Billionaire Tiger Woods worth over five times more than Open rival McIlroy

Tiger Woods is worth more than five times the amount of Troon rival Rory McIlroy, despite the two professional golfers having a similar career trajectory. Floridian Woods turned pro back in 1996 at the age of 20 after impressing at junior, collegic and amateur levels.

The very next year, he would win his first-ever major in the 1997 Masters at Augusta National with a 12-stroke margin over Tom Kite and an overall score of -18. He would then reach world No. 1 status in June 1997 – less than a year after turning pro – before holding the accolade for 264 consecutive weeks between 1999 and 2004.

Over the years, Woods has captured a what’s what of golfing trophies while taking home pretty purses. He has achieved five Masters, four PGA Championships, three US Opens and three Open Championships since 1996 but he has also enjoyed a wealth of success off the course.

The now 48-year-old has enjoyed lucrative sponsorships with the likes of Nike and Monster Energy over the years, while EA Sports used him as the face of their PGA Tour titles between 1998 and 2013. At the time of writing, Forbes says that Woods has an estimated real-time net worth of $1.3billion (£1billion) to show for his unbelievable career to date, despite withering slightly over recent years.

For context, that’s more than five times the net worth of 35-year-old McIlroy – who despite a similar surge to stardom only has a reported $255million (£196million) to his name. McIlroy turned pro at the age of 18 back in 2007 – and over the next five years, he would go on to win the US Open in 2011 and the PGA Championships of 2012, rising to the game’s world No. 1.

The Northern Irishman would add an Open Championship and a second PGA Championship to his name in 2014 and has racked up 26 PGA Tour wins, 17 European Tour victories and three World Golf Championships since. While his last major title came at the PGA Championships at Valhalla ten years ago now, McIlroy has consistently shown signs of achieving glory once again – narrowly missing out on a second US Open last month when Bryson DeChambeau overlapped him on the final stretch.

Similarly to Woods, McIlroy has enjoyed a wealth of lucrative sponsorships over the years, associating himself with Nike, Omega and TaylorMade. Meanwhile, EA Sports would replace Woods for McIlroy for the 2015 edition of their PGA Tour video game, only adding to McIlroy’s fame and fortune.

The two legends of the game go head to head at The 152nd Open at Royal Troon this week – each with hopes of taking home another major title. Woods finds himself grouped with Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay for the first two rounds of the championship, and despite winning The Open at St Andrews twice and Royal Liverpool once, he has never tasted success at Troon.

McIlroy has also never reigned victorious at Troon, with his only Open Championship win coming in the form of a 2014 victory at Royal Liverpool at 17 under par, with Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia trailing by two strokes in T2. He will be hoping to put a ten-year major drought to bed this weekend, as he’s grouped with Max Homa and Tyrell Hatton for the first two.