Tiger Woods finally gave his side of the story Sunday — on his Web site, not to police—and took the blame for an “embarrassing” car crash that gave him cuts, bruises and public scrutiny like never before.
His statement failed to clear up any questions about the middle-of-the-night accident outside his Isleworth estate in which his wife told police she used a golf club to smash the back windows of the Cadillac SUV to help him out.
“This situation is my fault, and it’s obviously embarrassing to my family and me,” Woods said on his Web site. “I’m human and I’m not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
The statement was posted around 2 p.m. Sunday, about an hour after Woods’ attorney told the Florida Highway Patrol that for the third straight day golf’s No. 1 player would be unavailable to talk to troopers.
This time, the meeting was not rescheduled.
Even so, Sgt. Kim Montes of FHP said troopers went to Woods’ $2.4 million estate anyway, only for attorney Mark NeJame to turn them away. The attorney gave troopers Woods’ driver’s license, registration and insurance as required by law for such accidents.
Woods said the crash was a private matter, and he intended to keep it that way.
“Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible,” he said. “The only person responsible for the accident is me. My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.”
Woods is scheduled to compete at his Chevron World Challenge, which starts Thursday in California, although his tournament director did not know Woods’ status for the tournament—whether he would play or even attend.
Even with his first public comments on the 2:25 a.m. Friday accident, Woods left several questions.
— Where he was going at that time of the night?
— How did he lose control of his SUV at such a speed that the air bags didn’t deploy?
— Why were both rear windows of the Cadillac Escalade smashed?
— If it was a careless mistake, why not speak to state troopers trying to wrap the investigation?
“We have been informed by the Florida Highway Patrol that further discussion with them is both voluntary and optional,” Mark Steinberg, his agent at IMG, said in an e-mail. “Although Tiger realizes that there is a great deal of public curiosity, it has been conveyed to FHP that he simply has nothing more to add and wishes to protect the privacy of his family.”
Woods’ wife turned troopers away from their home in the exclusive gated community outside Orlando on Friday, the day of the accident, because she said he was sleeping. Steinberg called troopers en route to Woods’ house on Saturday and postponed the meeting until Sunday.
“We’re just continuing our traffic crash investigation,” Montes said. “If we have somebody who we feel is pertinent to the investigation, then we will interview them.”
She said the 911 caller was interviewed Saturday, and investigators might speak with other people who were at the scene as well.
The FHP released the 911 call from an unidentified neighbor on Sunday.
“I have a neighbor, he hit the tree. And we came out here just to see what was going on. I see him and he’s laying down,” the neighbor told dispatchers without ever identifying the victim as Woods.
Asked if the victim was unconscious, the neighbor replied, “Yes.”
Part of the call were inaudible because of a bad connection. At one point, the voice of a woman is heard yelling, “What happened!”
“We’re just trying to get the police here right now,” the neighbor says to the woman. “We don’t know what happened. We’re figuring that out right now. I’m on the phone with the police right now.”
According to the FHP accident report, Woods had just pulled out of his driveway when he struck a fire hydrant and then a tree. Woods said he had cuts, bruising and “right now I’m a little sore.”
Montes said the Woods’ car was towed for “safekeeping,” and authorities have already documented where the damage is on the vehicle and the point of impact.
The accident came two days after the National Enquirer published a story alleging that Woods had been seeing a New York night club hostess, and that they recently were together in Melbourne, where Woods competed in the Australian Masters.
The woman, Rachel Uchitel, denied having an affair with Woods when contacted by The Associated Press.
Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred confirmed she was representing Uchitel when she was reached by the AP on Sunday.
“She is with me in L.A.,” Allred said later in an e-mail to the AP. “We plan to meet and then we’ll decide on the next step, which we do not plan to announce to the press.”
Uchitel arrived at Los Angeles International Airport late Sunday morning, where she was met by Allred and escorted out of the baggage claim area and into a black car. Uchitel did not speak to reporters except to ask that she be left alone.
Aside from occasional criticism of his temper inside the ropes, Woods has kept himself out of the news beyond his sport. In an October posting on his Facebook account, Woods wrote, “I’m asked why people don’t often see me and Elin in gossip magazines or tabloids. I think we’ve avoided a lot of media attention because we’re kind of boring. …”
AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson in Jacksonville, and Associated Press writers Linda Deutsch in Los Angeles, and Sarah Larimer in Miami contributed to this report.
Elin is totally devoted to her husband's career. She is low-key, accustomed to celebrity.
And the big question now a days is, why did she smash a window in Tiger's Escalade? Why did she change her story to police? Is she responsible for his injuries?
Some facts about Elin Nordegren: She grew up in Stockholm, and while she did some modeling in her teens, the idea that she was a "Swedish supermodel" is one of those urban legends that grows in the retelling. "She wasn't a high-profile model," as the Beast quotes a source from a New York modeling agency, and, to be fair, she didn't seem to be particularly interested in modeling as a career.
She was around the world of golf long before she met Woods, serving as nanny to golfer Jesper Parnevik. And then she met Tiger at the 2001 British Open, and it wasn't exactly a romantic introduction for the ages.
And this brings up the question of obligation. Is Elin Woods obligated to share anything about herself with the world just because of the man she married? Of course not. Their private life is just that: private. Anything that goes on behind closed doors is their business, and theirs alone ... as long as no crimes have been committed. Without speculating on the Woods case, any time there is a reasonable suspicion of domestic violence, it does indeed become a public matter.
What's definitive is that some of the events of recent days haven't been behind closed doors, they've taken place on public streets. And because Tiger Woods is a worldwide celebrity, anything he does in public, from hitting a golf ball to hitting a fire hydrant, draws worldwide notice. Combine the events of Friday morning with the allegations published last Wednesday that Woods had been pursuing an affair with another woman, and you've got a case that police simply cannot ignore.
In the world of celebrity culture, curiosity fills in the gaps in a vacuum of information. Was it the wisest idea for Elin Woods to share absolutely nothing about herself for all these years? Perhaps, perhaps not; that's a decision everyone watching this case has to make for themselves.
What's certain is that the Woods camp would love a mulligan on many elements of this case, and the image that's been created -- or, more accurately, not created -- of Elin up until Nov. 27 may very well be at the top of that list.
