21 Surprising Athletes Who Have Made An Insane Amount Of Money

Nobody is ever surprised when they hear athletes like Tiger Woods or Peyton Manning are among the highest-paid in their sport.

However, in an era with skyrocketing salaries there are also some athletes who are not superstars who have also made a ton of money in their careers.

Most of these athletes are not household names, and yet their career earnings rank them close to their superstar teammates and rivals. Others are superstars or were at one point and yet the surprise is just the sheer amount of money they have been paid in their career.

Here are 21 of the biggest surprises.

Cristie Kerr — $15.9 Million

Sport: Golf

All-time rank (within sport): No. 2

 2014 Earnings: $824,737

Career highlights: The top golfers on the LPGA make about $2 million per year, or about $9.4 million less than Billy Horschel took home in one week on the PGA Tour. But Kerr, who has won two majors in her career, has the advantage of longevity, having played her first season on the LPGA Tour in 1997. She has won 16 tournaments in her career.

Caroline Wozniacki — $18.3 Million

Sport: Tennis

All-time rank (within sport): No. 11

 2014 Earnings: $2.3 million

Career highlights: Wozniacki is just 24 and has never won a Grand Slam event. Yet she is already 11th on the WTA career money list. She does have 22 career singles titles and has reached the finals of the US Open twice.

David Ferrer — $24.0 Million

Sport: Tennis

All-time rank (within sport): No. 9

 2014 Earnings: $2.1 million

Career highlights: Ferrer has had a healthy career despite never winning a Grand Slam title and having played his career in the shadows as arguably the fifth best player in the "Big 4" era of men's tennis (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray).