Tiger Woods said he let his family down with transgressions he regrets “with all of my heart,” and that he will deal with his personal life behind closed doors.
His statement Wednesday follows a cover story in Us Weekly magazine that reports a Los Angeles cocktail waitress claims she had a 31-month affair with the world’s No. 1 golfer.
“I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves,” Woods said on his Web site. “I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.”
The cocktail waitress, Jaimee Grubbs, told the magazine she met Woods at a Las Vegas nightclub the week after the 2007 Masters — two months before Woods’ wife, Elin, gave birth to their first child. Grubbs claims to have proof in 300 text messages.
About three hours before Woods’ statement, the magazine published what it said was a voicemail — provided by Grubbs — that Woods left her phone on Nov. 24, three days before his middle-of-the-night car crash outside his home in Florida.
Woods did not offer details of any alleged relationship.
“I will strive to be a better person and the husband and father that my family deserves,” Woods said. “For all of those who have supported me over the years, I offer my profound apology.”
Woods has been subjected to more media scrutiny over the last week than when he first won the Masters in 1997 and set off the first wave of Tigermania. He has spoken only three times through his Web site, although this was his longest posting.
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“Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means,” Woods said. “For the last week, my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives.”
And he continued to say accounts that physical violence played a role in his Friday morning car crash were “utterly false and malicious.”
“Elin has always done more to support our family and shown more grace than anyone could possibly expect,” he wrote.
His statement came one day after the Florida Highway Patrol closed its investigation into the accident — without Woods ever speaking to state troopers. He was charged with careless driving, which carries a $164 fine and four points on his driving record.
A final report on the accident, released Wednesday, shows he caused $3,200 in damage to property other than his SUV.
The six-page report by the Florida Highway Patrol also included 105 photos of the accident scene. It estimated damage to a fire hydrant Woods struck at $3,000, and a tree his vehicle hit at about $200.
The story soon shifted from a patrol investigation to sordid allegations into his personal life.
In the voicemail released by the magazine, a man says to Grubbs:
“Hey, it’s, uh, it’s Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favor. Um, can you please, uh, take your name off your phone. My wife went through my phone. And, uh, may be calling you. If you can, please take your name off that and, um, and what do you call it just have it as a number on the voicemail, just have it as your telephone number. That’s it, OK. You gotta do this for me. Huge. Quickly. All right. Bye.”
The Associated Press could not confirm Woods was the caller.
Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, did not immediately return an e-mail requesting comment.
An AP reporter went to a residence in Escondido, California, seeking comment from Grubbs. A person who identified himself as Cody came to the door but didn’t open it, said she wasn’t there.
When asked whether Us Weekly paid Grubbs for her story, spokeswoman Cheryl Crowley said, “As a policy, we do not comment on obtaining stories or photo transactions.”
Grubbs wasn’t the only woman to allege an affair with Woods. Reports in Life & Style magazine and the New York Post said a woman named Kalika Moquin had also come forward.
The magazine, quoting an associate of Moquin’s, said that Woods “wasn’t happy in his marriage or his home life and that there was just so much pressure on him.”
“They’ve hooked up a bunch of times” over the months, the source said of Woods and Moquin. “Tiger told Kalika that married life isn’t all it’s built up to be.”
Another source told the Post that Moquin and Woods have been an item “for some time.”
Woods, meanwhile, remained in seclusion in the exclusive gated community of Isleworth, while some of the world’s top golfers were in Southern California preparing for the start of a tournament he hosts. Woods, citing injuries from the crash, issued a statement Monday saying he would not attend or play in the Chevron World Challenge.
Woods, who was briefly unconscious after the crash, never spoke with investigators, who asked to see him on three different occasions. Instead, he provided his driver’s license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance, as required by Florida law.
The patrol “is not pursuing criminal charges in this matter nor is there any testimony or other evidence to support any additional charges of any kind other than the charge of careless driving,” said Sgt. Kim Montes, a spokesman for the highway patrol. “Despite the celebrity status of Mr. Woods, the Florida Highway Patrol has completed its investigation in the same professional manner it strives to complete each traffic investigation.”
After consulting with the local prosecutor’s office, investigators also decided there was insufficient evidence to issue a subpoena that would have given them access to records from his hospital visit after the crash, Montes said.
The allegations in Us Weekly of an affair with Grubbs came on the heels of last week’s National Enquirer story alleging Woods had been seeing New York nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel, who has denied it.
That story came out just two days before Woods wrecked his SUV in the early morning hours following Thanksgiving. The accident — and Woods’ refusal to answer questions — fueled speculation among tabloids and gossip Web sites about a possible dispute between Woods and his wife, who told police she used a golf club to smash the back windows of the SUV to help him out.
But Montes said there were “no claims of domestic violence by any individual” stemming from the accident. And an attorney for the neighbors who called 911 said Woods did not appear to be driving under the influence and showed no signs of having been in a fight.
Attorney Bill Sharpe said neighbors found Nordegren kneeling beside her husband, upset about his injuries. Sharpe said Woods appeared woozy and had scratches on his face and that his wife was trying to console him.
But Woods remained the subject of intense media scrutiny, and the Us Weekly report didn’t help his appeal for privacy.
According to the magazine, Grubbs said she was 21 when she was approached by Woods at a Las Vegas nightclub on April 13, 2007. The magazine said the meeting “progressed into a clandestine on-and-off affair” that lasted nearly three years and included hundreds of texts.
“I hope he can forgive me for doing this and I know he probably can’t,” Grubbs is quoted as saying. “Whatever happens with Elin, I hope Tiger and I can reconnect and remain good friends.”
Grubbs recently appeared on VH1’s reality series, “Tool Academy
