Tiger tight-lipped on mystery crash

Last updated: 29th November 2009

Frustrated Florida Highway Patrol investigators have yet to interview Tiger Woods over the mysterious crash outside his Florida Mansion which has sparked widespread claims that it followed a major domestic spat over allegations that he was having an affair.

Earlier this week the sensationalistNational Inquirer had suggested in an unsubstantiated report that he had cheated on his wife, Elin Nordegren, with a New York party planner, 34-year-old Rachel Uchitel, in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Australia.

The magazine published a photograph of Uchitel, who lost her fiance in New York's 9/11 tragedy, checking into Melbourne's Crown Casino Hotel, where Woods stayed during the recent Australian Masters which he won.

And there is a growing belief this alleged liaison with Uchitel had caused a fiery domestic argument in the early hours following Thanksgiving Day that led to Woods attempted to flee his furious wife only to crash just outside his mansion when he was distracted by her smashing some of the windows of his Cadillac four-wheel drive with a golf club.

Woods, now 33, was reported by the celebrity website TMZ, the first to report Michael Jackson's death, to have suffered facial lacerations, not in the auto accident but "in an earlier fracas with Nordegren

Uchitel has strongly denied the claims of an affair with Woods and said the reason she had been in Melbourne two weeks ago was to meet with clients, not to see Woods.

"God forbid Tiger got into a car wreck because of this false report of him having an affair," she is reported to have said.

But TMZ claim the allegations sparked a confrontation between Woods and Nordegren, who allegedly scratched his face and then chased him with a golf club as he "beat a hasty retreat" to his Cadillac.

Nordegren hit the vehicle with the club, distracting Woods and causing him to crash into a fire hydrant, then a tree, just metres from their $2.4 million mansion as he tried to drive away.

When police arrived, they found a dazed Woods on the ground with cuts around his mouth and his wife hovering close by. The local Sheriff's Office said he was initially unconscious for six minutes.

"He had lacerations to his upper and lower lip and a little bit of blood in his mouth," police chief Dan Saylor told The Sunday Telegraph.

"They asked his wife what happened - she said the car hit a fire hydrant, then a tree. She was very distraught."

Nordegren is reported to have told police she rushed outside after hearing the crash and used the club to shatter the car's rear window, so she could unlock the door and drag Woods out of the wrecked car.

Authorities have in their possession a tape of a 911 emergency call in connection with the incident and hope to interview the sports star for the first time on Sunday

They said the golfer was not breathalysed at the scene but that "Officers had no indication he was under the influence of anything."