Ex-coach sheds light on Woods

Tiger Woods isn't taking a break from the PGA Tour to try to repair his broken marriage; he's taking time off to fix his fractured face.

At least that's what former NHL coach Pat Burns intimated Tuesday in an interview with a Montreal radio station.

Burns said Woods lost two teeth after his enraged wife, Elin Nordegren, hit him in the face with a 9-iron, moments before he crashed his SUV into a tree outside his home near Orlando, Fla., in late November.

Burns, who lives in Florida, said an old friend in the highway patrol was among those who went to Woods' home on the night of the accident.

"After dinner, Tiger Woods watched football in the living room while sending text messages to Rachel (Uchitel), the famous blonde," Burns said. "Whenever he received a message from her, he erased it. Meanwhile, one of his friends, based in Orlando, invited him to go play poker. At approximately 7:30 p.m., he went to change, then left.

"He forgot his phone on the coffee table in the lounge. Rachel, meanwhile, continued to write her text messages. His wife saw the message.

"When he returned, around 11:30 p.m. or midnight, she waited at the door. She asked what it was, these messages, and who was this woman.

"He kept saying there was nothing there. He went to watch television ... then suddenly, bang! A 9-iron in the face!"

Burns said the blow caused a large cut in Woods' cheek and knocked out two teeth.

"He left the house running without shoes. Elin followed him with the club. He left in his Escalade. She followed him and broke two or three windows. That's why he hit the tree," Burns said.

After Woods was taken to a hospital in Orlando, Burns said, doctors determined he needed plastic surgery to repair the broken teeth, but only one institution could do it, in Phoenix.

"This explains (Woods') absence when the police wanted to meet him the following days," Burns said.

It also explains why he hasn't been seen in public since.

While Burns said he learned the details of the story from a friend on the police force, deadspin.com claims Burns probably got them from e-mails that have been circulating for the past couple of weeks.

• HAPPY HOMECOMING -- Former Texas running back Priest Holmes was so impressed by this year's Longhorns team that he was willing to help his brother move across the country.

Holmes' brother was taking a moving van to Los Angeles this week, so he offered to go along for the ride just to be in the area for the national championship game. He told school officials he was going to be there, and they arranged for him to be a guest speaker at practice Tuesday.

Although Holmes didn't have tickets when he headed to California, the team has taken care of that. The Longhorns are expecting 26 alums who've played in the NFL to be at the game.

Vince Young, Ricky Williams and Michael Huff are the only ones likely to be on the sideline.

"It's fun to have them back," coach Mack Brown said of all the NFL players.

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