Tiger Woods Infidelities Enabled by Staffers, Mag Reports
New Vanity Fair article digs up dirt on staffers, mistresses and Woods' father.
March 31, 2010— -- Tiger Woods' return to the golf course next week will attempt to put attention back on his career, but a new magazine article that claims the pro golfer's inner circle knew about his affairs and enabled them proves interest his past isn't going to fade anytime soon.
Woods' mistresses tell Vanity Fair in an article out today that they communicated directly with the Woods' advisors, who knew the entire time that Woods was cheating on his wife and the mother of his two young children.
Their claims are in direct contrast with Woods' statement in an interview earlier this month that no one but him knew what he was up to.
"It was all me. I'm the one who did it," he said. "I'm the one who acted the way I acted. No one knew what was going on when it was going on."
But waitress Mindy Lawton told Vanity Fair contributing editor Mark Seal, who spent three months interviewing several of Wood's mistresses and other insiders for the article, that when she became nervous that the National Enquirer had caught on to their affair, Woods directed her to his agent, Mark Steinberg.
Steinberg, who declined to comment for the article, reportedly told Lawton, "We'll take care of it."
"Who knew how much they knew, how much they did, how much they facilitated," Seal told "Good Morning America," "but it's hard to believe they didn't."
Lingerie model Jamie Jungers told Seal that her rendezvous with Woods were well-planned with one of the golfer's longtime friends.
"Every time I would fly out to see [Tiger] or schedule itineraries or anything, I would always go through Bryon [Bell]," Jungers told Vanity Fair, referring to Woods's childhood friend and the president of Tiger Woods Design.
Bell also declined to comment.
"The sad thing about it was that all the women seemed to think they were the only one," Seal said.
Sports psychologist Gio Valiante said Woods will certainly need the "air-tight focus" he's known for when he hits the golf course for the Masters.
"He's going to know that the hecklers are coming," he told "Good Morning America." "He's probably going to look at his caddie and say, 'Hey, we got the first one out of the way, now let's go play golf.'"