By winning the Fed Ex cup over the weekend Tiger Woods became the first professional athlete to earn over $1 billion. Think about that. Through his 95 professional victories, including 14 majors, and his countless endorsements he has become a billionaire.
I did some research and found out that there are only 106 billionaires in the entire world, not including Woods. The people on this list are heads of banks, oil tycoons and heads of major companies. Now they can add a golfer to their exclusive club.
What makes this accomplishment even crazier is the fact that Woods is still only 33 years old. This means he still has several more years left to add to this total. Hell by the time he does he could be a multi-billionaire.
When it comes to earnings Woods is in a class all his own as the next closest to him is Michael Jordan who has earned an estimated $800 million since entering the NBA and then Michael Schumacher who stands at $700 million.
Obviously Woods has made most of his money through victories and Nike but he also has another of other sponsors including AT&T, Pepsi, Accenture, and Electronic Arts. He also gets a $3 million appearance fee for playing anywhere outside of the United States and is currently assisting in golf course development which bets him $10 million per project.
Tiger Woods really does have the perfect life. He plays golf for a living, his wife is crazy hot, and he is a billionaire. I once thought that when I had kids I would teach them to play baseball or football but I now realize that golf is the way to go.
Busy week in the world of sports as UFC 101 took place on Saturday, Tiger Woods chased history on Sunday, the Red Sox got bent over all weekend, and teenagers beat up civilians for 20 cents. Without further delay let's get to the stories you need to know.
Who's Your Daddy?!
Going in to their 4 game series with the Yankees in New York the Red Sox sat 2 1/2 games back of the division lead. Coming out of their 4 game series the Red Sox now sit 6 1/2 games back. That's what a 4 game sweep will do to you. The Sox were swept by the Yankees in a 4 game series for the first time in 24 years and looked pathetic the whole time.
Tell me how a team with the offensive threats the Red Sox possess score only 6 runs in 4 games. At one point going 30 innings without scoring a single run.
Going into the series the Red Sox had beaten the Yankees 8 games in a row and people were saying that the rivalry was over as it had become one sided. Now the Sox have to be on the other end of that and it blows.
It also needs to be stated that John Smoltz had his career officially euthanized on Friday night in front of more than 40,000 people. RIP Smoltz.
Woods Wins Again
On Sunday Tiger Woods won his 70th career PGA tour event moving him into 3rd all-time behind Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead. Woods accomplished the feat at 33 which was 10 years faster than Nicklaus did it.
The event Tiger won was the Bridgestone Invitational an event he pretty much owns. It was his 7th time winning the tournament (another PGA record) out of 10 tries and he has finished in the top 5 every one of those 10 tournaments.
Going into the 16th hole Woods was neck and neck with Padraig Harrington but Harrington buckled under the pressure and Woods was able to close out the tournament winning by 4 strokes.
Woods has won 5 times on the tour this year with 4 of those wins coming in the tournament right before a major. Next week is the Players Championship and Tiger will of course be the favorite as he looks to add more W's to his stat sheet.
UFC 101 Recap
The first 2 fights on the card were uneventful and boring as both went to a decision and involved little to no real action.
The 3rd fight, the true UFC debut of Amir Sadollah, was also brutal but for a different reason. Sadollah was rocked by a punch from Johny Hendricks and was attempting to stand back up when the fight was stopped. Sadollah was clearly able to defend himself and was in the process of standing up when the ref called the fight. So sad that these refs don't understand what is happening in the ring.
If a fighter is sitting there eating punches then stop it. If he is moving to his feet then don't. It isn't rocket science and I think more people would rather have late stoppages than early ones. Now Sadollah is forced to take that loss on his record, which will be the first of his career, and start again.
Next Anderson Silva toyed with Forrest Griffin in a manner that was laughable. Silva head faked Griffin countless times and would pop him with one good shot and then step back. Silva even offered to help Griffin off the mat after he had knocked him down which was a total show of disrespect. The fight would end late in the first round after Silva knocked down Griffin with a soft jab and Griffin would beg for mercy. Here is a link to the whole fight if you want to see it: http://www.mmaroot.com/anderson-silva-vs-forrest-griffin-fight-video-ufc-101/.
After Griffin got beat he ran from the ring refusing to be interviewed. This is becoming common for Forrest who acts like a total baby when he loses. He is one of my favorite fighters and this pisses me off as he should act like a man.
The main event was the Lightweight Championship match between Kenny Florian and BJ Penn. Florian spent the entire fight trying to push BJ up against the cage and tire him out to eventually score a take down but it never worked. BJ withstood the onslaught and in the 4th round took down Florian and choked him out easily.
