Move over, Tiger King. The first part of HBO’s Tiger documentary following the rise, fall, and comeback of pro golfer Tiger Woods premieres tonight.
The doc covers Tiger’s childhood, his father’s mentorship, his stunning wins at the PGA in the early aughts, and of course, the 2009 sex scandal and car crash that brought his career to a screeching halt.
key figure in the documentary is Tiger’s ex-wife, Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model and ex-nanny who met the professional golfer during the 2001 Open Championship. The couple were introduced by Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik. (Elin nannied for Parnevik’s family.) They began dating and were married three years later on October 5, 2004.
Tiger and Elin’s marriage ended in 2010.
Months before the split, Tiger “lost control of his SUV” near his home in Florida, while pulling out of his driveway at 2:25 AM, according to ESPN. The car hit a fire hydrant and a tree in a neighbor’s yard. To rescue Tiger from the car, Elin used a golf club to smash the windows.
“She supposedly got him out and laid him on the ground,” police chief Daniel Saylor told the Associated Press about the crash. “He was in and out of consciousness when my guys got there.” It turned out that Tiger had taken a mixture of painkillers and sleeping pills prior to the car accident.
The night of the crash, Elin had supposedly gone through Tiger’s phone and confirmed that he had a longtime mistress named Rachel Uchitel, a nightclub hostess. According to the BBC, she is widely believed to have said, “I knew it.”
When Elin confronted him, Tiger ran outside, pulled out of his driveway, and crashed his car. The incident sparked a wave of women coming forward to say that they’d had affairs with the golf player.
Elin received $100 million in the divorce settlement, per the Los Angeles Times.
Ten years later, the ex-couple are on good terms.
“We communicate so much better now, it’s incredible,” Tiger has said. “I wish we would have done that earlier on, but it’s been incredible to have a best friend like that.”
Tiger and Elin have been co-parenting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Their kids—Sam, 12, and Charlie, 11—have been splitting their time between their parents’ houses during the pandemic. (Now, Tiger lives with his girlfriend, Erica Herman, the general manager of his restaurant, in Jupiter, Florida.) “They’ve always been really good at communicating about things involving the kids, and this is no exception,” a source told PEOPLE. “Their number one priority is to keep the entire family safe and to help stop the spread.”
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