There is a growing group of young stars for whom a 9-digit earning potential is not enough. New billionaires include the usual suspects of money managers and dot-com inventors plus a man who has not worked at his day job since June and may not again until next spring.

That slacker’s name, Tiger Woods.

A golf prodigy since age 18-months, Fortune magazine projects him crossing the $1 billion dollar mark in mid 2010 and it won’t just be from the generous golf purses he has created for everyone. A bank I worked with sponsored a PGA event in Massachusetts in the 1980s, The Bank of Boston Classic. We had to put up the entire purse of $300,000. At Tiger’s US Open he alone won $1.35 million and the entire purse was just over fifth place money.

Woods dramatically won his third US Open Championship title on a broken leg and torn knee ligament. In other words he spun himself into the ground yet still won after playing an 18-hole playoff. Finally strapped down to a table and operated upon and… told not to pick up a club for at least six months, Woods confessed to feeling poorly for almost ten years(!).

Let’s review the Tiger decade of pain. 14-major championships, 65-wins, 150-top 10 finishes out of 236 events played, only 14-missed cuts and $82 million dollars won pales in comparison to his part-time ventures in sports shoes, apparel, endorsements and his latest gem – Dubai real estate developer and course designer. He is the public face of Buick autos, TAG Haeur Watches, American Express, Nike, Accenture consultants and many others. His yacht ‘Privacy’ is puny compared to Oracle’s Larry Ellison’s, yet at 155 feet with master suite, six staterooms and a theatre, it requires a 10’ draft minimum to enter most harbours.

Aside from two dramatic major championships won by Irishman Padraig Harrington, the golf world has been all but invisible since “The One” was injured in mid-June. The Ryder Cup will be contested in Oklahoma in three weeks’ time without him and without The Tiger, it’s not the same. It’s almost as if an asterisk would need to be placed next to the statistics if the Europeans win. The second annual FedEx Cup $10-million dollar prize challenge will be contested before and after the Cup no one seems to care. In a tight points race, Kenny Perry and Phil Mickleson are only 2,000 points apart in the standings. Tiger is still the overall leader having played in only six events in 2008 to Kenny’s 22 and Phil’s 17.

That’s how dominant Tiger is and how much the golf world misses him. Even Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem paid a visit to him whilst recuperating at home. I am sure that since his job has become much more difficult, dealing with nervous sponsors and wondering when he will return to the game, his heal this more eagerly watched by the golf faithful than that of Pope Benedict.

There is only one Tiger Woods as there was only one Michael Jordan. The NBA has not been the same since his retirement and Golf will also suffer the same fate. So Mr. Finchem will even bend rules and allow players to ride the course in carts before allowing this bonus baby to retire in his early 30s.

Because if Tiger were never able to play again without risking his leg, no matter how many ballots, puffs of white smoke would never appear above his Jupiter Florida chimney.