Tiger Woods was knocked unconscious and his face was cut up in a bizarre car crash early yesterday morning near the driveway of his Orlando mansion — and he had to be rescued by his golf club-swinging model wife, police said.
Elin Nordegren had heard the smashup and ran out of their estate to help — using the club to bash open the rear window of his black Cadillac SUV before hauling him out of the vehicle, Windermere Police Chief Daniel Saylor said.
“She supposedly got him out and laid him on the ground,” Saylor said.
He said his officers found a dazed and bleeding Woods lying in the middle of the street with Nordegren hovering above him. He had cuts on his lips and was bleeding from his mouth and nose, officials said.
Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn said Woods’ “was very dazed. He had hit his head.” Saylor said the superstar was drifting in and out of consciousness.
“When he woke up, he tried to get up and lost consciousness,” Saylor said.
“He was mumbling, but didn’t say anything coherent.”
Nodegren, meanwhile, “was frantic, upset. It was her husband laying on the ground.”
He said cops gave him first aid until fire rescue arrived about 10 minutes later.
He was rushed to a local hospital in “serious” condition — but had already been released by the time the Florida Highway Patrol reported the crash to the media 12 hours later.
In a statement on his Web site, TigerWoods.com, the links legend’s office downplayed the incident.
“Tiger Woods was in a minor car accident outside his home last night. He was admitted, treated and released today in good condition,” it read. “We appreciate very much everyone’s thoughts and well wishes.”
Law-enforcement sources told TMZ.com that both Woods and Nordegren told cops that they had gotten into an argument before Woods stormed out of the home in a huff.
Saylor said the officers who responded to the scene were not told about any argument, and a rep for the FHP said, “We don’t believe it is a domestic issue.”
The National Enquirer reported earlier this week that he had been stepping out on the blond beauty with an event planner named Rachel Uchitel.
The report said they had had trysts in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Australia, and that they stayed in touch through constant texting — or, as one friend of Uchitel told the tabloid, “sexting.”
Woods denied the allegations, as did Uchitel, who told The Post she was “very concerned” to hear about the smashup.
“God forbid Tiger got into a car wreck because of this false report of him having an affair,” said Uchitel, who lost a fiancé in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
“Despite it being completely untrue, it still must have certainly caused some problems at home — if I was his wife, I probably would have killed him.”
Nevertheless, she said, “this is nothing to do with me. We have never had an affair, and the claims we did are completely false. We have never had an affair, talked on the phone or sent any type of text, sexy or not.
“I am really upset about it because I am being portrayed as a homewrecker, when it simply isn’t true.”
Yesterday’s drama unfolded shortly after 2 a.m., when Woods abruptly left his $2.4 million waterfront home in the gated Isleworth community and jumped into his Cadillac Escalade.
The “driver had just pulled out of the driveway at his residence … as [vehicle] began to drive on Deacon Circle, [vehicle] struck a fire hydrant. The front of [vehicle] then struck a tree,” the Florida Highway Patrol report on the incident says.
The police report says no alcohol was involved in the accident, but charges were “pending.” It was unclear what the charge might be.
The airbags in the SUV had not deployed, a sign that Woods was driving under 33 mph at the time of the crash.
A representative for the highway patrol said its investigators had not yet had a chance to speak to Woods, but when they do, “we will ask him everything.”
The Orlando Sentinel reported that troopers went to Woods’ home to try and interview him last night, but were turned away by his wife, who told them he was resting. They’re scheduled to return this morning. “People’s health comes first,” the FHP rep told the paper.
Sources said Woods was already holed back up in his home by the time the highway patrol released news of the incident.
A neighbor told TMZ she saw the star walking around his property and he seemed “fine.”
Reps for Woods declined to comment on the crash beyond the statement on his Web site.
The personal turmoil comes at the end of what had been a triumphant comeback year for the man considered by many to be the greatest golfer of all time.
He had missed most of the 2008 season because of reconstructive knee surgery, and returned to win six tournaments this year — although he hasn’t won a major since the 2008 US Open. He’s next scheduled to play at a tournament in California on Dec. 3.
He’s scheduled to have a press conference for the event on Tuesday.
Woods and Nordegren have two kids — daughter Sam Alexis is 2, and son Charlie Axel is 9 months old.
Uchitel made headlines herself back in September 2001, when she was featured in a front-page Post photo with tears streaming down her face as she clutched a missing poster of her tragic fiancé, Andy O’Grady.
She found love again three years later and tied the knot in a 270-person wedding, but split from her new hubby four months later.
She made supermarket tabloid headlines last year, when she was named as the lover of married “Angel” star David Boreanaz.
Uchitel wouldn’t comment about Boreanaz, and while she acknowledged she knows Woods, she said she hasn’t spoken to him since the scandal broke.
In September, Forbes Magazine named Woods the first billionaire athlete, thanks to his combined hauls on from golfing tournaments and his numerous endorsement deals.
With Post Wire Services