The 83rd Masters will go down as one of the most memorable events in modern golf history.
Many fans point to Jack Nicklaus’ unexpected run to a sixth green jacket in 1986 at 46 years old as the ultimate Augusta moment, but Tiger Woods, who has been chasing Nicklaus’ legacy his entire career, might have just topped the Golden Bear.
Woods, decked in his trademark red, won the Masters by one stroke Sunday, holding off a stacked leaderboard of seasoned, elite golfers. It was a moment that many sports fans thought would never happen after a series of back surgeries pushed Woods to the brink of retirement.
Americans love to see their brightest stars fall, and few have fallen from a higher point than Woods, who was the most marketable athlete on the planet for a decade-plus. But the one thing Americans seem to love even more is the redemption story. Sports fans had waited 11 years for Woods to take another step toward Nicklaus’ hallowed record of 18 major titles.
Woods’ Tour Championship win last year was an indicator of what was to come, and he’s once again a marketing force. Woods and Phil Mickelson had a $9 million winner-take-all pay-per-view event in November, and Woods signed a multiyear content deal last fall with Discovery’s new over-the-top streaming service, GolfTV. He will do weekly golf instructional videos and is set to do a series of showdown-type events in Asia as part of the Discovery partnership.
Here are some of the numbers behind Woods and his history at Augusta.
4: Back surgeries for Woods.
5: Wins at Augusta for Woods, but the most recent was 14 years ago. It is the longest gap between Masters wins ever.
11: It has been just shy of 11 years since Woods won his last major tournament (2008 U.S. Open).
11: Number of times Woods has won the Player of the Year award.
12: Woods’ current rank in the World Golf Ranking.
16: Woods’ rank last year among the world’s highest-paid athletes. He earned $43.3 million.
20: Woods has made the cut in all 20 of his Masters appearances.
21: Woods was the youngest Masters champion ever when he won in 1997 at 21 years old by a record 12 strokes.
35: Number of players who had won a major title since Woods’ last Masters win in 2005. That span covered 55 tournaments.
43: Woods is the second-oldest Masters champion, with only Nicklaus having been older when he put on the green jacket.
81: Career PGA Tour wins for Woods, one shy of Sam Snead’s record.
281: Consecutive weeks Woods was ranked No. 1 in the world between 2005 and 2010.
$1.19 million: Payout for a bettor who put down $85,000 at 14/1 odds at William Hill’s Las Vegas sportsbook on Woods to win. “It’s great to see Tiger back. It’s a painful day for William Hill—our biggest golf loss ever—but a great day for golf,” says Nick Bogdanovich, William Hill U.S.’s director of trading.
$2.07 million: Woods’ prize money for the 2019 Masters win.
$20 million: Value of his yacht Privacy.
$20 million: Estimated value of Woods’ PGA Tour pension plan.
$800 million: Estimated net worth for Woods.
$1.5 billion: Cumulative career earnings for Woods, including prize money, endorsements, appearance fees and golf course design fees.
-Kurt Badenhausen;Forbes Staff