June 16, 2008: Tiger Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, rides next to him after he won the U.S. Open championship at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. (AP)
Tiger Woods canceled yet another meeting with the Florida Highway Patrol on Sunday, the same day police released the 911 calls from his early Friday morning single-vehicle accident.
A lawyer for Woods reportedly canceled the 3 p.m. ET meeting with law enforcement officials, but did not offer a reason.
Meanwhile, speculation builds around the golfer's Friday car accident, why he left the house early in the morning, where he was going and whether a heated dispute with his wife, Elin, preceded the crash.
Several of Woods' neighbors can be heard on the 911 calls saying there was an accident in the front of their house and the person in the vehicle was lying on the ground.
AUDIO: Woods 911 Tape Released.
On Sunday, Woods posted a statement on his Web site saying that the car crash that sent him to the hospital is his fault and has become embarrassing to him and his family, but he plans to keep it a private matter.
Click for photos of the car crash
Woods writes that his wife acted "courageously" when she saw that he was hurt. He says any other assertion is "absolutely false."
Woods says he understands there is curiosity about the accident. He says the "malicious" rumors circulating about him and his family are irresponsible.
The world's No. 1 golfer says he has cuts and bruising and is "pretty sore."
In its initial accident report, the patrol said Woods left his house, ran over a fire hydrant with his Cadillac Escalade and then smashed into a tree at 2:25 a.m. Friday. And Windermere police chief Daniel Saylor said Woods' wife told officers she heard the crash from inside their home, and used a golf club to break out the back window.
The FHP continues to investigate the crash as a traffic accident, refusing to get caught up in rumors.
Sgt. Kim Montes, the patrol spokeswoman, said Woods is not required to give a statement, only his driver's license, insurance and registration for the SUV, which was towed to a private yard with damage to the front and broken back-seat windows.
"We still are going to move forward with our crash investigation," she said.
Police first tried to interview Woods on Friday, only for his wife to ask if they could return the next day because he was sleeping.
As they headed to Woods' $2.4 million house inside the gates of Isleworth on Saturday afternoon, FHP dispatch put through a phone call to troopers from Woods' agent, informing them that Woods and his wife would be unavailable to talk until Sunday.
"I don't know what was said," Montes said Saturday. "I mean, (Friday) we understood, and that's kind of normal. It is unusual that we haven't gotten a statement. This just delays us to getting closer to the completion of the investigation."
Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, did not respond to a text message asking why Woods was unavailable.
Celebrity Web site TMZ claimed Woods was confronted by Elin with the report that he had been seeing New York night club hostess Rachel Uchitel.
The argument grew heated, and according to TMZ’s source, she scratched his face up.
He then beat a hasty retreat to his SUV, with her following behind with a golf club. She reportedly used the club on the golfer's vehicle. Woods, then, reportedly became distracted, causing the car crash.
Police had earlier disputed that the crash was the result of a fight between the couple.
"Right now we believe this is a traffic crash," Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Montes said. "We don't believe it is a domestic issue."
The crash came only days after tabloids published articles claiming the golf champ was having an affair with Uchitel.
Montes said that investigators are "trying not to get on the rumor mill," and police have said they had no knowledge of a fight between Tiger and Elin Woods.
The National Enquirer and Star both published explosive stories this week contending that Woods has been seeing Uchitel and that the pair recently were spotted in Melbourne while Woods was playing in the Australian Masters tournament.
Uchitel denied having an affair with Woods when contacted by Fox News, saying the Enquirer story was completely fabricated.
"The quotes from the two sources who are not friends are ridiculous," she said. "I never crossed paths with Tiger in Melbourne — not in a restaurant, not in the gym, not in the lobby, nothing."
She said she barely knows the tabloid paper's sources and only has met them twice.
"I don't know who they are," Uchitel told Fox. "These two women put this out there. This is not something I want to be involved with at all. I'm not trying to go out there saying I'm having an affair with Tiger Woods."
Uchitel has hired high-profile attorney Gloria Allred to represent her.
