Tiger Woods and wife Elin Nordegren survived a week together out west, but the former model has returned home to Florida without him, RadarOnline.com reports.
The couple and their two children flew to Scottsdale, Ariz., last Monday after the golf great’s public mea culpa over his extra-marital affairs.
The trip had been planned before his televised apology, the Web site said.
Nordegren flew back into Orlando Saturday in a private jet that landed about 8 p.m. She and their two children have been living separately from Woods in the Orlando area.
The week in Arizona was the longest period of time the Swedish stunner has spent with her cheating husband since his Thanksgiving car accident unleashed reports of his escapades with porn stars and party girls.
The couple played tennis together before Woods’ televised apology Feb. 19 and had dinner together two nights in a row, but Elin has refused her hubby’s pleas that the family sit for a formal portrait, the Web site said.
Before going in front of the cameras, Woods spent six weeks at Pine Grove Behavioral Health Center in Mississippi getting treatment for sex addiction.
Gatorade is now Tiger-free.
The world’s greatest golfer was dumped Friday by the sports drink company, just one week after Woods’ public apology for a string of sordid extramarital affairs.
It’s the latest financial blow to Woods, already abandoned by major sponsors AT&T and Accenture.
Woods – once featured in Gatorade ads with fellow stars Michael Jordan and Peyton Manning – signed a reported five-year, $100 million deal with the company in 2007.
“We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts and have ended our relationship,” said a Gatorade statement. “We wish him all the best.”
But not everybody has ditched Tiger, according to a new Golf Digest magazine piece on Woods.
President Obama and former President Bill Clinton offered encouragement to the fidelity-challenged golfer in separate phone calls after the sex scandal broke.
The Golf Digest article also reports:
- Woods discussed the sordid details of his cheating with wife Elin Nordegren during a no-holds-barred “Disclosure Day” as part of his therapy.
- Woods has not hit a golf ball since the Thanksgiving night car wreck that preceded his fall from grace.
- His mother, Kultida, accompanied Woods on a visit to a Buddhist monk just before his 34th birthday Dec. 30.
“I tell him, ‘Tiger, right now you are in a dark hole, and I know it’s hard, but you can do it,’” Kultida was quoted as saying.
“‘You know mom is strong, and you have my blood. You are strong, too,’ she told him. ‘You made a big mistake, but now you know the cost. So you are going to be much better and stronger, a good husband and a good father.’”
Tiger Woods wasn’t amused by billboards that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals planned to put up bearing his face and the slogan, “Too much sex can be a bad thing.”
Lawyers for the horndog golfer threatened to sue the activists if they used his once-valuable image in their campaign urging owners to neuter their pets. So now PETA says it will feature another famous philanderer, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, with the possible tagline: “Your dog doesn’t have to go to South America to get laid.”
A PETA source said, “We were contacted by Tiger’s lawyers at IMG who kindly, but firmly, told us we were not authorized to use his image on the billboard, and would we desist. We agreed and have now turned the focus of our campaign to Mark Sanford.”
The ad campaign aims to prevent millions of abandoned cats and dogs from being euthanized at shelters each year. It featured an image of Woods with the words, “Too much sex can be a bad thing . . . for little tigers too. Help keep cats (and dogs) out of trouble: Always spay or neuter!”
But PETA abandoned the plan after the call yesterday from IMG. No figure for possible damages was discussed. But Rob Hassett — who is not involved with Woods, but whose Atlanta firm, Casey Gilson P.C., focuses on entertainment law — said, “It would be a violation of his publicity rights to use his image without his consent. The damages would be a jury decision. But I’d sue for at least $5 million.”
Now PETA intends to poke fun instead at Sanford, who flew to Buenos Aires last year to be with hot tamale Maria Belen Chapur when he claimed he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.
As if Tiger Woods’s apology last week for his serial philandering wasn’t enough of a public humiliation, several of his former mistresses have agreed to take part in a beauty pageant in which they will compete for a $100,000 prize.
The Tiger Woods Mistress Beauty Pageant, organized by shock jock Howard Stern, will be held on March 10.
So far, only four of the golfer’s former mistresses — out of the 13 identified in the press — have agreed to take part.
They will compete in categories such as “Swimsuit,” “Personality” and “Talent” to earn the judges’ votes.
When Stern first announced the idea of the pageant, he said that it would take place only if more than three women responded. All of them had to have been named in news publications as lovers of the golfer.
The prize money for Stern’s pageant will be supplied by AshleyMadison.com, a “discreet dating service” company. The site, which has 4.5 million users, advertises itself with the slogan “Life is Short, Have an Affair.”
The Dalai Lama commented on Tiger Woods’ sex scandals Saturday, saying self-discipline is among Buddhism’s highest values, one day after Woods said he had strayed from his Buddhist faith.
Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader told The Associated Press during a brief interview in his hotel suite in Beverly Hills that he had not heard of Woods, but when the circumstances were explained to him he said that when it comes to adultery, “all religions have the same idea.”
“Whether you call it Buddhism or another religion, self-discipline, that’s important,” he said. “Self-discipline with awareness of consequences.”
In his first public comments since the Nov. 27 car accident that set off a series of shocking allegations of rampant extramarital relationships, Woods said Friday that he was raised Buddhist but needed to focus anew on finding balance between his religion and professional life.
The Dalai Lama made the remarks while in the Los Angeles area to support Whole Child International, an organization that advocates better care for orphans worldwide.
The world came to a grinding halt yesterday to gape at Tiger Woods’ extraordinary mea culpa — as the golf superstar sheepishly apologized to his scorned wife, fans and sponsors for a sensational string of affairs while giving no indication when he would return to the game he used to dominate.
“I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated,” said a somber Woods. “What I did is not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame.”
The mega-star’s wife, Elin Nordegren, was noticeably absent for the 13½-minute discourse, which literally caused trading to halt on financial markets and captivated a global audience of millions as he spoke publicly for the first time since his pathological infidelity was exposed in November.
“Trading was already quiet, but when Tiger came on, everybody was looking at the TV screens,” Peter Adams, a livestock trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, told Reuters. “They were mocking him. Only rich guys go to therapy for sex addiction. Everybody else gets hit in the head with a frying pan.”
Dressed in gray slacks, an over-starched blue shirt and blue blazer, Woods — who refused to take questions — was grim as he spoke to a handpicked group at PGA Headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., just after 11 a.m. The audience included his mom, Kultida, PGA Tour executives, friends, employees and select reporters.
He used the word “I” and its variations nearly 115 times in his speech and referenced several of the traditional 12 steps of rehab, including acceptance of his problems and acknowledging the pain he caused those around him.
“Every one of you has good reason to be critical of me. I want to say to each of you, simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in,” he said.
That behavior was a staggering string of affairs with porn stars, prostitutes, a pancake-house hostess and other pretty young things that came to light after the National Enquirer ran a bombshell story in November about his assignations with New York party girl Rachel Uchitel.
The reports drew the prompt attention of Woods’ wife, who confronted him over the Thanksgiving holiday in an argument that ended with him crashing his SUV right outside their Windermere, Fla., home.
Check out the video:
Tiger Woods’ press conference on today has been dealt a major blow – the GolfWriters Association of America (GWAA) is boycotting the junket over a ban on reporters’ questions.
Earlier this week the embattled golfer announced he will face the press for the first time since his sex scandal hit the headlines last November.
However, representatives for Woods will choose which media outlets will be allowed to attend the conference, and they have insisted that no questions will be allowed.
The move has infuriated bosses at the GWAA, who have decided to keep their reporters away from the event following a vote by its board.
A statement from GWAA president Vartan Kupelian reads, “I cannot stress how strongly our board felt that this should be open to all media and also for the opportunity to question Woods.
“The position, simply put, is all or none. This is a major story of international scope. To limit the ability of journalists to attend, listen, see and question Woods goes against the grain of everything we believe.”
Meanwhile, during a media briefing on Thursday PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem confirmed reports the star has spent time in a rehab centre
He told reporters, “I don’t know what his (Woods’) plans are in terms of what he’s going to say. I don’t know what he’s going to do after he finishes his rehab, you know, I think all of that is TBD (to be determined).”
Finchem later added that Woods had completed his time in rehab, and that he would discuss the issue at the conference, according to TMZ.com.
Shamed golfer Tiger Woods is set to break his silence and apologise for the sex scandal that tainted his clean-cut image and threatened his marriage in a press conference on Friday.
The sportsman announced a hiatus from golf and went into hiding shortly after news of his many flings and infidelities hit the headlines in November 2009.
Before his disappearance, he told the media he was keen to repair his fractured relationship with wife Elin Nordegren, and declared he needed to “be a better husband, father and person”.
Two months later, and following a reported spell at a Mississippi sex addiction clinic, Woods is preparing to make a comeback – and he is expected to reveal his inclusion in the upcoming PGA Tour at Friday’s press conference in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
According to his agent, Mark Steinberg, Woods will also use the opportunity to publicly apologise for his recent behaviour.
Steinberg said, “This is all about the next step. He’s looking forward to it.”
A statement posted on Woods’ website on Wednesday reads, “While Tiger feels that what happened is fundamentally a matter between him and his wife, he also recognizes that he has hurt and let down a lot of other people who were close to him. He also let down his fans. He wants to begin the process of making amends, and that’s what he’s going to discuss.”
Tiger Woods and wife Elin are trying to repair their marriage this Valentine’s Day. How long they stay together may depend on whether some skeletons out in Arizona stay buried.
With the Tiger mistress count hovering around 13 or 14, the fallen golf idol has managed to get through his sex addiction rehab without any new bimbo eruptions.
He can only hope two ladies in Phoenix hold their tongues.
Flash-back about three years ago. Tiger is in bed with these two women, enjoying the sexual equivalent of scoring a double eagle, according to a Phoenix acquaintance.
“Suddenly, he realizes that one of the girls is taking pictures or videotaping him with the other girl,” says the source. “Tiger goes ballistic. He starts chasing the girl around. She runs out the door. He runs out after her. I don’t know how much clothing either of them is wearing, but Tiger finally catches up with her and grabs her cell phone or camera or whatever it was that had the evidence.”
Tiger wasn’t thrilled by the chase, says the source, who adds that the ladies promptly went home. Days later, says the source, Tiger heard from the one he’d chased.
“She claimed she’d been injured during their scuffle,” says the source. “She said she’d hired a lawyer.”
Even if her charges were baseless, it would be catastrophic for Tiger if any part of the evening came to light.
According to the source, Tiger’s handlers diffused the scandal by making an arrangement in which both women received regular payments, so long as they kept quiet.
Tiger’s agent, Mark Steinberg, did not respond to detailed questions.
You have to figure Tiger made the Arizona ladies fork over all their pictures. But could one of the ladies be the woman who offered Vivid Video that purported sex tape, or Playgirl magazine those purported nude photos?
In December, Tiger’s lawyers won an order in London blocking the publication of any Tiger porn — nonsensically cautioning that we shouldn’t assume “such photographs exist.”
If the ladies’ lips were duct-taped with dollars, it seems to be holding — at least for Valentine’s Day.
