Tiger Woods’ troubles were back in the spotlight yesterday after his mother-in-law collapsed at his Florida mansion and was rushed to hospital.
Barbro Holmberg, a 57-year-old former government minister in Sweden, was shown on US television being moved from an ambulance into a hospital. She was released 11 hours later in “good condition,” a hospital spokesman said.
Woods’ clean-cut role model image has been battered in recent weeks by allegations from at least 10 women that they had affairs with him.
PHOTO: EPA
News reports said his wife, Elin Nordegren, a Swedish former model, has moved out of the residence and is living at a friend’s home nearby. Woods has given little information apart from releasing a statement apologizing to his family for his “transgressions.”
Police said emergency paramedics were called to the US$2.6 million Woods residence in the exclusive golfing community of Isleworth, Windermere, in the early hours of Tuesday.
In the released emergency recording, either Woods’ wife or her twin sister can be heard saying in a panicked voice: “Hurry up, my mom just collapsed.”
The woman explains that Holmberg fainted and fell, then tries to reassure the operator that she is now “fine” and that there is no need to send paramedics.
“We’d rather come check her and check her vitals to make sure everything is okay,” the emergency operator replies. The caller relents and an ambulance is dispatched.
The Health Central Hospital in the nearby town of Ocoee said Holmberg was admitted complaining of stomach discomfort.
“She’s at her home, Tiger’s home, resting and is recovering nicely,” a spokesman said.
The Woods’ mansion near Orlando has been besieged by reporters since the 14-time major winner crashed his car just outside on Nov. 27.
Woods at first refused to speak to police about the crash, fueling media speculation that it was caused by an argument with his wife over a reported affair with New York night club hostess Rachel Uchitel.
Woods apologized last Wednesday for “personal sins” and “transgressions” as a magazine posted what it said was evidence of a 31-month affair with a second woman, a cocktail waitress named Jaimee Grubbs.
More women came forward alleging affairs in the following days.
Woods has gone underground and pulled out of his own charity golf tournament in California.
Uchitel was linked to Woods in a report in the National Enquirer tabloid two days before he drove his car into a fire hydrant and then a tree, sustaining facial injuries.
Uchitel has denied the affair, but media reports say she is seeking a massive payout to halt the publication of damaging e-mails and messages.
After the crash, celebrity gossip Web sites speculated that Elin Nordegren chased Woods with a golf club and smashed the rear windows of his vehicle, causing him to lose control. Woods denied the reports.
Woods, a billionaire who gets an estimated 90 percent of his income from endorsements, was hit on Tuesday by Gatorade’s announcement that it had ended its contract with him.
However, the sports drink maker told reporters the decision to end the two-year-old contract had been taken several months ago.
Tiger’s biggest sponsor, Nike, last week issued a statement saying it was standing by the golf star.
Woods also faces new questions about the crash after the Orlando Sentinel newspaper reported that a police report cited a witness claiming the golfer had been drinking and was taking Ambien, a sedative, and the pain-killer Vicodin.
Police slapped Woods with a careless driving citation and a US$164 fine and ended their investigation.
Online fascination with Woods’ alleged infidelities meanwhile has been a boon for Yahoo, the Internet search firm’s chief executive Carol Bartz said.
“God bless Tiger,” Bartz said while discussing Yahoo user traffic and display advertising at a New York conference in New York.
“This week we got a huge uplift: front page, news, sports, gossip. He just filtered through the whole place,” she said, referring to the company’s various Web pages. “It is better than Michael Jackson dying; it is kind of hard to put an ad next to a funeral.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB