New York: Tiger Woods is on his way to pass one billion dollars in career earnings by 2010, becoming the world's first billionaire athlete, says Forbes Magazine.


The 14-time major championship winner earned 115 million dollars (Rs 11.5 crore) in 2007 alone, said the American magazine, which annually ranks the world's richest people with its Forbes' Celebrity 100 list.


"There are plenty of billionaires who have excelled at sports, but there are no billionaires who accumulated their fortune by playing sports," the magazine said.


The nine-time PGA player-of-the-year is a sports marketers' dream, having earned more than 750 million dollars (Rs 75 crore) in endorsement deals to date in his career.


He has lucrative endorsement and sponsorship deals with companies like Nike, Buick and Gillette which help make up nine-tenths of his totals earnings.


This will land him 90 million dollars (Rs 9 crore) in 2008, says Forbes.