Lefty #1 on List of Highest Earning Athletes Not Named Tiger
Golfer Philip Alfred Mickelson was named the second top earning athlete in the United States by Sports Illustrated yesterday, one spot (and $65,530,021) behind follow-golfer Tiger Woods. According to the breakdown provided by the magazine, Mickelson brought home $9,372,685 in salary and winnings and $53,000,000 in endorsements in 2007. That's right, $53,000,000 for providing his face to companies in an attempt to persuade us to buy the merchandise. Among those paying Lefty:
- Callaway Golf, which he uses on the Tour.
- Accounting firm KPMG (visor)
- Financial Services company Barclays (single color polo shirt patch)
- Scottsdale's Grayhawk Golf Club (Mick is a paid representative)
- Rolex (which he wears while playing golf)
- Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts (my guess is that he's never stayed in one…would you if you made $63 million per year?)
- Ford (another single color polo shirt patch sponsor)
I'll admit that I am a bigger golf fan than most people, but I can say without a doubt that I would never buy anything based off of Phil Mickelson's endorsement. What the heck does this guy know about accounting and hotels? This isn't Michael Jordan pushing Hanes undershirts, this is a golfer telling us that our Fortune 500 companies should get their audits done by KPMG.
Then again, I am not exacting slugging gallons of Gatorade Tiger either…
