Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn last month before the split. Photo / Getty Images
When Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn split more than a week ago, the Olympic skier claimed that "both lead incredibly hectic lives that force us to spend a majority of our time apart".
The Daily Mail today revealed that during one of those "times apart" Tiger cheated on Lindsey - with a "faceless, nameless woman", according to a friend.
The fallout is unlikely to be as severe as 2009, when Woods had an extramarital affair with New York City nightclub manager Rachel Uchitel and consequently lost sponsorship deals with Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade and General Motors that cost him over $22 million.
But it won't help his golf game, which has suffered greatly since his split with ex-wife Elin Nordegren. Woods barely made the halfway cut at his most recent TPC Sawgrass tournament and the former world No.1 currently sits at No. 125.
"He had a relapse in the sex department," the close friend revealed to the Daily Mail.
"Lindsey found out about women again. Always while he's on the road. Just like when he was with Elin."
It was after Tiger was eliminated from the San Diego-based Farmer's Insurance Classic in February, somewhere near his old stomping grounds in Southern California, that Tiger had a one-night stand, the friend divulged.
Image 1 of 6: Jamie Jungers. Photo / Getty
"He withdrew from Farmer's. You have to understand, while it's not right, it's not really wrong either. Tiger isn't married. He doesn't really drink or do drugs. So what else does he have when he can't afford to lose again? He's allowed to find some relief.
"Most men would drink over such losses. Tiger has sex over it. Usually with local hookers whom he pays exorbitant amounts to, probably so they will want repeat business and won't tell."
Michelle Braun, a former Hollywood madame revealed that between 2006 and 2007 Tiger paid upwards of $40,000 for six "pay-for-sex dates". But this time he was spotted with the woman.
"When Tiger realised he was seen, he became concerned and eventually he decided to confess to Lindsey. Something he didn't do with Elin. He came clean and I give him credit for that.
"Yes, Tiger cheated again. But it wasn't with anyone special. He really wanted Lindsey to be the one. But he blew it again. He can't help himself. He's got an addiction. He relapsed," says the friend.
"Knowing Tiger, he doesn't even see it as cheating because there's no romance or feeling there. It's just a stress reliever, like a high-ball or two after a bad day."
The friend tells MailOnline that despite pleas from peers and relatives to keep going to his self-mandated therapy sessions, Tiger stopped going completely - leading to the alleged 'one-time slip'.
But that 'one-time slip' was enough to send Vonn, 30, packing.
In fact, she made sure to announce the mutual split right in time to be physically out of the country. She's on tour in New Zealand, Chile and Europe before she returns to Vail, Colorado for training in few months.
Vonn, who won her 63rd World Cup race in January is collecting $22million in endorsement deals and is gearing up to hit the Olympic slopes and promoting her new Lindsey Vonn Foundation to empower young girls.
"Lindsey found out about the cheating the easy way, if there is an easy way. She didn't check his texts. Tiger confessed. He took the opposite strategy he did with Elin and instead of hiding it, he admitted it before getting caught.
"He doesn't even see it as cheating. It's just stress relief. It's hard for him to see that he's bad. Maybe he's not. He's not married to Lindsey. But he also won't get her back. She's another strong woman like Elin who respects herself too much.
"Why would she think her Tiger would change its stripes? She knew what she was in for. She reads the papers. We all read about the blonde table full of women in New York."
Media reports claimed Tiger was seen going into a Manhattan restaurant last December, only to flirt and eventually leave the women.
"Lindsey should have known then that Tiger was getting ready to slip, if he'd hadn't already. But then came the Farmer's loss," reveals the friend.
Cheating wasn't Lindsey's only problem with Tiger. "She always flew in to be by his side, but he rarely flew to be by her side. A relationship goes both ways. Not just Tiger's way.
"She started to see how Tiger's really obsessed with himself, his game, making money, controlling everything around him. The girlfriend takes a back seat. Only golf is front and centre.
"This really started to bother her. She was turning into a golf wife, and she's not. She's an Olympian. Tiger loves her. I'm sure he wished she forgave him when they went to therapy."
Sources say that a few weeks ago, a fellow golf wife finally succeeded in convincing Lindsey to go with Tiger to therapy, at least once, despite her desire to cut and run. Lindsey reconsidered and ended up taking in one session with Tiger.
The friend reveals Lindsey refused go at first. She said it was his problem. But it was also affecting his game so he begged her.
"She worried for him. He was hitting bottom maybe, and she wanted to support him. It's how he kept Elin for those extra months. And he did it to Lindsey.
"Well she refused to go the first time. And then Tiger arranged for a second time and she went. That's when he confessed, but it backfired.
"She didn't walk out of the session but she walked out on him.
"I mean, these things happen. It's like falling in love with a rock star or an NBA player. It's going to happen. Mistakes are going to be made.
"But Lindsey is not like Elin, the long-suffering wife who will turn a blind eye. She knew that one relapse could lead to two and three and then he's off to the races."
The source explained that Tiger's transgressions and self obsessions were two problems Lindsey had with Tiger. There was a third.
"She thought he was a bit of a bore. She's right. He's sometimes very boring to be around. He's got nothing going on in his head sometimes, besides himself. The joke is he doesn't even have to be that good in bed because women see him like a rock star. Maybe he's even boring in bed because women throw themselves at him."
The first time Tiger was busted for cheating with hookers, porn stars, strippers and mistresses was Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, 2009. Elin, then 29, and mother of daughter Sam, then 2, and then 11-month-old son Charlie Axel, discovered explicit texts from not one, but several women.
Tiger, a chronic insomniac, had just taken an Ambien and was starting to doze when Elin took his cell phone and started texting mistress Rachel Uchitel, pretending to be her husband.
Elin, a usually very controlled former Swedish model and nanny, chased Tiger out of the house with a golf club. He attempted to flee in his 2009 Escalade but crashed into a tree before he could get down the street.
Elin smashed both windows with Tiger's golf club and ended up hitting him, cracking a couple of his front teeth.
That was just the beginning. A flurry of women came forth - 120 in all - with claims of affairs and kinky, expensive sex with the golf star. Elin, now 35, divorced Tiger in 2010, after six years of marriage. Her prenup gave her an estimated $200million.
Tiger, who was ranked No 1 in the world at the time, collecting an additional $110 million a year in endorsements, disappeared for the next 54 days, only to be discovered behind the prison-like walls of the Gentle Path Sex Addiction Center at Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Michelle Braun, 39, a former Hollywood madame who supplied Tiger with call girls six times between 2006 and 2007, told the New York Post that Tiger paid upwards of $40,000 for the six 'pay-for-sex dates.'
She claimed Tiger paid $15,000 for a date with stunner Loredana Jolie for one night in Manhattan.
"He liked girl-on-girl. He had sex with them together," Braun said.
During that fateful holiday season, Tiger took to his own website to confirm affairs, that he previously called "transgressions". He admitted he was "profoundly sorry" for the pain he'd caused Elin.
"I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children," he wrote.
Two playoff holes were needed to decide the event, with Alker settling for second.