Tiger Woods the first athlete to reach $1 Billion

There is no recession for Tiger Woods. Forbes’ calculations show that the $10 million bonus Woods earned for the FedEx Cup title nudged him over the $1 billion mark in career earnings.

The magazine estimates that golf’s top-ranked player crested the plateau when he earned $10 million for winning the FedEx Cup last Sunday.

According to Forbes Tiger entered 2009 with $895 million from prize money, appearance fees, endorsement fees, bonuses and his golf course design business, which were calculated to have pushed him over $1 billion.

Former NBA great Michael Jordan at $800 million and former Formula One driver Michael Schumacher at $700 million are Tiger’s closest competitors  in career earnings.