
Tiger Woods edged out Rory McIlroy at the $15m (£12.6m) prize for garnering the most media attention this year – despite only playing three events in 2022.
Woods, 46, beat the world number one for the top spot on the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program (PIP).
The program was introduced last year to reward competitors who generate positive interest in the PGA Tour.
McIlroy, who earned $18m (£15m) when he won the 2022 FedEx Cup Tour title, got $9m (£7.5m) for his runner-up finish .
Woods also won the first bonus program in 2021.
The PIP was designed to reward the players who generate the most interest in the PGA Tour, with metrics such as Google searches, news article mentions and social media reach and engagement taken into account. .
As in 2021, Woods has played a limited schedule this year even before his last tournament in Scotland as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in a car crash in February last year.
This season, the 15-time major winner finished 47th at the Masters, retired from the US PGA Championship after three sets and missed the cut at The Open Championship.
McIlroy’s $12million reward came just two days after the 33-year-old won the DP World Tour Order of Merit title for the fourth time.
The Northern Irishman became just the second player to win the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai titles in the same season after Henrik Stenson in 2013.
Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth took home $9m (£7.5m) for finishing third in the PIP, ahead of fellow American Justin Thomas and Spaniard Jon Rahm.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, who won the US Open in June, earned $5m (£4m) for finishing in the top 10 while Ireland’s Shane Lowry took home $3m ( £2.5 million).
Last year’s PIP runner-up Phil Mickelson was ineligible after leaving the PGA Tour to play on the Saudi-backed LIV Tour.
Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bubba Watson, all of whom were in the top 10 of the inaugural PIP rankings last year, have also left the PGA Tour for LIV.
The woods go back to action in the Hero World Challenge, an event he organizes in the Bahamas, from December 1 to 4.
The 82-time PGA Tour winner will also partner with McIlroy against Spieth and Thomas in The Match, a 12-hole exhibition in Florida, on December 10.