Tiger Proves His Worth Yet Again

SAN FRANCISCO -- Tiger Woods debuted this week as the first billion-dollar athlete. If that thought left you bemused, perplexed or angry, Woods showed Saturday why people throw money at him.

He's worth it.

Example No. 3,539 -- With the International team losing its grip on the Presidents Cup, he made a 24-foot putt to tie his match on the 17th hole. His next swing was a 229-yard laser that ended up 15 feet from the hole.

The International team of Mike Weir and Tim Clark literally surrendered.

"It was pretty impressive," said Steve Stricker, Woods' partner.

It was another one of those Tiger Shows that makes you hope he leaves his body to science. Maybe pathologists can discover what allows him to rise when the other 6.9 billion people would collapse.

The latest show featured all the favorite Tiger choreography. A fist pump and yell as the putt teetered into the hole. An emphatic twirling of the 3-iron as the ball flew to the pin.

Woods extended his arms like a faith healer. Was it only coincidence that at that moment, Florida doctors cleared Tim Tebow to play against LSU?

According to his website, however, Woods has never actually cured anyone of leprosy, H1N1 or even erectile dysfunction. What he has done, aside from all the golf stuff, irritate a segment of the population for no good reason.

First the critics said he was too cocksure. Then he backed it up and they said he was no Nicklaus. Then he started one-upping Jack, and they said Tiger drops too many F-bombs.

He's guilty of that. But even if Woods spoke like a mute priest, some people would find a reason to grouse.

It came in last week's Forbes magazine, which reported that Woods is the first athlete to earn $1 billion. The $10 million check for winning the FedEx Cup put him into 10 figures.

Let us stipulate that pro athletes are the most overpaid human beings this side of Katie Couric. There's no need to belabor the point that the money from one A-Rod at-bat would feed an entire Amazonian tribe for a century.

We know it's obscene. Most jocks know it's obscene.

So what are they supposed to do, turn it down?

If you're mad, blame the people who pay those salaries. Even better, blame the people who provide the money to pay those salaries. Namely fans, many of whom spend large portions of their free time griping about how much athletes make.

That's one reason Woods was sheepish when he was asked what it's like to earn a billon bucks.

"I haven't," he said, "I don't know where that number came from."

It came from Forbes adding his endorsement income, golf earnings and whatever he made for appearing on the Mike Douglas Show as a two-year-old. It was just an estimate, so Forbes may not have nailed the exact figures.

In the big money picture, that hardly matters. If Woods isn't a billion-dollar sports baby, he soon will be. And at 33 he'll probably make another billion before he retires and buys his own country.

He almost could. According to the International Monetary Fund's worldwide list of gross domestic products, Tiger's nest egg would rank him No. 172, just behind the ($1.07 billion).

At least the Solomons aren't married to a Swedish ex-swimsuit model, which is another reason to hate Woods. But like Nike, AT&T, Accenture, Gillette, Gatorade, EA Sports and Tag Heuer, nobody forced Elin into a relationship with Woods. She willingly signed on figuring it would be worth the investment.

It apparently has been to all those companies that have provided the bulk of Woods fortune. They pay, he delivers. It's the free enterprise at work, at least until the Obama Administration appoints a golf czar and starts giving 70 percent of Tiger's winnings to Brandt Jobe.

The irony this week is that Tiger will earn nothing. There's never prize money in these Ryder Cup-like events, which skeptics say is one reason Woods has never excelled like he does on the regular tour.

Now even that gripe is gone. Woods and Stricker are the main reason the American Team leads 12 1/2-9 1/2 heading into Sunday. They won their fourth match Saturday afternoon as Stricker had seven birdies.

His inspiration?

"What he did this morning," Stricker said, looking at Woods.


That's when the International team was closing in. Its inspiration was Weir and Clark , who led by a shot going into the 17th hole. Weir put his approach shot four feet from the pin. Tiger knew that essentially meant he had to make his 24-footer.

"Didn't have a choice," he said.

Weir was so rattled he blew his putt. When Woods turned his 3-iron into a magic wand a hole later, the match had been flipped on its International head.

"He kept telling me, 'We are going to win this match, turn this thing and get the crowd on our side,'" Stricker said.

When Tiger talks, the Golf Gods listen.

No, he hasn't made every crucial shot in his career. He didn't even win a single major this year. But the Tiger Show still rolls on.

"The stage is set,' Stricker said, "and he comes through."

He's the greatest money player ever. Even when there's no money on the line.