Tiger Woods, charged with careless driving and fined $164 by Florida authorities on Tuesday, is now squarely in the crosshairs of the celebrity and tabloid media.
US Weekly magazine put Woods on its cover, released Wednesday, and alleges he has a two-plus-year affair with a Los Angeles cocktail waitress. This comes a week after the National Enquirer reported that Woods had an affair with a New York VIP host -- a charge the woman strongly denies.
The US Weekly report claims that Jaimee Grubbs has more than 300 text messages from Woods, and the US Weekly Web site posted a voice mail Grubbs says is Woods calling her last week and asking to change the ID on her phone so that his wife wouldn't recognize it.
Grubbs says she met Woods at a Las Vegas nightclub the week after the 2007 Masters -- two months before Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, gave birth to their first child.
Wednesday morning, the magazine published what it said was a voice mail provided by Grubbs that she said was left by Woods on Nov. 24, three days before his early morning car crash. In the voicemail, a man asks Grubbs to take her name off her phone.
"My wife went through my phone," the man's voice said. "And, uh, may be calling you.'
The call ends with the man saying: "You gotta do this for me. Huge. Quickly."
ESPN could not confirm Woods was the caller.
Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, did not immediately return an e-mail requesting comment.
When asked whether Us Weekly paid Grubbs for her story, spokeswoman Cheryl Crowley said, "As a policy, we do not comment on obtaining stories or photo transactions." MSNBC reported that "rumors" are Grubbs could have been paid $100,000 for her story.
Grubbs was recently part of the VH1 cable channel reality series "Tool Academy."
Woods' only comments have come on his Web site. Sunday, he released a statement saying, in part: "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."
Woods remained in seclusion in the exclusive gated community of Isleworth, while some of the world's top golfers were in Southern California preparing for the start of a tournament he hosts. Woods, citing injuries from the crash, issued a statement Monday saying he would not attend or play in the Chevron World Challenge.
Tuesday, the Florida Highway Patrol said it "is not pursuing criminal charges in this matter nor is there any testimony or other evidence to support any additional charges of any kind other than the charge of careless driving," according to department spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Montes. "Despite the celebrity status of Mr. Woods, the Florida Highway Patrol has completed its investigation in the same professional manner it strives to complete each traffic investigation."
After consulting with the local prosecutor's office, investigators also decided there was insufficient evidence to issue a subpoena that would have given them access to records from his hospital visit after the crash, Montes said.
Reached in Sweden by The Associated Press on Wednesday, Woods' father-in-law, Thomas Nordegren said: "I don't want to comment on this whatsoever."
Woods is also on the cover of the January issue of Golf Digest, a magazine he's had a longstanding relationship with. In a photo illustration, he's pictured with President Barack Obama. The issue offers "10 things Obama could learn from Tiger -- and vice versa" according to a Golf Digest news release.
A magazine spokeswoman said Tuesday that the issue was printed before the car crash involving Woods.
Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.
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