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Police to talk to Woods about accident

FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2006, file photo, Tiger Woods smiles after winning the PGA Championship golf tournament at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill. Woods was seriously injured early Friday, Nov. 27, 2009, when he hit a fire hydrant and a tree near his Florida home, authorities said. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

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FILE - Tiger Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, rides next to Woods after winning the US Open championship at Torrey Pines Golf Course on in this June 16, 2008 file photo taken in San Diego. Tiger Woods was injured early Friday when he lost control of his SUV outside his Florida mansion, and a local police chief said Woods' wife used a golf club to smash out the back window to help get him out. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)

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This image taken from video provided by WESH-TV in Orlando, Fla. shows a damaged area in front of Tiger Woods' home in the Isleworth subdivision near Orlando, Fla. Tiger Woods was seriously injured in a car accident early Friday when his car struck a tree near his mansion in a gated waterfront community, authorities said. (AP Photo/WESH-TV) TV OUT NO SALES

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Security guards gather near the home, left, of Tiger Woods on Friday, Nov. 27, 2009, in Windermere, Fla. Woods was injured in a car accident early Friday outside his Florida mansion, and a local police chief said his wife used a golf club to smash out the back window and help get the world's No. 1 golfer out of the SUV. (AP Photo/Gourav Mukherjee)

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By DOUG FERGUSON, The Associated Press Updated 11:51 AM Saturday, November 28, 2009

His SUV hit a fire hydrant and a tree; his lips were cut and he had blood in his mouth; his wife smashed a rear window with a golf club to get him out;he briefly lost consciousness.

There are also plenty of questions, among them:

Where was he going at 2:25 a.m. Friday? Why was there no word from the Woods' camp for nearly 13 hours after the accident?

Police hope Woods can answer some of them Saturday.

Two troopers tried to talk to the world's No. 1 golfer Friday evening, but his wife said he was sleeping and they agreed to come back Saturday, Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Kim Montes said.

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.

The patrol reported the accident occurred at 2:25 a.m. Friday morning and classified the injuries as serious. The first word from Woods' camp — some 13 hours after the crash — was that it was a "minor accident," and he was in good condition after being treated and released.

Windermere police chief Daniel Saylor said his two officers found the 33-year-old Woods lying in the street with his wife, Elin, hovering over him.

"She was frantic, upset," Saylor said in a briefing Friday night. "It was her husband laying on the ground."

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." He said the front-door windows were not broken and that "the door was probably locked."

"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."

Saylor said Woods had lacerations to his upper and lower lips, and blood in his mouth; officers treated Woods for about 10 minutes until an ambulance arrived. Woods was conscious enough to speak, though the police chief said Woods didn't say anything coherent.

In a telephone interview, Woods' father-in-law, radio journalist Thomas Nordegren, told The Associated Press in Stockholm that he would not discuss the accident.

"I haven't spoken to her in the last few ... " Nordegren said about his daughter, Elin, before cutting himself off. "I don't want to go into that."

Woods' mother-in-law Barbro Holmberg also refused to address the matter.

"She doesn't want to comment on private issues like these," Holmberg's spokeswoman Eva Malmborg said.

Damage to the front of Woods' SUV was described by Saylor as "not real extensive, but not real light."

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."

Asked at an evening news conference if the couple could have been arguing, Saylor said he had no knowledge of that. The couple, married five years, have two children.

The accident came two days after the National Enquirer published a story alleging that Woods had been seeing a New York night club hostess, and that they recently were together in Melbourne, where Woods competed in the Australian Masters.

The woman, Rachel Uchitel, denied having an affair with Woods when contacted by the AP.

"I resent my reputation is getting completely blasted in the media," she said during a telephone interview late Friday. "Everyone is assuming I came out and said this. This is not a story I have anything to do with."

Uchitel said she was in Melbourne two weeks ago withclients and never saw Woods the entire time she was there.

A representative of the National Enquirer declined comment.

"Right now we believe this is a traffic crash," Montes said. "We don't believe it is a domestic issue."

The Florida Highway Patrol said tapes of the 911 call won't be released until they can be reviewed, probably Monday at the earliest. Montes said the accident report was not issued for 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.

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.

He won six times this year after missing eight months recovering from reconstructive surgery on his left knee. Even though he failed to win a major, Woods said he considered this a successful year because he did not know how his knee would respond.

___

Doug Ferguson reported from Jacksonville, Fla. Associated Press writers Tamara Lush and Lisa Orkin Emmanuel in Miami and Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm, and AP Sports Writer Fred Goodall in Orlando contributed to this report.

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November 28, 2009 04:46 PM EST

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who writes these headlines?

can we please have some accuracy....i don't believe that the police have talked to woods...have they?

nice headline
10:31 PM, 11/29/2009

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Oh Tiger .... You lied to the Florida Hwp Patrol . Let's hope that one day you don't really need them because your attorney can't help you out of all your troubles . Yep , It's a private matter but so many others were charged in a domestic issue where someone was injured or there was a large amount of property damage . Maybe this is all over or Is it ?

Hank
6:35 PM, 11/29/2009

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Just face it she whooped his *** and with his ADHD he couldn"t multitask and hit the tree.Now he's not available to the troopers because he's trying to get his story straight.He will come out with a big lie like i was going to the store for some baby milk.
END OF STORY

hole in one
8:51 AM, 11/29/2009

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my question is why do these guys who cheat go to an ugly women to cheat with? If I am tiger I am thinking I have one hottie for my bride, I think I will find a gutter **** to cheat with and then give half on my billions to my wife.

put a tiger in your tank
7:43 AM, 11/29/2009

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Gonna be fun to see how Team Tiger and the Nike PR machine spin this one. Tiger and Elin not available to cops for interview for two days. Check list: Get your stories straight, erase all the evidence of any problem, send flunkie to NY to payoffbitch Tiger was driving; have Tiger put BS on website; surround family with agents and lawyers who will spew so much babble real questions can't be hear; keep Elin away from Tiger before she goes Bobbitt on him

Watching the fun
12:49 AM, 11/29/2009

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