For the seventh year running Tiger Woods tops the rankings as the highest paid athlete in the world. For the first six years of his reign that would not really have come as much of a surprise to anyone, but with the drama and the intrigue that has surrounded Tiger over the last year the fact that he remains as the top earner in all of sport could be something of a shock.

In truth, the fact that Tiger is the highest paid athlete in 2010 speaks to the sheer size of some of the endorsement deals that he signed before all hell broke loose in his life. Contracts with Nike, EA Sports, and Upper Deck, among others, netted the golfer around $70 million dollars last year. That $70 million comes despite the fact that Tiger’s (multiple) affairs cost him branding rights with big money companies like Pepsi, Gatorade, and AT&T. When added to the $20.5 million he earned from his actual day job — you know the one where he walks around a large piece of land swinging sticks — his total income over the last 12 months was a staggering $91.5 million dollars. With that kind of salary you can bet that Tiger has been in Forbes once or twice; check out his profile in Forbes Magazine.

It cannot be a bad life when in a down year full of scandal and tabloid coverage you are still earning around a million dollars every five days. In fact, if you take Tigers income from the previous year it would appear that sleeping with every hoochie that shows an interest only results in a net income loss of around ten million bucks.

Woods will be hoping to hold on to his current set of sponsors because since he has been back on the green his game has been inconsistent at best and downright poor at worst. Though he was able to survive dips in his game when he had a clean image, it will be interesting to see what happens when contracts need to be renewed now that his actions have changed that. It is also yet to be seen if Tiger has the ability and drawing power to attract new sponsors. Before he was seen as a marketing machine that a company from every niche wanted a part of, but today the phrase “I am Tiger Woods” has more negative connotations than positive.

The fall from the highest paid athlete in the world to the number two guy on the list is just as staggering. Tiger made almost $30 million dollars more than the second highest paid athlete (In the United States) in 2010, his golfing rival Phil Mickelson (Check out Men’s Weekly’s Top 10 Highest Paid Athletes article here). With the fallout of the affair still occurring however, it will be very interesting to see how much closer this gap narrows in 2011.

Tiger’s affair will have repercussions sooner than that however. At this time it would appear that divorce papers from his wife Elin are imminent and if reports are to be believed, the settlement ending the Woods’ marriage will be something in the region of $750 million dollars. Even for the highest paid athlete in the world that will sting a little in the wallet.

Whenever I see how much athletes are getting paid every year, it makes me want to start my life over again and devote myself to sports. I’m sure a lot of us feel this way but since we can’t get a redo, we can at least gawk at the numbers and tell each other what we would do with the cash. Let’s take a look at the top paid athletes in the world starting with A-Rod!

10. Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod): $27.5 Million

Besides the fact that A-Rod used steroids, he is still considered to be one of the best all-around baseball players of all time. He makes the list because he signed a contract with the Yankees for a 10-year, $275 Million dollar contract, the richest contract in baseball history! That puts him at a comfortable $27.5 Million per year. He could’ve made millions more had it not been for the steroid use that defiled his reputation that made it virtually impossible to sign endorsement deals with companies like Nike, Adidas, and Coca Cola.