Tiger Woods tops PGA Tour's Player Impact Program ahead of Phil Mickelson, receives $8million

Tiger Woods won the PGA Tour's inaugural Player Impact Program

Tiger Woods has finished top of the PGA Tour's inaugural Player Impact Program and will receive £6m ($8m) , despite not playing in an official event over the past 12 months.

The Player Impact Program (PIP) was introduced to identify the biggest needle-movers in the sport and financially compensate them for their influence off the course, rather than just tournament results, combining several metrics that can be used to quantify a golfer's added value to the game.

The £30m ($40m) bonus is split between the 10 leading players on the list and was not originally going to be information made public, although the PGA Tour announced the winners on Wednesday after releasing a memo to its membership.

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Woods topped the standings, despite the unofficial PNC Championship being the only time he competed, while Phil Mickelson - who became the oldest major winner in history in 2021 - will earn £4.5m ($6m) for taking second.

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Highlights from Team Woods' final round at the PNC Championship, where Tiger and his 12-year-old son, Charlie, fired 11 straight birdies to charge up the leaderboard

Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas were the next four in the standings, all receiving £2.6m ($3.5m) each, with Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Bubba Watson getting £2.2m ($3m) each for finishing in positions seventh to 10th.

The PGA Tour said the results of the PIP had been determined by five criteria obtained from "objective, third-party data measurement services", including number of internet searches, appearances in news articles and general awareness of a player's name among the American public.

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Woods says he does not know when he will be able to return to competitive action as he continues his rehabilitation following his car accident last year

Woods wins as Mickelson misses out

Mickelson, who has lost several sponsors since his explosive comments about the PGA Tour and a potential Saudi-backed rival circuit, claimed in December that he had scooped the £6m ($8m) prize from the PIP.

However - despite winning his sixth major title at last year's PGA Championship - the PGA Tour revealed on Wednesday that he had in fact finished second to Woods, who did not play a single official PGA Tour event last year after a life-threatening car accident in February.

Mickelson is currently taking a break from golf following the fall-out from his claims the PGA Tour acts like a "dictatorship" and he was using the threat of a breakaway to "reshape" how the Tour operates.

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Sky Sports' Jamie Weir says Phil Mickelson's reputation is in tatters after his comments about the proposed Saudi-backed breakaway league and says his apology might be an attempt to save face

The 51-year-old apologised for his comments but still insisted the way the sport is run needed to change and praised the "visionaries" he had worked with on the rival league.

No return date has yet been set for Woods' return to competitive action or when Mickelson will feature next on the PGA Tour.

The bonus pool, launched in response to speculation about a proposed Premier Golf League last year, will increase by £7.5m ($10m) to £37.5m ($50m) in 2022.