So, here's an article by Rick Reilly about Tiger

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3992192

Does Rick Reilly have anything of any substance to say anymore? The article provides evidence for a point he may or may not agree with. WTF?

Rick Reilly gets becomes more worthless with every article he writes. That's right, though if one is worthless they have no worth, Rick Reilly is actually less than zero.

The thing that bugs me about this article was the subtitle "....We're about to find out". Find out what? After reading the article I found nothing but inane ramblings that could have been written by a typing pool of monkeys.
A better way of putting it would have been: "Tiger's a great golfer - he's not won anything for a while - let's see what happens in the future". Save some column inches and put more pictures in.

Rick Reilly - when with SI - used to write some hilarious stuff. I think he's just hit a snag in his writing - in a slump if you will. I enjoy his old stuff for sure, and I hope he gets out of this writing funk.

Guys like Reilly write stuff like that because if it turns out that Tiger doesn't come back from the injury, as unlikely as that is, Reilly thinks it will make him look like a genius for having predicted it.

I love the statement that Woods will be a billionaire next year. How does anyone know?

A billionaire is someone with a net worth of one billion dollars. Depending on his taxes, spending and investments, Tiger could already be there, or be much further away then we think, but that information will never be made public.

Its been said for a while Tiger will be the first billion dollar athlete, and I think he's refering to adding up all the years of $100million+ endorsments as well as earnings on the golf course. He won the Masters in '97, throw in the Amex, Buick, Nike, Gatorade and so on deals and he's probably right there.

Plus, throw in earning potential for other deals because its also known that he only does high paying/low time investment contracts and he could double that being he is the most marketable athlete on the planet.

Considering Tiger's game has ALWAYS mirrored Brad Faxon's, I am expecting a collapse of epic proportions. Nice research The Rick.

The title of this article should have been "The Media Darling also perseveres over physical adversity - but I still want to talk about Tiger."

how is anything reily said wrong? this is major moment in Tigers career last year before the masters everyone was talkin about how tiger could possibly pass jack in a few years. then a huge major knee surgery comes up and it will be interesting to see if tiger is still the same. every athlete who comes back from a big injury has the possibilty of not performing the same golf is no difference. will tiger woods win again definatly will he be a great player no doubt. will he be the hands down best golfer ever well we have to wait and see.

Sorry if the idea that tiger woods may not be the same golfer after the surgery offends all the die hard tiger woods fans but it is a fact that injurys can ruin careers. I personally hope not but i know one thing its goin to be interesting with sergio, phil, geoff ogilvy and tiger all competing to be #1.

absolute garbage. glad i wasn't alone in thinking that.

i think it's more about the fact that the article itself is hack journalism. i'll give you examples:

"So far, in his two hand-picked comeback tournaments, Woods was a) knocked out early in the Accenture Match Play, and b) no factor at Doral last week -- an event he'd won six times.But he's Tiger, so you say, "Pah! Rust!""

No, Rick, we say, "it's golf, you don't always win, rust or not."


In the meantime, golf has gotten sharper. Phil Mickelson suddenly looks like a brawler. A lot of the flab is gone, along with much of his neck. He's won two of his last three starts, including a gritty, stomach-virus win at Doral. He's got a new swing -- does the name Butch Harmon ring a bell? -- that seems to have eliminated the God-no! slice from his bag.

But, of course, this is Tiger and that is Phil, so you say, "Cha! Tiger flosses bits of Phil out every night!"

Again, no, Rick. we say, "Phil is one of the greatest golfers ever to play the game. and guess what, sometimes he even wins tournaments."

Then he gives a bunch of examples about kids and other commitments and blah blah blah, then says 'maybe they'll matter, maybe they wont. but here's my prediction, even though i just admitted i have no clue.' All he does is lay out a bunch of uber obvious examples that even a passing golf fan could come up with, and then he gives his lame prediction. If there's one thing I hate in sports journalism, it's when giving predictions counts as being an expert. Guess what, it doesn't. Frankly, the article sounds like it was written by someone who has no expertise in golf, but just wanted to write something dramatic about Tiger's comeback.


Personally, I think he wrote the article just so he could bring out that Nicklaus quote at the end. I bet he's been telling that story to all his friends for years and just couldn't wait to publish it.

are there any announcers, writers, magazines or networks that anyone on this site actually likes?

Avatar, where are you? You thread about all the negativity was an ominous warning of things to come!

I see Reilly has his obligatory dental-related reference. This time it's Tiger flossing.

http://www.slate.com/id/2205759/

Yes but you realize that all of Tigers earnings are totaled before taxes right? So cut down a few hundred million and that's how much he actually put in the bank. Plus we really have no idea how well he has done with his money, whether he has made good or bad investments. I can tell you it's not all sitting in a bank. For instance I've played golf with a guy who often consults with Mickelson on different business opportunities, apparently Phil is quite the angel investor.

THe $65 million mansion in the hamptons and $40million in Florida can still be calculated into net worth. I never said he had a billion in cash on hand. I haven't crunched all the numbers, but this article mentions by around 2011 he'll hit a billion, after taking 45% off from taxes and management fees.

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug...o&type=lgns

Tiger has a mansion in the Hamptons? I thought that was BS?

Interesting article. Like everyone, I am sure he has taken about a 20% hit in the last 8 months or so. The article also seems to negect spending - only deducting for taxes and management. I am sure Tiger can't spend it as fast as he makes it, but his lifestyle can't be cheap - even if he is a bad tipper.

In general with celebrities, we have no clue as to whether they have prospered or not. I am sure Tiger is prudent, but lots of jocks and Hollywood types live to the limit.

He has a ridiculous house in Newport beach also.

I call BS on the Billionaire athlete status. Michael Jordan was the most marketable athlete on the planet period his Air Jordan line still generate hundreds of millions in sales and MJ is not a billionaire? You also assume these guys didn't get hit like everyone else in the last year. My guess is liquid after IMGs fees and loss in market hes probably worth half billion. We all know with as cheap as he is he will prob be the first one.



Look at Norman hes worth half billion and his clothing line is as popular or moreso than Tigers Nike line. He's in wine, turf. Made a boatload on selling of Cobra.


You know apparently a lot of the IMG athletes were invested pretty heavily with Stanford Financial since IMG got a cut back. So who know how much Tiger and Vijay are worth. My guess is Phil has MUCH more business acumen than any player since Jack and Arnie.

I reject the idea we here at golfwrx (or anyone, anywhere) should leave alone the sportswriters/newscasters/telecasters and simply "respect" them for the "difficult" job they have.

f*ck that noise.

They get to spout off their inane ramblings and totally obvious and poorly worded insights, yet we should hold humble and keep quiet?

People who write/broadcast for national outfits are subject to criticism. And people like Rick Reilly have jumped the shark.

(assuming sarcastic tone)
Oh, Rick, how brave of you to declare your inability to be sure Tiger may or may not be capable of being the player he once was, all the while naming other players on tour, past and present. Way to go out in limb as dangerously as you did when you declared at the end of the college football season Utah should be national champion. two big thumbs up!

tiger does not have, nor probably ever wanted, a house in the hamptons. that was BS and was dis-credited a long time ago:

http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/6...inally-debunked

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

MJ's shoe sales reach in the hundreds of millions a year, however he only gets 5% in royalties. In 2004 the revenue was $500mil and he got $25mil. Granted that's not bad for a few weeks work on a shoe design...

As of 2008 he was making $45mil a year, that's about 1/3 of Tiger

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/53/celebr...ordan_UGGU.html
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/53/celebr...Woods_WR6D.html

Norman just got killed in his divorce too, from what I heard like $100mil+ he had to give to her.