Earlier this week, the National Enquirer reported that Tiger Woods had an extramarital affair with a 34-year-old woman named Rachel Uchitel (photos). Today we got word from the Florida Highway Patrol and the Windermere (FL) City Police that Woods was involved in a car accident that was preceded by what Windermere Police Chief Daniel Saylor described as a “domestic issue” between Woods and wife Elin Nordegren.
(Woods’ domestic incident with wife came after Enquirer affair allegation)
Because the FHP embargoed information about the incident for 12 hours, and didn’t report it until after Woods was out of a local hospital, some media members began to make a connection between the report of the affair and the car accident.
That’s what all of us know. Now for what you don’t know.
Just before TMZ reported that Woods and Nordegren had a dispute before the car accident, the ASSOCIATED PRESS released a story about Woods’ accident from Doug Ferguson. Excerpt:
A local police chief in Florida says Tiger Woods’ wife used a golf club to smash out the back window and helped get the golfer out of the car.
Windermere Police Chief Daniel Saylor told The Associated Press on Friday that Elin Nordegren told officers she was in the house when she heard the accident and came outside. Saylor says officers found Woods laying in the street with his wife hovering over him.
She told officers she was in the house when she heard the accident and “came out and broke the back window with a golf club,” he said. “She supposedly got him out and laid him on the ground. He was in and out of consciousness when my guys got there.”
So the police chief is saying Nordegren “supposedly” rescued Woods? According to who? Chief Saylor is intimating that he has no idea what happened - and is going by Woods and Nordegren’s account.
And that’s the same Saylor who was later quoted by TMZ saying that Woods had a “domestic issue” before the accident.
So how did that not make it into the AP report?
Or maybe the better question is, why was longtime golf reporter Ferguson reporting on the incident at all? Ferguson is well-known in golf media circles for having a very close relationship with Woods.
You figure it out.
As if all of this isn’t bad enough for Woods, he’s now facing the week of the year when he makes himself most available to the media and public - at his personal golf tournament just outside of Los Angeles. In order to drum up interest locally (sell tickets) for his Chevron World Challenge, Woods is normally available to the media more than usual, while also liberally engaging fans at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.
After what happened today, and what was reported earlier this week by the Enquirer, you wonder if Woods will show up at all. Remember, the TMZ cameras are based here in Los Angeles which means they’ll be staked out for Woods and his family all week long.
But if you’re someone who makes hundreds of millions of dollars in endorsements based on image, you’re going to have to face the public sooner than later. Those endorsement deals are what will push Woods to show next week.
So far, Woods has yet to acknowledge the Enquirer report. An unnamed Woods’ attorney was quoted in the Enquirer piece making a “vehement” denial of the affair - but also an admission that Woods could’ve been in the same nightclub as Uchitel at some point. Uchitel has denied the affair but admitted she has met Woods on two occasions - along with being spotted checking in to Woods’ hotel in Melbourne the week of the Australian Masters.
Also consider that if Woods doesn’t get out front of this story soon, the tabloids may go crazy with Uchitel, who the Enquirer described as a “New York party girl.” Even if the affair isn’t true, any association to Uchitel is damaging to Woods - and his corporate partners. (Shockingly though, Uchitel is claiming she has not yet been hounded by the New York tabs.)
So what will Woods next say to the public about today’s crash and the Enquirer’s report? With the contrived story of his crash, replete with golf club-wielding Nordgren saving him, still being maintained by Woods and the police, it appears he’ll remain in damage control mode.
Or maybe Woods didn’t have an affair and the details of his car crash are the truth.
Maybe.
8:25 pm on November 27th, 2009
Two plus two equals four.
Or, in this case, one (tiger) plus two (tigresses) equals FORE!!!!!
Watch your head, Tiger!!
‘Cuz it looks like Elin wields a mean Nine Iron!
8:31 pm on November 27th, 2009
Check yer head Tiger…you just f’d yourself brah
12:00 am on November 28th, 2009
Before I read, anything online, the first thing I thought when I heard about his accident in his driveway was that he and his wife probably got in an argument over the rumors. Now I believe that has to be it.
Of course, his PR team is going to spin it in a different way because they have to protect his image.
How fast do you have to be going if you hit a fire hydrant and tree and end up that messed up? Usually you’re going 15 mph tops.
12:27 am on November 28th, 2009
Yes Benny, and why would a wife use a golf club to break a window to get her husband out of the car? Why wouldn’t she use the keys - she supposedly told the cops she went into the house and came out again - so why not just get the extra keys? Where was the golf club she used? Just laying around in the driveway?
