08 December,2009 01:10 PM IST | | AFP
Tiger Woods is now on the inward nine when it comes to women claiming to have had affairs with the golf superstar in the wake of his apology for personal sins and transgressions that hurt his family.
News reports pushed the total to 10 women linking themselves to Woods in the wake of his one-car crash, which took yet another turn with a new report that Woods had been drinking before the accident and was taking medications.
The Orlando Sentinel reported on Monday that a failed police request for a subpoena to obtain Woods' hospital blood test results says a witness, thought to be Elin Woods, told police Woods had been drinking and was taking Ambien and Vicodin.
The document says the person who pulled Woods from his vehicle - his wife Elin according to her earlier statements to police - also said Woods had been drinking before the crash, opening the door to possible impairment. Woods hit a hydrant and a tree in the early morning hours of November 27 and was taken to a hospital.
The accident came two days after a tabloid reported Woods had been having an affair with New York club hostess Rachel Uchitel. Police had wanted Woods' medical information to check the possibility he was driving under the influence with property damage, the request said.
"A witness stated that the driver had consumed alcohol earlier in the day and the same witness removed the driver from the vehicle after the collision. Also, the same witness stated that the driver was prescribed medication (Ambien and Vicatin). Impairment of the driver is also suspected."
Police were denied a subpoena for medical records and in the end police only cited Woods for reckless driving before closing the case that touched off a gossip firestorm.
Website Radaronline reported that Elin has moved out of the 2.6 million-dollar mansion she shared with the 14-time major golf champion and is living in a nearby house. Woods owns another home near his main residence.
An earlier police report revealed that two iron clubs were found at the scene, likely the ones said to have shattered the rear windows of Woods' vehicle, and $235 was found in the vehicle.
A poll by CNN and USA Today reported that approval ratings for Woods have plunged since June in the wake of his admission of mistakes, which came after an audiotape purportedly of Woods linked him to an alleged mistress. Already there was talk of Woods facing the Twelve Days of Mistress during the holiday season.
Jokes about Woods swinging more than his clubs have followed as near-daily claims of intimate relationships with the 14-time major champion reached 10, Fox News reported, including a former porn star, Holly Sampson.
The New York Daily News reported that a new name on the growing list is Cori Rist, a 31-year-old divorced mother who says she met Woods at a New York club. Woods, who turns 34 on December 30, was first linked to Uchitel, who has denied the affair despite a TMZ report that a friend of Woods arranged her flight to Australia and hotel room when Woods was there for a tournament.
Cocktail waitress Jamiee Grubbs, 24, played a Woods voicemail to support her claims of a 31-month relationship with Woods. Also on the Fox list were Sampson, 36; Kalika Moquin, 27, a Las Vegas club manager; model Jamie Jungers, 26; Mindy Lawton, a 33-year-old waitress from Orlando; and three unidentified women, two from British reports and another waitress from Orlando.
US talk show host Oprah Winfrey is seeking an interview with Woods but show spokesman Don Halcombe told USA Today she has not personally called him to try and land what would be a dramatic conversation. The only comments by Woods since the crash have come in statements released on his website.
A police report said the officer who responded to the emergency call when Woods had his accident saw two iron clubs were seen on the ground near a golf cart at the scene of the crash. The officer, whose name who not revealed in the report, saw Woods lying with bloodied lips on a road with his head on a pillow and covered by a blanket, at one point stopping him as he tried to rise.
Woods denied speculation that a domestic dispute prompted him to climb into the vehicle, saying Elin acted with courage and support after the accident. While apologising in a statement, Woods did not give details on what wrongdoing he had actually committed, leaving open the chance for speculation that has fueled the tawdry reports and claims of affairs that have followed.
