Around 2:25 a.m. November 27, 2009, champion golfer Tiger Woods got into his Cadillac SUV, pulled out of his Windermere, Fla., driveway and struck a fire hydrant and a tree. Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, told paramedics responding to a neighbor's 911 call that she was inside the house when she heard the accident, went outside with a golf club and used it to break the rear windshield and get Woods out of the vehicle. Initial reports stated that Woods had received facial lacerations in the accident and was being treated at a local hospital. Later reports suggest that Woods had received the lacerations not from the accident, but from a golf-club wielding Nordegren. TMZ.com reported on November 30 that a witness who arrived on the scene shortly after the accident noticed that Woods was not wearing any shoes, causing speculation that he may have left the house in a bit of a hurry.

According to TMZ, Woods drifted in and out of consciousness while being treated by paramedics. When asked if Woods was on any medication, his wife produced two bottles of pills, but said she did not know when he had taken the last one. TMZ reported that Woods later confirmed in a conversation that his wife had attacked him and that he was on prescription pain medication for an injury. He said he had gotten to the end of the driveway and become distracted. He thought the SUV was stopped, but it was not. Media speculation as to her motive centers on a recent tabloid report that Woods was having an affair with Rachel Uchitel, director of VIP services for a tony club in Southampton, N.Y. Uchitel strongly denied the affair and has offered to take a lie detector test. In February 2010, almost three months later, Woods briefly spoke publicly about the incident, which the media had dubbed "Golf Gate," strongly denying the reports that he had been assaulted by Nordegren, who did not accompany Woods to the media appearance. Both also failed to meet with police to discuss the incident and have, through spokespeople, indicated that they consider the legal aspects of the case closed.

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