The mystery over Tiger Woods car crash intensified Saturday when his agent called state troopers on their way to Woods’ house and asked them to wait another day before speaking to him.
It was the second straight day Woods was unavailable to talk. His wife, Elin, told troopers on Friday afternoon, after the world’s No. 1 golfer had been treated and released from a hospital, that he was sleeping and asked that they return Saturday.
Sunday could deliver two bits of information — what Woods has to say about the accident or perhaps the 911 tapes that FHP said it would release once authorities have reviewed the call.
The postponements of talks with authorities came as reports claimed the bizarre overnight car crash outside Woods’ Florida home Friday may have occurred following an argument with his wife.
Celebrity Web site TMZ claimed Woods was confronted by Elin with the report that he had been seeing New York night club hostess Rachel Uchitel.
The argument grew heated, and according to TMZ’s source, she scratched his face up. He then beat a hasty retreat to his SUV, with her following behind with a golf club. She reportedly used the club on the golfer’s vehicle. Woods, then, reportedly became distracted, causing the car crash.
Woods, 33, had just backed out of his driveway at 2:25 a.m. Friday, when he drove off and plowed into a fire hydrant and a neighbor’s tree in a gated community near Orlando.
Police had earlier disputed that the crash was the result of a fight between the couple.
“Right now we believe this is a traffic crash,” Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Montes said. “We don’t believe it is a domestic issue.”
The crash came only days after tabloids published articles claiming the golf champ was having an affair with Uchitel. Montes said that investigators are “trying not to get on the rumor mill,” and police have said they had no knowledge of a fight between Tiger and Elin Woods.
The National Enquirer and Star both published explosive stories this week contending that Woods has been seeing Uchitel and that the pair recently were spotted in Melbourne while Woods was playing in the Australian Masters tournament. Uchitel denied having an affair with Woods when contacted by Fox News, saying the Enquirer story was completely fabricated.
“The quotes from the two sources who are not friends are ridiculous,” she said. “I never crossed paths with Tiger in Melbourne — not in a restaurant, not in the gym, not in the lobby, nothing.”
She said she barely knows the tabloid paper’s sources and only has met them twice.
“I don’t know who they are,” Uchitel told Fox. “These two women put this out there. This is not something I want to be involved with at all. I’m not trying to go out there saying I’m having an affair with Tiger Woods.”
Uchitel has hired high-profile attorney Gloria Allred to represent her.
A representative from the National Enquirer declined comment.
Woods was found lying in the street with his wife hovering over him when authorities arrived at the scene, according to Windermere, Fla., Police Chief Daniel Saylor.
Saylor said Woods’ wife told officers she was in the house when she heard the accident and “broke the back window with a golf club.”
“She supposedly got him out and laid him on the ground,” he said. “He was in and out of consciousness when my guys got there.”
He said in a briefing Friday night that the front-door windows were not broken and that “the door was probably locked.”
“She was frantic, upset,” Saylor told reporters. “It was her husband laying on the ground.”
The Florida Highway Patrol said tapes of the 911 call won’t be released until they can be reviewed. Montes said the accident report was not issued for more than 12 hours because it did not meet the criteria of a serious crash, and the FHP only released information because of inquiries from local media.
Left unanswered was where Woods was going at that hour. His agent, Mark Steinberg, and spokesman Glenn Greenspan said there would be no comment beyond the short statement of the accident posted Friday afternoon on Woods’ Web site that said:
“Tiger Woods was in a minor car accident outside his home last night. He was admitted, treated and released today in good condition. We appreciate very much everyone’s thoughts and well wishes.”
Saylor said the golf star had lacerations to his upper and lower lips, and blood in his mouth; officers treated him for about 10 minutes until an ambulance arrived.
Woods was conscious enough to speak but didn’t say anything coherent, according to the police chief. Damage to the front of his SUV was described by Saylor as “not real extensive, but not real light.”
According to the patrol, Woods had just left his Florida mansion when he lost control of his 2009 Cadillac and hit a fire hydrant, then a tree on his neighbor’s property. The report said alcohol was not a factor.
Woods, coming off a two-week trip to China and Australia earlier this month, is host of the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, Calif., which starts Thursday.
He is scheduled to have his press conference Tuesday afternoon at Sherwood Country Club. Steinberg said he did not know if Woods planned to play next week.
Woods rarely faces such private scrutiny, even as perhaps the most famous active athlete in the world.
He usually makes news only because of what he can do with a golf club. Few other athletes have managed to keep their private lives so guarded, or have a circle of friends so airtight when it comes to life off the course.
Woods’ $2.4 million home is part of an exclusive subdivision near Orlando, a community set on an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course and a chain of small lakes.
The neighborhood, which is fortified with high brick walls and has its own security force, is home to CEOs and other sports stars such as the NBA’s Shaquille O’Neal.
Woods has won 82 times around the world and 14 majors, becoming the first player of black heritage to win a major at the 1997 Masters when he was 21. He attended the Stanford-Cal football game last Saturday, where he tossed the coin at the start of the game and was inducted into Stanford’s sports Hall of Fame at halftime.
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