He is the first billion-dollar earning sportsman, whose skills on the fairway and the green have long been the subject of chatter at 19th holes around the world.
But this weekend the talk was all about how Tiger Woods came to be lying bleeding and dazed in the street after his wife told police she had rescued him from his car by smashing a window with a golf club after an early morning crash.
There were initial fears for his career after reports that he had sustained serious injuries. Woods was unconscious for six minutes, according to an emergency call report compiled by police.
But after he was released from hospital in "good condition", questions turned to the unusual circumstances of an accident that came on the heels of tabloid news reports about his personal life.
For a famously private person whose image and earnings are built as much on his wholesome reputation as a clean-living family man as his sports talent, it is the last publicity he would wish for.
Woods was due to be questioned by investigators from Florida Highway Patrol yesterday as his circle of friends, family and advisers closed ranks. Charges were said to be possible.
The timing of the crash deepened the mystery. At 2.25am on Friday, after the Thanksgiving holiday, the world's richest athlete, who was alone, drove his Cadillac SUV into a fire hydrant and tree in front of a neighbour's house, just around the corner from his home in a lakeside community near Orlando. The car's air bags did not deploy, suggesting it was travelling at less than 33mph.
A few hours earlier, the turkey may have been served amid some tension at the $2.4 million (£1.5 million) family home where Woods lives with his wife Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model, and their two young children.
TIGER Woods crashed his car after fighting with his wife over reports he's been having an affair
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It was first reported that Woods's wife Elin Nordegren used a golf club to smash out the back window and help get him out of his SUV after he mysteriously crashed it overnight into a neighbour's fire hydrant.
But the story has taken a new twist with TMZ reporting the couple had a heated argument where, according to a source, she scratched his face up.
The site said Woods beat a hasty retreat but his wife followed behind with a golf club. As Tiger drove away from their luxury Florida home, she struck the vehicle several times with the club.
