Luxe Life Blog
Where in the world is Tiger Woods? Third month begins out of spotlight
Ben Roethlisberger and Tiger Woods at Tiger Jam 12 in Mandalay Bay.
Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com
It’s now two months and counting since golf superstar Tiger Woods has been seen. In fact, it’s 62 days to be exact that he’s gone missing since he ran barefoot to his SUV in the middle of the early morning hours of Nov. 27 from his Orlando, Fla., home, hit a fire hydrant and smashed into a tree on a neighbor’s lawn. Police said his wife, Elin Nordegren, was standing over him after she’d pulled him from the vehicle after smashing the windows to extricate him.
The turmoil and subsequent disappearance was triggered by a National Enquirer story that wrecked a squeaky-clean and lucrative image. Two Las Vegas girls based the story on corroborating reports after a European trip they’d been recruited for by former Tao VIP hostess Rachel Uchitel, who was headlined as Tiger’s top paramour.
In the weeks that followed while Tiger was MIA, more Las Vegas girls -- strippers, escorts and even an adult film star -- came forward, along with women in L.A. and Florida, with lurid and graphic tales of their sexual affairs with him.
Vegas DeLuxe was the first to tell you that he was undergoing treatment for sexual addiction in a special clinic. At first, there were reports of him being treated for dental facial injuries in Arizona allegedly caused by his own mother who smashed his iPhone -- with the girls’ text messages beeping -- into his mouth. Then followed news that he’d resurfaced at a Behavioral Health facility in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Tiger Woods.
This weekend’s new edition of the Enquirer out today claims a grainy, long-lens photo of a hooded man wearing a baseball cap at the clinic is Tiger and reveals details of his treatment there. The Enquirer says that Tiger checked in there on Dec. 30.
The truth is that Tiger hasn’t been seen publicly, and there’s still no official confirmation where he is after 60-plus days. Reports of him hiding out at a luxury billionaire’s estate in Long Island or Donald Trump’s International Hotel in Manhattan or a safari camp in Africa have all proven unfounded.
Where in the world is Tiger Woods? Ever since his foundation issued a statement in which he admitted “marital infidelities” and that he would take “an indefinite break from golf” as corporate sponsors dropped him, there’s been silence, and he hasn’t been seen anywhere. That statement came just days after the escalating, sensational headline sex confessions.
Meantime, Rachel has canceled this Friday’s party at a Palm Beach, Fla., nightclub she was due to host. Her attorney Gloria Allred says the media mob became too much to handle. Rachel, who owns a condo here behind MGM Grand, was involved in a longtime romance with a New York and Las Vegas nightclub owner, and photographs of them together appeared regularly in New York social magazines.
She also was allegedly involved in a girl group known as The ABC Girls, who solid rumors indicate made regular trips to one-time oil-rich Dubai. I’m reliably told that ABC are the initials for “always be closing” before the sheiks’ huge cash investment in a one-time New York-based nightclub operation represented in Las Vegas, too.
Jennifer Lee.
The two Las Vegas beauties -- Jennifer Lee Madden, a former Playboy model who worked at various Las Vegas nightclubs, and her roommate Ashley Sampson, who wound up in a nasty catfight with Rachel in Marbella, Spain -- are back here now. Ashley is rumored to have reconciled with her divorced husband, Matt, although rumors abound that she was involved in a romance with a major entertainer.
We knew first that Jennifer appeared in disguise under a brown wig when she appeared on NBC’s Dateline, but at the time identified her only by her initials. She’s reportedly a close friend of former Playmate of the Year Jenny McCarthy, who lives with movie star Jim Carrey. Jennifer also has been linked with Mindfreak magician Criss Angel and showman impresario Jeff Beacher.
In fact, Jeff yesterday said that he left his pet cat with Jennifer, who he says gave it to the magician, and subsequently it also has vanished.
Las Vegas has subsequently become a hotbed for national magazine writers and TV producers readying February sweeps pieces, with each one trying to out-scoop the other. Watch the TV magazine shows next month dig up as much dirt as possible about Tiger’s scandalous behavior in and around our nightclubs and high-roller suites. There’s even talk that one show has purchased a parking lot surveillance tape that allegedly shows Tiger in full passion with yet one more female admirer!
Tiger Woods.
Experts had predicted that Tiger would reappear to play golf at the debut 2010 tour’s Hawaii tournament in his quest to match golf great Arnold Palmer’s record. He didn’t. Rumors run rampant that his annual Tiger Jam charity fundraiser at Mandalay Bay has been scrapped this year because of the sponsor dropout.
Maybe he will return to the 2010 PGA Tour in La Jolla, Calif., on Monday or Feb. 8 at the Pebble Beach pro-am or the Masters in Augusta, Ga., on April 5. Maybe he will simply remain away from golf until next year.
Truth be told, nobody knows anything, but this morning, former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, the current PGA Tour leader, said that Tiger should speak publicly in a press conference to the tabloid media before he returns to the sport. He said it would be the only way to avoid having future tournaments and the players being disrupted by hordes of tabloid media and TV cameras.
Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.
Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.
Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.
Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.
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