KOMPAS.com - Tiger Woods broke his silence last night over the car crash that led to reports his wife had attacked him after a row over another woman. But he failed to address key questions over the incident. Mystery over what really happened deepened still further after the golf superstar cancelled a third attempt by police to interview him in as many days.

Speaking for the first time since the accident in the early hours of Friday morning, Woods praised wife Elin Nordegren for coming to his rescue. sides need breaking?

'The only person responsible for the accident is me,' he said on his website after days of speculation.

'My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.'

TMZ, the U.S. website that gained credibility when it was the first to report Michael Jackson's death, claimed yesterday that Woods told a friend that his wife 'went ghetto' on him after a bust-up over reports that he was having an affair.

The former Swedish model scratched Woods' face, drawing blood, and attacked his car with a golf club as he tried to drive away from his home in Orlando Florida, said TMZ.

The website said he told the friend that he became 'distracted' and hit a water hydrant and an oak tree after his wife came after him with a golf club.

But Woods blasted the 'false, unfounded and malicious rumours' last night, saying: 'I have some cuts, bruising and right now I'm pretty sore. This situation is my fault and it's obviously embarrassing to my family and me. I'm human and I'm not perfect.'

The statement was released as it was revealed thA second planned interview on Saturday was cancelled in a call from his agent and police were again told Woods was not available to talk to them last night. Under the law in Florida, Woods is not required to talk to officers about a traffic accident investigation.

There was speculation last night that the reason Woods was delaying a meeting was possibly to allow the wounds on his face to heal. TMZ claimed that if police suspect his wife caused the scratches, she could be arrested for domestic abuse.

Under Florida law, police have the power to intervene in a spousal violence case regardless of what those involved want. The latest twist came as the woman named in U.S. media reports as Woods' alleged mistress, 34-year-old Rachel Uchitel, flew to Los Angeles to meet up with high profile celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred. She has emphatically denied the allegations.

The TMZ version is at odds with the first official reports of the accident in which police said Miss Nordegren went to the aid of her husband and helped free him from the car - which had hit a fire hydrant and a tree - by breaking the back window with one of his clubs because the doors were all sealed by the central locking. Police said that alcohol was not a factor.

TMZ claimed the couple had had a vicious bust-up in the early hours last Friday over a story that came out just hours beforehand in America's National Enquirer magazine claiming Woods had cheated on his wife.

The website said Woods, 33, told a friend that he had beaten a retreat. He got into his vehicle and drove away slowly, but was 'distracted' when he saw his wife coming after him with a golf club. He hit the hydrant and an oak tree outside his house.

The famously private golfer, who was the highest paid athlete in the world last year with £65.8million in winnings and endorsements, was found in the early hours of Friday morning lying in the road by his dented £35,000 Cadillac Escalade with his petite wife. Yesterday, police spokesman Kim Montes said both rear passenger windows on the luxury vehicle had been smashed.

Asked about the reports that the couple had been arguing in the hours leading up to the crash, she added: 'It is our plan to speak to Mr Woods and his wife. She was not involved in the accident but is considered a witness and we want to hear what she wants to say.'

Woods was treated in hospital for minor injuries, including a cut lip, and was released after several hours on Friday. He married in 2004 and has two children, aged two and nine months.

Miss Uchitel said last night: 'Despite it being completely untrue, it still must have certainly caused some problems at home - if I was his wife, I probably would have killed him.

'We have never had an affair, talked on the phone or sent any type of text, sexy or not.'

The Enquirer claimed Woods and Miss Uchitel had secret trysts in New York, Las Vegas and Australia after meeting earlier this year.

Self-destructive party girl who loves married men

The woman at the centre of the Tiger Woods infidelity allegations has a history of dating married men and celebrities.

Rachel Uchitel's life fell apart after she lost her fiancé in the September 11 terrorist attacks. She had a nervous breakdown, briefly married a childhood friend, divorced, then hit the party scene in Las Vegas.

Friends say she has become increasingly self-destructive, flitting between the Nevada gambling city and New York, where she works as a nightclub promoter.

The magazine National Enquirer published details of the alleged affair last Wednesday after reporters trailed 34-year-old Miss Uchitel to Australia and say they watched as she went up to the 35th VIP floor of a Melbourne hotel where Woods was staying.

Miss Uchitel has also been linked to married TV actor David Boreanaz. It is claimed she met Woods in June at Manhattan's Griffin nightclub, where she was working as a hostess. She denies the affair.

In 2001 she was working as a TV financial news producer and planning her marriage to bond trader Andy O'Grady when the World Trade Centre was attacked. Pictures of her with tears streaming down her face were flashed around the world.

She spent weeks plastering photographs of her fiancé all over New York in the hope someone knew what had happened to him. His remains were recovered in early 2002.

Two years later she had a nervous breakdown and took time off from her job. She was comforted by childhood friend Steven Ehrenkranz and they married in 2004. It lasted four months.

Miss Uchitel left for Vegas, where she dated nightclub owner Jason Strauss and worked as a scantily dressed VIP hostess. Last year she moved back to New York, juggling jobs at clubs in Manhattan and the jetset-Hamptons beach resort.

Miss Uchitel's ex-husband said he hadn't seen her since they split up. Asked about her alleged affair with Woods, he said: 'I couldn't know and I couldn't care.'

A friend who attended their wedding said Miss Uchitel had a 'history of being with married men and was self-destructive'.

Her grandfather Maurice owned Miami's Eden Roc Hotel and the El Morocco nightclub in New York. She grew up on Manhattan's smart Upper West Side, in an apartment overlooking Central Park, and attended an all-girls private school.