A representative from the National Enquirer declined comment.
Woods' news conference for the Chevron World Challenge, the tournament he hosts that benefits his foundation, had been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. It's unclear whether he would still play, or even attend the event in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
"We do not know if Tiger is playing; we are anticipating a great week of competition," said Greg McLaughlin, the tournament director and president of his foundation.
In a telephone interview, Woods' father-in-law, radio journalist Thomas Nordegren, told The Associated Press in Stockholm that he would not discuss the accident.
"I haven't spoken to her in the last few ... " Nordegren said about his daughter, Elin, before cutting himself off. "I don't want to go into that."
Woods' mother-in-law Barbro Holmberg also refused to address the matter.
"She doesn't want to comment on private issues like these," Holmberg's spokeswoman Eva Malmborg said.
Aside from occasional criticism of his temper inside the ropes, Woods has kept himself out of the news beyond his sport. In an October posting on his Facebook account, Woods wrote, "I'm asked why people don't often see me and Elin in gossip magazines or tabloids. I think we've avoided a lot of media attention because we're kind of boring. ..."
"He's an iconic brand, the platinum standard," said John Rowady, president of rEvolution, a Chicago-based sports marketing agency. "I find it interesting how he's being attacked by so many sides after how gracious he's been. But even the best of celebrities who try to do their best can be riddled with controversy."
Woods was found lying in the street with his wife hovering over him when authorities arrived at the scene, according to Windermere, Fla., Police Chief Daniel Saylor.
Saylor said Woods' wife told officers she was in the house when she heard the accident and "broke the back window with a golf club."
"She supposedly got him out and laid him on the ground," he said. "He was in and out of consciousness when my guys got there."
He said in a briefing Friday night that the front-door windows were not broken and that "the door was probably locked."
"She was frantic, upset," Saylor told reporters. "It was her husband laying on the ground."
The Florida Highway Patrol said tapes of the 911 call won't be released until they can be reviewed. Montes said the accident report was not issued for more than 12 hours because it did not meet the criteria of a serious crash, and the FHP only released information because of inquiries from local media.
Left unanswered was where Woods was going at that hour. His agent, Mark Steinberg, and spokesman Glenn Greenspan said there would be no comment beyond the short statement of the accident posted Friday afternoon on Woods' Web site that said:
"Tiger Woods was in a minor car accident outside his home last night. He was admitted, treated and released today in good condition. We appreciate very much everyone's thoughts and well wishes."
Saylor said the golf star had lacerations to his upper and lower lips, and blood in his mouth; officers treated him for about 10 minutes until an ambulance arrived.
Woods was conscious enough to speak but didn't say anything coherent, according to the police chief. Damage to the front of his SUV was described by Saylor as "not real extensive, but not real light."
According to the patrol, Woods had just left his Florida mansion when he lost control of his 2009 Cadillac and hit a fire hydrant, then a tree on his neighbor's property. The report said alcohol was not a factor.
Woods, coming off a two-week trip to China and Australia earlier this month, is host of the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, Calif., which starts Thursday.
He is scheduled to have his press conference Tuesday afternoon at Sherwood Country Club. Steinberg said he did not know if Woods planned to play next week.
Woods rarely faces such private scrutiny, even as perhaps the most famous active athlete in the world.
He usually makes news only because of what he can do with a golf club. Few other athletes have managed to keep their private lives so guarded, or have a circle of friends so airtight when it comes to life off the course.
Woods' $2.4 million home is part of an exclusive subdivision near Orlando, a community set on an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course and a chain of small lakes.
The neighborhood, which is fortified with high brick walls and has its own security force, is home to CEOs and other sports stars such as the NBA's Shaquille O'Neal.
Woods has won 82 times around the world and 14 majors, becoming the first player of black heritage to win a major at the 1997 Masters when he was 21. He attended the Stanford-Cal football game last Saturday, where he tossed the coin at the start of the game and was inducted into Stanford's sports Hall of Fame at halftime.
Click for more on this story from MyFoxOrlando.com
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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