Tiger Woods is finding out the hard way that “I’m sorry” is not enough.
After publicly apologizing for his “transgressions,” the golfing great reportedly offered to give his wife, Elin Nordegren, a cool $5 million to keep her from walking – and taking their two young kids with her.
Battered by reports he cheated with three winsome women, Woods was also revising a prenuptial agreement that would give the former bikini model an additional $55 million just to stay with him two more years, The Daily Beast Web site reported.
If Nordegren can hack being Mrs. Tiger Woods for at least seven years, she gets $80 million, a “lawyer familiar with the couple’s negotiations” told Daily Beast reporter Gerald Posner.
The revelation Woods might be using money to buy himself at least the appearance of love came as the most recent of his purported mistresses – 34-year-old New York party girl Rachel Uchitel – suddenly canceled a press conference during which she was supposed to dish on their dalliances.
Her celebrity lawyer, Gloria Allred, said they pulled the plug on the press conference “due to unforeseen circumstances.”
Asked if there are plans to reschedule, Allred told a Daily News reporter, “No comment.”
Later, an independent source confirmed to The News what Uchitel had at one point hotly denied – that she and Woods had been carrying on a torrid affair that began months ago.
Although Uchitel claims it was just a coincidence that she and Woods were in Australia at the same time last month, TMZ.com reported that Woods’ childhood pal, Bryon Bell, bought her the ticket.
Then Bell flew with Uchitel to Melbourne, where both had rooms at the Crown Towers Hotel, the gossip site reported.
Meanwhile, a Las Vegas nightclub executive said to have romped with Woods denied sleeping with the golfer.
“Sometimes I’ll deal with celebrities on my job on a day-to-day basis just to touch base with people,” Kalika Moquin, 27, told Us Weekly.
“But it’s completely untrue that there’s anything more than a professional ‘How are you doing? Are you enjoying your time in Vegas?’ conversation.”
Moquin didn’t confirm or deny an affair when she was questioned earlier by Life & Style magazine about hooking up in Sin City “a bunch of times” during the weekend of Oct. 23.
Another one of Woods’ reported mistresses, 24-year-old cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs, backed up her claims by giving Us Weekly a bunch of seemingly damning text messages and voice mails.
Woods’ half sister, Royce, said she was “surprised” by the reports of her brother’s adulterous affairs.
“But I do wish Tiger the best,” she told a News reporter.
“I would like everyone to know that my love for Tiger is unconditional, and I wish he and my sister-in-law Elin the best.”
Woods didn’t go into details when he apologized on his Web site Wednesday, but he defended his wife and called reports of domestic violence “utterly false and malicious.”
Nordegren went ballistic when she caught Woods texting Uchitel an hour before the Nov. 27 crash, TMZ.com has reported.
Woods’ mom, Kultida, and his mother-in-law, Barbro Holmberg, were apparently in the Orlando-area mansion when the golfer stormed out and slammed his SUV into a fire hydrant.
A neighbor said she saw them come out of the house to investigate, and a voice that resembles Woods’ mother is heard in the background during a 911 call saying loudly, “What happened?”
Neighbor Kimberly Harris told investigators that when she ran out to see what happened, a barefoot Woods was already out of the SUV and “snoring” in the middle of the street while his wife watched over him.
“She was actually very quiet, just kind of in shock,” Harris’ brother, Jarius Adams, told the Florida Highway Patrol in an audio interview released Thursday.
The siblings said they did not see Nordegren smash the rear window of the SUV with a golf club to get Woods out, as a local police chief reported.
They also said they didn’t smell any alcohol on Woods or his wife.
“No alcohol, no any other kind of drug whatsoever, none,” Adams said.
Woods, 33, later escaped criminal charges for the wreck, but battered his sponsor-friendly image.