The NEW YORK DAILY NEWS and Ryan Ballengee of the golf blog WaggleRoom.com report Saturday morning that Rachel Uchitel (photos), the woman the NATIONAL ENQUIRER reported this week was having an extramarital affair with Tiger Woods, has denied any such connection to Woods.

(More photos of Rachel Uchitel, alleged mistress of Tiger Woods)

Uchitel in a Facebook message to the Daily News wrote, “There is NO relationship with tiger these girls quoted in the story are not being truthful. I did not say those things to those ’sources’ and im not friends with ashley simpson or whatever her name is.”

Ashley Samson, who was identified as a friend of Uchitel, supplied many of the claims made about Uchitel and Woods in the Enquirer’s report.

Uchitel spoke on the phone to Ballengee, and said she was interviewed for the Enquirer’s story about the affair, but that, “My quotes were not even run [by the Enquirer], their story was not even close to the conversation that we had.“

Ballengee reports that Uchitel is currently, “the Director of VIP services for Pink Elephant, a company that specializes in the nightclub scene in the Big Apple.”

Uchitel said, “As part of my job, I have to keep many secrets about celebrities, so for [the Enquirer to report] me as going around telling people about something like this doesn’t make sense. I’m not that big of an idiot.”

She then inferred that a Star Magazine report that linked her to married Fox-TV star David Boreanaz now prevents her from considering such liaisons: “Other things have happened in my past that would prevent me from doing anything like this. I have traveled with men that are quietly more important than Tiger Woods and it is incredibly difficult to get to their hotel room.”

Ballengee also reports that Uchitel “insinuated” Samson was paid for her account of Uchitel’s alleged relationship with Woods.

Samson may well have been paid for her comments to the Enquirer, and perhaps she was making the whole thing up. But the fact remains that Uchitel was photographed checking into a hotel in Melbourne were Woods was staying the week of the Australian Masters.

Uchitel on the coincidence: “How is it possible that I walked up to the counter at [Woods’] hotel in Melbourne, asked for a room key, and went to the 35th floor? And that I would be dumb enough to let the Enquirer into the elevator and see me push the button saying ‘35?’”

Here’s the Enquirer’s exact account of Uchitel at the Melbourne hotel: “An Enquirer reporter in Melbourne watched as Rachel checked into the posh Crown Towers hotel and went up to the 35th floor, which houses the hotel’s ritzy VIP suite.”

If Uchitel wasn’t there to meet Woods, why was she there?

That’s when it gets fuzzy. The Enquirer reports that Uchitel initially told its reporter she was there “on business.” Then she told the magazine she’d traveled to Melbourne “with a boyfriend.” Later, the Enquirer reports she changed her story again (”lied“) and said she wasn’t with a boyfriend, instead in town just for business. And that she insisted to the magazine she wasn’t there to meet Woods.

As for Woods, the next step will be to face the media and public at his personal golf tournament next week in Los Angeles. With hundreds of millions of dollars on the line in endorsements, you would think he would extremely forthcoming in explaining what happened Friday, along with addressign the Enquirer’s allegation of an extramarital affair.

Failing to do so will only fuel more speculation about his “accident” on Friday, the reported “domestic issue” with wife Elin Nordegren that preceded his driveway “crash”, and his alleged connection to Uchitel.

UPDATE:

Uchitel to the NEW YORK POST:

“God forbid Tiger got into a car wreck because of this false report of him having an affair. Despite it being completely untrue, it still must have certainly caused some problems at home — if I was his wife, I probably would have killed him. This is nothing to do with me. We have never had an affair, and the claims we did are completely false. We have never had an affair, talked on the phone or sent any type of text, sexy or not.”

“I am really upset about it because I am being portrayed as a homewrecker, when it simply isn’t true.”

Uchitel to Blackbookmag.com:

“I don’t appreciate my name or what people think of me being dragged through the mud by people who don’t even bother to research what or who they’re talking about … they should research who these stories are coming from, who they’re believing as a credible source. Not to mention that it’s in the National Enquirer.”

“I totally deny the Enquirer story. They did contact me about it, but they didn’t use any of my quotes or any of the information I gave them. They make it sound like I said those things, but it’s all other people saying I said things.”

On visiting Woods’ hotel room: “There’s just no possible way I could have done that. You can’t just walk into a place like that and ride the elevator to a floor with someone like Tiger Woods on it without someone seeing you and stopping you.”

On sexting Woods: “If you talked to any of my old boyfriends, and I’m sure they all hate me, but they’d all confirm that I don’t sex-message. I don’t do it, I don’t know how to do it.”

On Ashley Samson: “I’ve met her twice in my life. We’re not friends. I’m just speculating but it seems like someone else is telling her what to say or manipulating her. After all, she got $25,000 for this.”