On Nov. 27, 2009, the golf landscape changed when Tiger Woods crashed his SUV. We look back at the key moments in the aftermath.
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On Nov. 27, 2009, the golf landscape changed when Tiger Woods crashed his SUV. We look back at the key moments in the aftermath.
Two days after a report in the National Enquirer surfaced that said Tiger Woods had an affair with New York nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel, Woods hits a tree and fire hydrant with his SUV outside his home at Isleworth in Windermere, Fla. (Getty Images)
For days after the incident is reported, media congregate outside the Isleworth Country Club gates. On Nov. 29, Woods issues a statement taking responsibility for the accident, and says “the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible.” (Getty Images)
Woods announces he will not be competing in his own Chevron World Challenge, which benefits his Tiger Woods Foundation. (Getty Images)
Woods is eventually charged with careless driving and issued a $164 fine, but the saga is far from over. On Dec. 2, Us Weekly reports Woods had an affair with another woman named Jamiee Grubbs. The story also includes texts and a voicemail message Grubbs says was left by Woods. Hours later, Woods releases another statement admitting, “I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart.” Woods also touches on the swirling media coverage, saying he is “dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means.” (Getty Images)
Grubbs isn’t the only woman to come forward. As the weeks go by, several more women claimed to have had affairs with Woods, and it sets off a tabloid frenzy. Woods appears on the cover of the New York Post for 20 consecutive days, one more than 9/11. (Associated Press)
Woods announces an indefinite leave from golf in attempt to save his marriage. “I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person.” Two days later, Accenture becomes the first company to cut ties with Woods. (Associated Press)
A little more than a month after he checked into a behavioral rehab center in Mississippi, Woods apologizes on national television in front of family and friends at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. “I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did is not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame,” he says. (Associated Press)
Less than a month later, Woods announces he is returning at the Masters, his first tournament since the scandal broke four months earlier. (Getty Images)
Woods takes questions at a news conference for the first time since the car crash, at Augusta National. Chairman Billy Payne says, “Our hero did not live up to the expectations of the role model we saw for our children."(Getty Images)
Woods ties for fourth and finishes five strokes behind winner Phil Mickelson at the Masters. Nine years later he would win his first major title, post-scandal, at Augusta National. (Getty Images)
