ORLANDO, Fla. — The world’s most popular sports figure may be facing the biggest challenge of his life.
Tiger Woods was injured in a car accident early Friday near his home in Orlando, Fla., with speculation that the incident may have taken place after a domestic disturbance with his wife, model Elin Nordegren.
Woods, 33, was traveling alone in his 2009 Cadillac sports utility vehicle when he struck a fire hydrant and a tree just outside of his property around 2:25 a.m. The PGA star was taken to Health Central Hospital, where he was treated for facial lacerations and released.
The accident comes on the heels of a National Enquirer report that Woods has been having an affair with a woman identified as Rachel Uchitel, a 34-year-old New Yorker who has a reputation of dating married celebrities. The tabloid claims Uchitel has had trysts with Woods in New York, Las Vegas and Australia, where he recently won the Australian Masters.
An unidentified attorney for Woods “vehemently denied an affair” to the Enquirer, but added that “the golfer may have been at the same nightclub as Rachel at some point.”
Uchitel was previously at the center of an affair scandal involving actor David Boreanaz.
Windermere police chief Daniel Saylor told the Associated Press that officers found Woods laying in the street with his wife hovering over him. Nordegren told investigators that she was inside the couple’s home when she heard the accident. She then came outside and “used a golf club to smash out the back window” to free the golfer.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the accident remains under investigation, and that charges are pending. However, they said the crash was not alcohol-related.
“We appreciate very much everyone’s thoughts and well wishes,” read a brief statement posted late Friday on the golfer’s official Web site.
In February, Woods and Nordegren welcomed their second child together, son Charlie Axel Woods. The couple, who married in 2004, is also proud parents to daughter Sam Alexis, 2.
Woods won six times on the PGA Tour this year after missing eight months while recovering from reconstructive surgery on his left knee. He is scheduled to play next week in Southern California at the Chevron World Challenge, an event that he hosts that also benefits his charity.
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