McIlroy - How much did he earn in 2014 ?
By: Golf Shake | Fri 23 Jan 2015
Post by Sports Writer Derek Clements
Rory McIlroy the current number 1 golfer in the world earned £51,176 a day in 2014 - which is a staggering £35 a minute!
He won £5.6m in prize money on the PGA Tour and European Tour and added off-course earnings of £13.4m. Not bad for a 25 year old who eschews fast cars and a celebrity lifestyle
The Northern Irishman won The Open and the US PGA championship and returned to the top of the world rankings in a memorable season.
It marked a remarkable transformation after a miserable 2013 in which he struggled to adjust to playing with new clubs after signing his astonishing deal with Nike, which is worth more than £6.67m annually.
He has been on the up ever since he became the second youngest player to become the best golfer in the world (only Tiger Woods was younger when he did so) - a feat he first achieved back in 2012.
McIlroy was embroiled in a lawsuit with Oakley, who says it owned the first right of refusal to match the sunglasses portion of his Nike deal, but they settled the suit at the end of 2013.
He now faces a separate lawsuit with Horizon, his former management company.
But guess what? His earnings were dwarfed by a certain Tiger Woods. Even though the 14-time major champion spent most of the year injured he earned in the region of £40m in 2014.
Woods underwent back surgery at the end of March that meant he missed The Masters for the first time since 1994. This was the latest setback in Wood's quest to break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major titles. Woods has been stuck on 14 since the 2008 US Open.
Woods' earnings took a hit when Electronic Arts announced in 2013 that it would end its relationship with him and his eponymous video game after 16 versions. The series generated nearly £534m in sales, according to NPD Group.
Nike renewed its deal with Woods in 2013. The company built a golf division on the back of Woods that registered sales of £527.5m in Nike's 2013 fiscal year.
Woods remains one of the highest-paid athletes thanks to his Nike deal and a series of lucrative appearance fees for tournaments outside the U.S. before he got hurt. Woods' golf course-design business has also picked up after multiple blowups. Developers plan to open a new course in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, this fall which will be the first completed Woods-designed course.
So McIlroy is doing nicely, thank you very much, but he still has some work to do before he catches Woods in the earning stakes!
Image Credit: - TourProGolfClubs
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