For Tiger Woods, this must all be starting to look like a very bad lie.
Unable, after repeated attempts, to persuade Woods to meet with them, Florida's Highway Patrol issued the world's most successful golfer a $164 ticket for careless driving, and slapped four demerit points on his licence.
That, of course, is the least of it - a relatively minor penalty for the still unexplained single-car accident early Friday morning.
Far more of a problem - at least for Woods's image as a model of moral rectitude and clean living - are the new allegations of marital infidelity that are surfacing, the presumed catalyst of the spat that may have caused the accident.
A 24-year-old cocktail waitress, Jaimee Grubbs, told Us Weekly magazine that she and Woods carried on a 31-month affair that started in April, 2007. Grubbs claims to have slept with Woods on 20 occasions, and says she has saved photos and more than 300 private text messages from the golfer - some of them racy.
Gubbs told the magazine she met Woods at a Las Vegas nightclub the week after the 2007 Masters - two months before Woods's wife, Elin Nordegren, gave birth to their first child. Grubbs claims to have proof in 300 text messages.
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 voice mail, a man says to Grubbs:
"Hey, it's, uh, it's Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favour. Um, can you please, uh, take your name off your phone. My wife went through my phone. And, uh, may be calling you. If you can, please take your name off that and, um, and what do you call it just have it as a number on the voice mail, just have it as your telephone number. That's it, OK. You gotta do this for me. Huge. Quickly. All right. Bye."
The Associated Press could not confirm Woods was the caller.
Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, did not immediately return an e-mail requesting comment.
Listen to voice message Ms. Grubbs supplied to US Weekly:
An AP reporter went to a residence in Escondido, Calif. on Tuesday night seeking comment from Grubbs. A person who identified himself as Cody came to the door but didn't open it, said she wasn't there.
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."
Another Web-based celebrity news site, RadarOnline.com, claimed in a post that Grubbs may not be the last woman to have admired Woods's off-links hijinks. The website also posted what it says is a suggestive line from one of Woods's messages: "I will wear you out … when was the last time you got [word deleted]"
Meanwhile, Rachel Uchitel, 33, the New York city hostess initially linked to Woods, issued a strenuous denial of any impropriety, telling the New York Post that she had met him just twice and only in her professional capacity as director of VIP services at a New York nightclub.
"Tiger and I are not friends," Uchitel said, insisting that her visit to Australia last month - at the same time that Woods travelled there for a golf tournament - was only a coincidence.
"The whole thing is a lie. Like I could just walk up to the 35th floor and go to the presidential suite if Tiger Woods was staying there?" Uchitel said. "Like they would hand a girl a key at the front desk and let her go to Tiger's room. I didn't see him at all in Australia. I was just there with friends."
Bill Sharpe, an attorney for the neighbours that helped tend to Woods in the moments after the accident last week, said Tuesday that "the scratches on his face were consistent with someone who maybe was in a minor car accident and hit his head on the windshield. None of his injuries looked like he was beat up by his wife."
Apparently trying to flee his Windemere, Fla., mansion at 2:45 a.m., Woods, 33, managed to drive his 2009 Cadillac SUV into first a fire hydrant, then a tree. He was subsequently found lying on the road beside the car, suffering various facial cuts and abrasions.
The only rescue club in sight had been wielded by his wife of five years, former Swedish model Elin Nordegren, although it's still unclear whether she was using it in anger or support.
His injuries were severe enough to prompt Woods to cancel his appearance this week at the Chevron World Challenge golf tournament in California.
Woods himself, winner of 14 major championships, added nothing more to the statement he posted to his website two days ago. There, he accepted full responsibility saying, "this situation is my fault, and it's obviously embarrassing to my family and me. I'm human and I'm not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn't happen again. This is a private matter and I want to keep it that way. Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumours that are currently circulating … 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."
But whether that will be sufficient to suppress the endless appetite for celebrity gossip and scandal - and to preserve Woods's millions of dollars in annual product endorsement and sponsorship revenue - remains to be seen.
- With files from Associated Press