Survey: Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler more marketable than Tiger Woods

Rory McIlroy grew up idolizing Tiger Woods, as captured in the latest Nike commercial. Now, the 25-year-old golfer from Northern Ireland is more marketable than Woods is.

That's at least according to a survey of 43 marketers, tournament directors and media conducted by industry trade magazine Sports Business Daily.

Woods, who is currently ranked 111th in the World Golf Ranking, didn't even get the second spot. That went to Rickie Fowler, who received fewer first-place votes than Woods did, but garnered more second-, third- and fourth-place votes, which gave him more total points.

Woods finished third, followed by Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth.

McIlroy is aiming to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the Masters this week. McIlroy's best finish at Augusta National was last year when he tied for eighth place. He won the U.S. Open in 2011, the PGA Championship in 2012 and won both the PGA and the Open Championship last year.

McIlroy has many of the same sponsors that Woods has. Like Woods, he has an exclusive autograph and memorabilia deal with Upper Deck and he joined Woods when he signed a blockbuster head-to-toe deal with Nike in 2013. This year, he replaced Woods as the face of Electronic Arts' golf video game, which is now called Rory McIlroy PGA Tour. He also has prominent deals with Bose and watchmaker Omega.

Fowler's place on the list ahead of Woods is not a complete surprise. Young fans have emulated his long hair and his Sunday orange coordinated by his sponsor, Puma. But the 26-year-old who bested McIlroy for the 2010 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, who also has deals with Titleist, Rolex and Red Bull, hasn't been the best at closing the deal. His only PGA Tour win came at the Wells Fargo Championship in May 2012.

As for Woods, he has struggled to be his former self since having surgery on his back last April. If he doesn't win at Augusta National, and oddsmakers have him as a 40-1 long shot, he will have gone seven years without winning a major. Woods recently signed deals with Indian motorcycle, scooter company Hero MotoCorp and supplement company MusclePharm.

After Mickelson is Spieth, who at 21 is the youngest on the list. Spieth already has won twice on the tour and turned heads when he finished tied for second at the Masters last year. Spieth has a huge head-to-toe deal with Under Armour, plays with Titleist clubs and has AT&T on his bag. The telecommunications company had its logo on Tiger's bag for nine months until his extramarital affairs scandal caused the company to sever the deal.