For Tiger Woods, 2009 was both the height of his career — and the year it all went off the rails.
He played in 19 tournaments, finishing in the top 10 in 16 of them, winning seven. But he also was addicted to painkillers, sleeping pills — and sex.
He was living recklessly, hooking up with porn stars and keeping a regular girlfriend, Rachel Uchitel, secret from his wife, Elin.
As recounted in the recent best-selling biography Tiger Woods it all fell apart that Thanksgiving, when the National Enquirer revealed Tiger’s cheating. The emotional fallout, coupled with escalating back pain, would keep Woods in the wilderness for a decade before his spectacular win at the 2019 Masters.\
THE QUOTE THAT STARTED IT ALL
When it became apparent that a platoon of high-priced lawyers were not going to be able to derail the story, Woods and his team started circling the wagons.
It fell to Tiger to convince his wife. He told her the tabloid story was a lie, that there was no affair between him and Rachel Uchitel.
But on Monday, November 23, in advance of publication, the Uchitel exposé began circulating on the internet. It contained a quote attributed to her that read like a dagger directed at Elin: “It’s Tiger Woods. I don’t care about his wife! We’re in love.”
Blindsided, Elin didn’t know what to believe. It was the week of Thanksgiving, and their second child, Charlie, had just learned to walk and was starting to say his first words. For Elin, these were monumental milestones of joy. But the suspicions in her mind were making it impossible to focus on anything else. In need of someone to confide in, she called the one person she trusted above all — her identical twin, Josefin. They had been best friends since childhood. Elin knew Josefin would know what to do.
After obtaining a Master of Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Josefin received her law degree in Sweden and joined the American-based firm McGuireWoods LLP. When Elin called her, Josefin was working out of the firm’s London office, where she specialised in mergers and acquisitions. She immediately came to her sister’s aid, providing emotional support and advice.
