very little since his run-in with a fire hydrant, which of course led to an even bigger run-in with the tabloid media.

According to a Harris Poll (which is an extremely well-respected market research company), Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant are the most popular athletes in America.

This is not a political article, nor is it a study on the diminishing moral standards we seem to be experiencing here in America. But, let me just repeat that last sentence again to allow the sheer magnitude of it all to sink in—Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant are the most popular athletes in America.

As for Woods’ bank account, he’s taken a $9 million hit following last year’s scandal.  This may seem like a mammoth amount of money to us mere mortals, but it is actually chump change when comparing the $90.5 million he earned last year last year ($70 million of which came from endorsements) to the $99.7 million he earned in 2008 ($90 million of which came from endorsements).

It is estimated that Woods has lost 30 percent of his endorsement dollars since striking that fire hydrant outside of his Orlando home last November. That means that he is on pace to earn $63 million in endorsements in 2010, which alone would still place him first on Sports Illustrated’s list of the highest paid athletes in the world.

Add in his on-the-course earnings, and Woods is still by far the highest paid athlete on the face of the planet, transgressions and all.

He may not be winning golf tournaments, and his wife may be taking him to the cleaners in their divorce settlement, but when it comes to his popularity and lost earnings (or lack thereof), Woods is having the last laugh. Should we have expected anything different?

We gave Bill Clinton a 67 percent approval rating during his last year in office and we don’t even think twice about Ray Lewis being the face of the NFL’s new children’s reading program.

Do we have the memory of five-year-olds, or are we just a forgiving lot?

That’s another article for another day.

For more PGA Tour news, insight and analysis, check out The Tour Report.