As Tiger-gate continues to unravel, Arizona seems to more and more be the epicenter for rumor-junkies. The latest claim, however, actually comes from a fairly reliable source: An award-winning former sportswriter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Long-time Atlanta Journal Constitution scribe Furman Bisher posted a letter on his blog today that he claims is from "a trustworthy journalist I have known for years." The letter outlines what happened the night of the infamous Thanksgiving car crash that sent Tiger Woods' marriage and reputation down the toilet.
First and foremost, for anyone unfamiliar with Bisher, he's no crackpot out-of-work journo looking to cause a commotion. He's 90 years old and one of the most highly respected golf analysts in the world -- he's the former president of the National Sportswriters Association and was called one of the top five sports columnists in the country by Time magazine in 1961.
Why he would want to possibly soil his good name with some gossipy Tiger Woods crap -- who knows? But we'll take his word over Us Weekly any day of the week.
The letter posted on Bisher's Web site claims that Tiger spent Thanksgiving day watching football and texting his gal-pal Rachel Uchitel.
At about 7:30 p.m., he left his family behind to go play poker with some friends and guess what he also left behind -- his cell phone that Uchitel had been blowing up all day long.
When Tiger got home at 11:30 p.m. he walked into a hornet's nest because his wife, Elin, had been snooping around his phone and came across some of Uchitel's text messages.
The letter claims that the couple had argued for a couple of hours, when Elin Woods hit Tiger in the face with a nine iron -- breaking his teeth and bruising his nose -- and chased him out of the house.
Tiger, terrified, jumped in his car to get away from his club-swinging wife and crashed it into a tree.
That much we had already assumed. What the letter claims happened next is beyond the imagination of even the most savvy gossip hounds.
"The doctors tell Mark [Steinberg, Tiger's manager] there is not much they can do to repair the teeth and the gash, but the doctor knows a cosmetic dentist and plastic surgeon in Phoenix who will make Tiger look as if nothing happened. Tiger tells Mark to get the jet ready and let's head to Phoenix to get this done. Friday, after Tiger is released from the hospital, he does not return home; he and Mark board the plane for Phoenix," the letter claims.
The letter claims that, in the days following the incident, Tiger was not able to meet with Florida authorities when they went to his house on three separate occasions because he was in Phoenix having his teeth fixed.
Tiger -- as far as anyone can tell -- has not been seen publicly since the night his castle of morality came crashing down. The letter claims it is because he is still healing from his wounds and that it will be another month before he appears publicly.
Check out the whole letter here.
No Phoenix-area plastic surgeons are talking, and the letter -- while vouched for by Bisher -- is anonymous. Who knows if this Tiger-tale is true; the rumor mill churns out a lot of bullshit.
