With cops still digging into events surrounding his bizarre car crash, Tiger Woods backed out of a press conference tomorrow for a golf tournament that benefits his foundation and said he won’t play in the tourney this week.
In a statement, Tiger said he was “disappointed” that he won’t be at the Chevron World Challenge in California. He cited injuries from the crash as the reason for the move.
His decision came on a day of rapidly unfolding developments in the case:
–Florida Highway Patrol troopers visited the hospital today where Woods was taken after his bizarre crash as they try to gather more information about the incident, according to a new report.
The FHP already was pursuing a warrant for medical records related to the world No. 1 golfer’s treatment, TMZ.com reported. The FHP told TMZ that it has not sought a warrant.
Police want to know if Tiger’s facial wounds were the result of domestic abuse or the accident. Tiger and his wife Elin Nordegrin have refused to sit down with authorities to discuss the case.
DALY HOPES FOR QUICK TIGER RETURN
TIGER’S IMAGE MANUFACTURED FROM THE START
PHOTOS: SCENE OF TIGER WOODS CRASH
PHOTOS: TIGER WOODS’ ALLEGED MISTRESS
–A new eyewitness account of Tiger after the accident emerged today.
Tiger had a bloody lower lip, according to TMZ. He was unconscious when emergency workers arrived but they revived him briefly. Nordegrin was extremely upset and had to be told twice by EMT workers to stand back.
After being asked whether Tiger was on any medication, Nordegrin went into the house and brought out two pill bottles. She said she didn’t know the last time he took the medicine.
Tiger wasn’t wearing shoes. Driving without shoes in illegal in Florida, TMZ reported.
–His SUV was moved from one part of a tow lot to another today but it was completely covered by tarps, Radaronline reported.
–There’s also more evidence today that a dispute between Tiger and his wife may have led to the accident.
An angry Tiger stormed out of his Florida mansion after a nasty fight with his wife, he blamed her for ruining Thanksgiving.
“You’ve ruined our Thanksgiving! Are you happy now?” he yelled at Elin Nordegrin , according to Radaronline.com.
—TMZ.com noted that security cameras surround Woods’ house. It’s unclear whether they recorded the incident.
The car crash occured early Friday morning.
The golfer was found semi-conscious by police early Friday morning, lying on the ground by his black SUV outside his Florida home.
TMZ also reported that Nordegrin changed her story, and is now telling cops she went looking for her husband in a golf cart, came upon the accident and used a golf club to break the car’s rear windows so she could get inside.
But when police first arrived, she said she’d walked out of the house, seen the crash and went back inside to get the club.
Authorities could use the fact that she changed her story to provide probable cause a crime was committed, which is needed to procure a warrant, TMZ said.
The move by police comes after Woods turned tail again yesterday and, for the third straight day, refused to talk to cops who showed up at his doorstep.
Instead, Woods issued a cryptic statement, trying to explain away his bizarre single-car accident outside his Florida mansion early Friday, insisting that it was his fault and that his golf-club-wielding wife had “acted courageously.”
The world’s greatest golfer groused that there’s no way he’s going to dish about the details of the “embarrassing” distraction surrounding his SUV crack-up.
Just after the accident, Elin told cops she had smashed the windows of Tiger’s Cadillac Escalade with a golf club to reach him and yank him to safety.
But she never called 911 after supposedly hearing the crash while in their home at 2:25 a.m. Friday — and the neighbor who did alert authorities didn’t mention Elin being at the scene.
“This is a private matter, and I want to keep it that way,” Woods said in a statement released after he abruptly canceled yet another planned interview with the Florida Highway Patrol.
Cops first tried to talk to Tiger on Friday, but were told he was sleeping. Elin shooed the officers away again on Saturday.
And yesterday, Tiger blew off a 3 p.m. scheduled interview at his lavish $2.4 million mansion, even after cops showed up on his doorstep.
“They asked to speak to Mr. Woods and were told he was not available,” said police spokeswoman, Sgt. Kim Montes. “We’d like to get his side of the story. That’s why we’ve gone back three times.”
The cops did manage to pick up Tiger’s license, registration and insurance information — all that’s legally required.
But “it’d be optimal to get his side,” Montes said. “We have the path of the vehicle. As to why he lost control, we’d like to get a statement explaining his side of the story.”
One thing that cops want to know is how both back passenger windows were shattered, Montes said. Neither the front windshield nor the driver’s-side windows were damaged in the apparent head-on impact with a tree and hydrant.
Charges are still pending, she added.
In a tape of a 911 call released yesterday — the only call for help that was received — a neighbor told dispatchers that a black Cadillac Escalade had hit a tree. “I have someone down in front of my house,” the neighbor said.
He never mentions Woods by name.
“I came out here just to see what was going on,” the neighbor, who was not identified, told dispatchers. “I see him, and he’s laying down.”
One woman is heard in the background yelling, “What happened?”
Woods posted a statement on his Web site coming clean — kind of.
“This situation is my fault, and it’s obviously embarrassing to my family and me,” he said. “I’m human and I’m not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
He doesn’t say why he was driving from his home so early — or address the report that he and Elin were battling over a story in the National Enquirer about his supposed affair with Rachel Uchitel, who lost her fiancé in the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers.
Uchitel denies an affair.
Tiger went on, “Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible.
“The only person responsible for the accident is me. My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.”
Tiger’s flacks and lawyers circled the wagons around the famously private superstar.
“We have been informed by the Florida Highway Patrol that further discussion with [Woods and his wife] is both voluntary and optional,” Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent at IMG, said in an e-mail.
“Although Tiger realizes that there is a great deal of public curiosity, it has been conveyed to FHP that he simply has nothing more to add and wishes to protect the privacy of his family.”
And lawyer Mark NeJame — after putting off calls to explain what fouled up the planned interview — brushed off any further explanation yesterday.
“We stand by Mr. Woods’ previous statement regarding his privacy, and other than that, I have nothing further to add at this point,” he curtly said in an e-mail.
Woods’ pal, ex-NBA star Charles Barkley, told The Post, “I just hope he tells his side of the story about what happened. You’ve got to face the music, because it is what it is. Not talking about it can make it worse.”
Woods is to host his Chevron World Challenge this week in Thousand Oaks, Calif., which benefits his foundation. Organizers said he is expected to attend a news conference on the tournament tomorrow.
“We do not know if Tiger is playing,” said Greg McLaughlin, the tournament director.