Vanity Fair digs through the wreckage of the golfer’s personal life
On the cover of the latest issue of Vanity Fair, a shirtless Tiger Woods is pictured—by Annie Leibovitz, natch—looking like an inmate in a prison yard, complete with a black cap and dumbells. Even given the revelations about the golf superstars predilection for women who aren’t his wife, the image is jarring. The accompanying article is no less so. It paints a picture of Woods as almost single-mindedly “driven by sex, tons of it, in allegedly all different varieties.” Woods wasn’t even averse to paying for romps, according to the article, which includes claims of “$60,000 pay-for-sex escort dates,” and “regular payments of between $5,000 and $10,000 each month to keep his harem quiet.” The magazine also delves into more serious allegations than Woods’ serial infidelity—that the golfer may have obtained performance-enhancing drugs from Toronto-based Anthony Galea. “According to news accounts, Woods saw the doctor on several occasions to aid his recovery from knee surgery,” reports Pulitzer Prize winner Buzz Bissinger. “There is no proof that Woods took performance enhancers, and sources say Woods is not part of the federal investigation, though as far back as 2007, sportswriters covering him could not help but notice that from the back he was beginning to look like Barry Bonds.”