Tigergate swings back to Rachel Uchitel rumour

The New York party hostess, Rachel Uchitel, who has spent the past week denying she ever had an affair with Tiger Woods - she even offered to take a lie detector test to prove it - has been evading the truth in order to protect the golfer, according to the American gossip site TMZ.

Sources have told TMZ that she did have an affair with the golfer and was trying to help him. But with Tiger's confession yesterday that he was guilty of "transgressions" and had "let his family down", her friends now felt it was appropriate to admit the affair.

Uchitel's lawyer, Gloria Allred, was due to give a press conference this evening in Los Angeles where the US media had hoped for a confession. But it was called off at short notice - following a phone conversation between Uchitel and Woods, according to reports.

The new TMZ report also provides a reason why Tiger Woods drove off in the middle of the night. According to its sources, TMZ says Woods was texting Uchitel on Thursday night/Friday morning when his wife, Elin Nordegren, walked in and confronted her husband.

This is not the only new claim to come out of Tigergate. TMZ has also reported that earlier the same day, Elin telephoned Jaimee Grubbs, the San Diego cocktail waitress who has boasted of having an affair with her husband.

According to TMZ, Nordegren telephoned 24-year-old Grubbs and, when asked who was calling, replied: "You know who this is because you're fucking my husband."

The phone call followed Tiger Woods's warning left on Grubbs's voicemail, a recording of which was posted online by Us Weekly yesterday, in which he told her: "Hey, it's Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favour. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you.

"So if you can, please take you name off that. Just have it as a number on the voicemail. You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Bye."

Following the posting of the voicemail recording by Us Weekly, Woods issued a statement apologising for his "transgressions" and saying: "I have not been true to my values and the behaviour my family deserves." ·