1:23 am on November 28th, 2009
I understand Tiger’s predicament. He was probably just getting the h out of the heat of the moment and going wherever to find some nice space for himself after having come home from a long time away and just wanting some peace in his home and wanting to be with his wife. But, being the feisty and strong willed woman she is, she confronts Woods about this coincidental tabloid story, tells him to go and have a cold shower, he gets all heated up and says the h with you and roars off while being chased by a 9 iron. He guns it, forgetting all about the hydrant and the tree and here we are. He’s better at escaping from trees and trouble on the golf course than this situation. He should NOT have been so hasty to get married to her.
1:50 am on November 28th, 2009
I guess the check cleared because now Rachel Uchitel has denied the Enquirer story. This would be sad if he did not mess around with the chick. But I am sorry, but if what I think happened, then Elin needs to have some charges against her. That is aggravated assault if she hit him with the golf club, as well as inducing an accident.
2:36 am on November 28th, 2009
I feel sorry for Tiger. Everyone is so quick to judge but they fail to put themselves in his shoes. 1St of all, how do you know for sure the woman in the tabloids is not just a ‘GOLDDIGGER” looking to stir things up in his mariage in hopes of catching an ineligible bachelor? 2ND This sounds to me like a private problem, not a public one- We should just leave him alone!
10:58 am on November 28th, 2009
This is endemic of the younger generation of pro athletes.
Its just a shame that golf is drawn into this matter of indiscretion. Yet when people of color are involved things are a bit more unstable than in past decades.
11:28 am on November 28th, 2009
Come on, folks, you’re way behind on this. Tiger’s AP buddy Doug Ferguson played the foil, giving thousands of AP subscribers a phony story about a car crash and rescue. Thank heavens for TMZ, the only website blowing through the BS on this.
11:59 am on November 28th, 2009
Tiger must get outta there fast!! Hovering, my foot!!! She was waiting to see if he’d kicked the bucket, methinks!! Why else would she have been “hovering” over him??? We havent been told the whole truth. If the wifey has lost that spark in bed, he should at least have gone for a well fit hottie, not this cheapstake!!
4:37 pm on November 28th, 2009
Uchi-tel = Yucky TAIL!
4:52 pm on November 28th, 2009
OMG I have never read this so called truer than truer website. Try getting out and actually investigating the true situation before you guys open yr mouth. How would like to have someone always watching yr every move and putting it out for everyone to talk crap about. Why is it that everybody has to post a reply with references to Tiger’s bedroom activities and the fact that Elin his wife couldn’t possibly break the window with a golf club! Since you guys think you know for a fact what you would do in this situation, it must be so nice to be perfect. As for TMZ they are a piece of reporting want a be’s. Most of what they say and so call report on are pics of stars walking around buying lattes. When did journalism get so sleazy. I guess if that is what you want to believe, beware you may be their next victim!
6:55 pm on November 28th, 2009
Just goes to show money don`t bring happiness, nice looking wife, nearly a billion dollars, and his life is messed up…….the devil is working in peoples live`s big time……….GOD CAN RESTORE HIS MARRIAGE IF WOODS IS WILLING TO DO THE RIGHT THING…..
10:08 pm on November 28th, 2009
Poor Tiger got whack by his wife hahahaha. All that $$ and still can’t find a good wife. I know they fight about his Thai mother and family staying over for Thanksgiving dinner. Just dump the stupid bitch and find someone closer to your skin color - who will not only love you unconditionally but will also embrace your family, too.
10:20 pm on November 28th, 2009
She looks like a MAN with that fugly face with big fake lips, and big fake rack. Have you seen her “manhands”?? She’s GROSS, and looks like a total famewhore, and SKanK! Believe this to be true, because Boreanaz is a MAJOR CHEATER, and he got caught just 3weeks ago with the same stupid whore! She was doing them both at the same time, but Dumped David for Tiger..guess being a nightclub hostess wasn’t paying the bills!! Way to ruin your lives, guys!!! Another note, for non-believers….Rachel was also “coincendently” in London over the summer while Boreanaz was there filming Bones. WTF was she doing in Melbourne at the SAME hotel as Tiger?!!! This is a sad day for the Golf world.
3:12 am on November 29th, 2009
It’s amazing how many people need to get a life of their own and stop worrying about what others are doing. GET A LIFE PEOPLE!
3:15 am on November 29th, 2009
LShumway your comment is blatantly racist. Get with this century please.
3:28 am on November 29th, 2009
BJudy, didn’t see your post at first. So glad to read your message of love and understanding. Your brand of racial prejudice is just as offensive as LShumway’s ignorance.
9:13 am on November 30th, 2009
SHE BEAT THE SH*T OUT OF HIM