Fighting for Spare Change
Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane, the top overall pick in the 2007 NHL draft, was arrested early Sunday morning in Buffalo, N.Y., and charged with robbery and other counts following an altercation with a cab driver in his hometown.
The 20-year-old Kane and his cousin, James M. Kane, 21, were taken into police custody at about 5 a.m. ET after allegedly punching the driver and taking $15 in fare they had given him after he said he didn't have 20 cents in change, a police report says. Police say the cousins apparently caught a cab from the city's downtown nightclub district at about 4 a.m. Sunday.
You make millions of dollars and you are punching out cabbies for quarters? Weak dude. I wonder if this will affect sales of NHL 2010 which is scheduled to be released in September. Maybe this will start a spin off of the Madden Curse and be the NHL curse.
I did not watch 1 minute of the British Open this weekend. Not even 30 seconds. I usually don't start watching a golf tournament until the weekend and once I found out Tiger Woods had missed the cut I decided this was one Major I would skip. Plus who can be bothered to wake up before noon?
I personally don't feel like I missed much but don't tell that to any sports writer in America because they will have you believe it was a British Open for the ages.
Tom Watson, age 59, was attempting to become the oldest man to win a PGA Major but was defeated in a 4 hole playoff by Stewart Cink. Watson had a chance to win the tournament but choked on an 8 foot putt that would have won it.
The tournament is being heralded as one of the greatest in history. To someone who makes this claim I have only one question: why?
Tell me why a 59 year old irrelevant golfer beating a younger irrelevant golfer is so significant.
Cink has only 6 PGA wins in his 14 year professional career and before Sunday he had never won a major. His last tour win occurred just over a year ago at the Travelers Championship.
Watson has 39 PGA wins in his 38 year career and has won 8 Majors with the latest being in 1983 when he won the Open Championship. He hasn't won on the PGA tour since 1998 and has been out of the spotlight for quite some time.
So these are the two men who apparently made the British Open worth watching. A former great and a mediocre player.
Watson was the star of the story as people kept trying to make it seem as though being the oldest man to win a Major was impressive. To them I have only one comment. It's golf.
Being old and winning at golf isn't impressive to me. It is not a physically demanding sport and is the only major sport in which people compete well into their 60s and sometimes 70s. I mean they have a Seniors Tour!
Show me Watson leading a football team to the SuperBowl at age 59 and I will be in awe. A man age 59 doing well at golf, who cares? This is merely the media trying to make a PGA event without Tiger interesting.
The only impressive thing that Watson did was play 18 holes without having to run to the bathroom every 5 minutes.
Tigers Woods entered the final round of The Players Championship today at -6 and just 4 shots back of leader Alex Cejka. Everything was in place for Tiger to make his usually Sunday charge and win just like everyone expected him to. But something strange happened on this particular Sunday. Tiger didn't make his charge, hell he didn't even make any nice shots, and he ended up shooting a 73 and finishing 7 shots back at -5.
I watched all of Tiger's round while channel surfing between the NBA playoffs and the Jays game and every shot I saw him take was a bad one. He was missing fairways, hitting it into the water, and leaving putts short all day long.
The announcers blamed it on his poor shot selection and one of them even tried to attribute his struggles to the fact that his "biceps are too big to play golf." I on the other hand think that his layoff has made him soft and he no longer has that killer instinct.
When Woods was at the top of his game he used to walk around with such confidence as if no matter where he was on the leader board on Sunday he was going to win. All he needed was a red Nike shirt and it was all over. Now when he is on the course he looks nervous and unsure of himself.
Some might blame the pressure. Now that he is back there is an immense amount of pressure for Woods to win right away and prove he is still dominant. I throw this argument out immediately though as ever since he emerged as the best golfer in the world there has always been pressure on him. Whenever you are picked to win every tournament and if you lose its a disappointment then you know how to deal with pressure.
Tiger should have buried the field today and shown them why he marries hot supermodels and they go home with the locals. He is above and beyond anyone else in the world and has shown that even on one knee he is still the best.
I fear that while he was out Woods lost that competitive spirit and he still needs to get it back. Over the 8 months he has been doing his physically therapy and has been trying to get better. What he hasn't been doing is competing against other golfers for money, trophies, and prestige.
There was once a time when entering a tournament if I took Tiger Woods and gave you the field you would feel I had the advantage. In what other sport would this even come close to being the case? Simply put Tiger Woods is the best golfer on the planet and it's time that he start playing like it.
The LPGA is one of the most racially diverse organizations in all sports as there are currently 121 international players from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour. 11 of the last 13 tour events have been won by international players and of the top 20 money earners more than half are international players. With all these international players on tour it would seem odd that Tour officials would want to do anything to upset them. None the less this is exactly what they did however.
