Tiger Woods trolls Phil Mickelson after securing $8M bonus 'Lefty' thought he'd won

Tiger Woods hasn't played on the PGA Tour since 2020.

But he's still the biggest name in golf and was awarded $8 million by the PGA on Wednesday because of it. Even sweeter for Woods? He got to take a shot at old rival Phil Mickelson in the process.

The tour awarded Woods the $8 million prize for winning the inaugural Player Impact Program (PIP), which is basically a lucrative popularity contest for the tour's top golfers. Mickelson apparently thought he'd won it and tweeted about his assumed victory in December. When Woods actually won on Wednesday, he showed receipts.

Whoops, indeed.

The good news for Mickelson is that he finished second, which comes with a $6 million check. Eight other players split the rest of the $40 million prize pool:

1: Tiger Woods ($8 million)
2: Phil Mickelson ($6 million)
3: Rory McIlroy ($3.5 million)
4: Jordan Spieth ($3.5 million)
5: Bryson DeChambeau ($3.5 million)
6: Justin Thomas ($3.5 million)
7: Dustin Johnson ($3 million)
8: Brooks Koepka ($3 million)
9: Jon Rahm ($3 million)
10: Bubba Watson ($3 million)

Another L for 'Lefty'

The bad news for Mickelson is that his flub adds up to another hit in what's been a rough few weeks — though nothing in comparison to his Saudi Arabia league snafu. His apology for his comments about overlooking Saudi Arabia's "horrible record on human rights ... to reshape how the PGA Tour operates" remains pinned on his Twitter profile.

Mickelson's flirtation with the controversial Saudi tour is about making more money — for himself and other professional golfers. It instead has cost him several high-profile endorsements from sponsors who balked at his Saudi Arabia comments.

In a bit of irony, the PIP is an effort from the tour to pay its top players beyond weekly tournament purses. The $6 million Mickelson won may or may not have put a dent in his lost sponsorship money. And his Saudi comments seem likely to hurt him in next year's PIP race which will see the prize pool increased to $50 million.

How the PIP works

The tour awards the payouts based on a set of five criteria that "measure the players who generated the most positive interest in the PGA TOUR over the previous year." Per the tour, those criteria are as follows:

1. Internet Searches: Number of times a player’s name is searched on the internet.

2. Earned Media: Number of unique news articles that include a player’s name.

3. Social Media: Social media score that considers a player’s reach, conversation and engagement metrics.

4. TV Sponsor Exposure: Duration (time) that a player’s sponsor logo(s) appears on screen during Saturday and Sunday PGA TOUR telecasts.

5. Awareness: A player’s general awareness score among broad U.S. population.

Since the tour is diligently tracking these things, we'll have a good idea this time next year of just how much Mickelson's comments impacted his public image. In the meantime, Woods will relish another win over his rival.