Tiger Woods won’t be on cover of Tiger Woods golf

Well, EA Sports has decided one of two things. Either Tiger Woods on the cover of the eponymous game is bad for sales, or they’re trying to increase the sales for the deluxe version, which costs $10 more. Either way, don’t feel bad for him. He still did pretty well this year — find out how well at the bottom of this story.

On the cover this year? A picture of a yellow flag at Augusta National Golf Club. Bleh, boring if you ask me.

But the fact is that sales of Tiger Woods PGA Tour’ game have dropped 60% worldwide since his major scandal, so you can’t blame them for trying to distance themselves some, but the name is still Tiger Woods, so it seems a bit shallow of an attempt.

Besides, if you really wanted to shake up the marketing, then why put him on the PlayStation 3 Collector’s Edition of the game, which will cost $10 more and include five additional courses. Seems like you’re making him more valuable, even if unintentionally.

Last year, Electronic Arts put Woods and Irish rookie golfer Rory McIlroy on the cover, forcing Woods to share the cover for the first time. Now, there won’t be any golfers on the cover.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. will be released on March 29th.

Woods, 35, is still on top of the world, though.

Despite a pay cut of $48 million and failing to win a single tournament, Tiger Woods again emerged as golf’s top earner in 2010.

Woods’ earnings took a dent after losing his swing and his marriage, but he still managed to make $74.2 million, according to Golf Digest magazine’s annual list.

The No. 2-ranked player received just $2.29 million from tournament purses, with the bulk of his income coming through endorsements and appearance fees.

Woods, who celebrated his 35th birthday on Thursday, was down from a staggering $121.9 million in 2009 after he was engulfed by a scandal. The furor caused firms such as AT&T and Accenture to end sponsorship deals with the 14-time major champion, costing him up to $35 million in annual revenue.

He is however, still paid more than $60 million per year by Nike, Electronic Arts, Procter & Gamble’s Gillette, Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets unit, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s Tag Heuer, Upper Deck and TLC Laser Vision Centers.