16 Richest Athletes In Sports
3. Arnold Palmer – $675 million
Turning pro in 1954, he is today considered to be one of the greatest golf players of all time.
Among his many wins and championships, he has won the PGA Tour 62 times and the Championship Tour ten times. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.
Palmer is regarded to be one of the greatest players in the history of professional golf. Coming from a humble background, Palmer’s success in golf transformed the perception of the sport from an elite, upper-class boys club to a more democratic sport accessible to middle and working classes.
He honed his golf skills as he left Wake Forest University to be enlisted in the United States Coast Guard, where he served for three years. However, he eventually got back to college and competitive golf. It was his win in the 1954 US Amateur that made him decide to try the pro tour and he already took the golf world by helm as he won the 1955 Canadian Open in his rookie season.
He has since won numerous events on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour. His ruling performance on the golf course helped him earn the nickname “The King”, a perfectly suitable tag for one of golf’s most popular stars and its most important trailblazer.
Furthermore, he became the first superstar of the sport’s television age, which began in the 1950s. Arnold Palmer went on to secure himself a place into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974 and won the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998.
Aside from playing golf, Palmer has had a diverse golf-related business career. He was the owner the Bay Hill Club and Lodge, which is the venue for the PGA Tour in Bay Hill, Florida, a suburb of Orlando. As for his Arnold Palmer Enterprises deals with the licensing, endorsements, spokesman associations and commercial partnerships built for Palmer and McCormack.
Nevertheless, he is globally recognized for his achievements as a golfer and being part of “The Big Three” in golf, along with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, the three key players who are widely credited with popularizing and commercializing the sport around the world.
