Tiger, Mickelson top SI money list

GOLF: NEW YORK, June 18 (AFP): Tiger Woods edged Phil Mickelson for the top spot in Sports Illustrated’s Fortunate 50 list of top US athlete moneymakers while Swiss tennis star Roger Federer led non-Americans to rank third overall.

Woods, who missed this week’s US Open golf championship with a left knee injury, set the pace in figures released Thursday, as he has in all eight years of the magazine’s study, with $62,294,116 in prize money and endorsements.

In the wake of his infamous sex scandal and a win drought that has reached 20 months, Woods plunged from his 2008 figure of $127.9 million and is off by $10 million from 2010 and $32 million from 2009. Mickelson, who turned 41 on Thursday as he began play at Congressional country Club, was second on $61,185,933. His $57 million in endorsements was $3 million shy of Woods but he won nearly twice as much in prize money.

Federer topped the international list of 20 at $52,781,940, edging Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, who was fourth overall at $52,500,000. Spanish auto racer Fernando Alonso was next on $45 million. Among the Americans, NBA star LeBron James ranked third overall with $44.5 million followed by NFL star Peyton Manning on $38.07 million, baseball’s Alex Rodriguez at $36 million and NBA playmaker Kobe Bryant at $34.8 million.