Earlier in the week the LPGA passed a new policy that will require players to speak English starting in 2009, with players who have been LPGA members for two years facing suspension if they can't pass an oral evaluation of English skills. The rule is effective immediately for new players.
People everywhere are outraged at this decision because they feel that it is racist and unfair to force people to learn a language. I couldn't disagree more. The LPGA is a business whether these players like it or not. The tour is there to make money and is trying to provide a product to sell to everyone. Most of the fans of the LPGA are North Americans who speak English as well as most of the sponsors are American companies. I think it is only right that after a golfer wins an event they can take a microphone and thank the fans for their support and thank their sponsors.
The LPGA has come under heavy fire for their decision and have been forced to try and justify their actions. "Why now? Athletes now have more responsibilities and we want to help their professional development," deputy commissioner LibbaGalloway told The Associated Press. "There are more fans, more media and more sponsors. We want to help our athletes as best we can succeed off the golf course as well as on it."
Besides just fans and sponsors there are people to pay top dollar to play in Pro-Ams with these women. Imagine spending $10,000 to play one round of golf with your favorite golfer on the LPGA and not even being able to ask them how it is going? These players have a responsibility to make themselves accessible to the public and if that means learning to speak English than I think its justified.
Some golfers who have won tournaments before can't even give an interview after their round. Imagine if Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson couldn't speak English? The PGA would be ruined because so much of their business comes from sponsors and selling these players as a commodity.
I think what a lot of people are not seeing are the opportunities that learning English will provide to some of these young golfers. If they learn to speak English now than they could get a new sponsor and do TV commercials and gain exposure and earn more money. Its not as if the LPGAis attempting to assimilate them into Western culture they simply want to try and enhance their business.
The players themselves are already starting to get with the program and seem to have accepted the decision without much of an issue. Angela Park, born in Brazil of South Korean heritage and raised in the United States, said the policy is fair and good for the tour and its international players. Seon-Hwa Lee, the only Asian with multiple victories this year, said she works with an English tutor in the winter. Her ability to answer questions without the help of a translator has improved in her short time on tour.
All in all I think that the decision is a fair one and from a business standpoint makes perfect sense. If only everyone would stop being so sensitive and see that in the end sports is a business and needs to put profit ahead of some peoples hurt feelings.
Going into the British Open this week the PGA had been struggling with the absence of Tiger Woods. Kenny Perry had been on a winning streak of late but decided to skip the Open leaving PGA officials in a real jam as they now had no good stories to try and promote the event. Luckily for them however one former star and one Irishman decided to step up and make it a weekend to talk about. Greg Norman had a great weekend of golf and at 53 almost won the Open and Padraig Harrington defended his title to make it two years in a row.
The first story was that Greg Norman took the lead going into Sunday but was unable to close the deal as he shot a 77 and finished 3rd. The Norman story was great as he came out of nowhere to make his first run at a major championship since 1993 when he won the British Open. The one thing I don't like about this story is the way people are now trashing Greg Norman saying that he choked. If he had come out of nowhere to finish 3rd people would have said he was amazing but since he was in 1st at one point he gets thrown under the bus. People also need to realise that Greg Norman is semi-retired and that these days he plays more tennis than golf.
The second great story was Padraig Harrington becoming the first European to win back to back British Open's since James Braid of Scotland won in 1905-06. Before Tiger Woods won in 2005-06, no one had gone back-to-back since Tom Watson in '82 and '83. In all, 16 players have defended their titles since the first Open was played in 1860. Harrington played masterful golf and its sad that his victory is being overshadowed by Greg Norman not winning and Tiger Woods not being there.
Many people feel that since Tiger wasn't there the winner should have an asterisk put by their name in the record books. I don't understand how anyone could think this should actually be the case as its not as if Tiger Woods was a lock to win. In the past 10 years he has only won 3 times. While that is very impressive it does not mean that he is a guarantee. Hell with Padraig Harrington's win yesterday he has won twice in 10 years. Harrington also won last year when Tiger was there so clearly his victory this year shouldn't have an asterisk.
I understand people thinking that Tiger Woods is the best golfer in the world, I think this as well, but to say that every tournament he isn't at shouldn't really count is pure idiocy. Tiger has been in countless majors and hasn't won all of them so this line of thinking clearly doesn't make any sense. Thinking like this cheapens the victories of other golfers as it makes their wins seem less important. I'm sure yesterday was one of the best days of Padraig Harrington's life and yet it get cheapened by people saying that it should come with an asterisk.
The British Open did not disappoint this year as even without Tiger Woods it was an exciting weekend that left everyone with lots to talk about. Padraig Harrington won by playing great golf and there is no need for an asterisk. The PGA can be happy that even with no Tiger there is no problem.
