THOUSAND OAKS, CA - OCTOBER 25: Tiger Woods watches his tee shot on the 10th hole while Phil Mickelson gets ready to hit during the final round of the ZOZO Championship at Sherwood Country Club on October 25, 2020 in Thousand Oaks, California. (Photo by John McCoy/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)On Wednesday, Tiger Woods claimed the PGA TOUR’s inaugural Player Impact Program (PIP) award — celebrating the most influential figure in golf.
After claiming this victory, Woods, who didn’t play in a single PGA TOUR event this season, trolled his longtime rival and second-place finisher Phil Mickelson.
Back in December, Mickelson shared a tweet claiming that he’d already won the PIP title.
“Whoops,” Tiger wrote alongside a screenshot of that premature tweet.
🤷♂️ whoops 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/SkMTGerVOB
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) March 2, 2022
This is just another setback for Mickelson after facing a turbulent past few weeks. Due to recent comments about the PGA TOUR’s rival Saudi-backed Super Golf League, Lefty faced major backlash from the golf world and lost multiple major sponsorships.
The PIP award is decided based on five criteria: Nielsen ratings, Google searches, MVP Index, Meltwater Mentions and Q-Rating. A compiled score of these factors determines a player’s appeal and popularity on social media.
Woods claims $8 million in prize money for his first-place finish and Mickelson will take home $6 million. Third through sixth place — Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas — will each receive $3.5 million. Seventh through 10th — Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, John Rahm and Bubba Watson — will take home $3 million apiece.
