If you rank golfers based on their cash-making skills, Michelle Wie is every bit the champion her supporters claim. Of course, Tim Finchem is doing pretty well himself.
A new Golf Digest article takes a look at what people in golf are making, and it’s a fairly eye-opening experience.
With endorsement deals making up the majority of her earnings, Wie was a big winner when it came to cash. Likely, however, that money-making ability has cost her fans among the purists of the game, especially following a miserable end to her 2006 campaign, where she often looked outclassed on the course.
So while the now-17 year old may not have released nuclear secrets to the world over the Internet or anything, one thing is certain - if Wie’s mercurial rise is to continue, and if Jennifer Mario is to sell any books, some wins best be forthcoming in 2007.
One of the other impressive numbers coming out of the story is Finchem’s salary, which comes in at more than $4 million a year. Compare that to LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Biven’s take of $525,000, and one thing about modern society becomes painfully clear - Bivens is overpaid by say, half a million or so.
Other interesting earners: Joe Louis Barrow Jr., the executive director of The First Tee makes more than $400,000; George Fellows, CEO of Calloway Golf makes less than a million, meaning he obviously missed the memo that says CEO’s are required to outright monetarily rape the companies they lead; and David Leadbetter is getting $50,000 a day to carve Wie’s swing into something that will consistently produce 75s.
Also, Mark Soltau has an interesting sidebar on what caddies are making and how. So check the story out, you’ll never listen to Jim Nantz ($4 million+) the same.
–WKW
WorldGolf.com's William K. Wolfrum blogs about everything in the world of golf and travel, including Michelle Wie, Lorena Ochoa, Tiger Woods and other PGA and LPGA headlines. Plus, he offers the humorous and obscure in news, politics and pop culture.
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