Tiger Woods Had Sex in Church Car Park

'I am sure Elin knew nothing about it, because she was never home when Mindy was there. But because Tiger was so complacent about it, it never would have occurred to anyone to tell her what was going on. He never said to my sister, "This has to be secret."'

Meanwhile, on the golfing circuit, Tiger's brilliance and sheer earning power meant that he never had to explain himself, or his behaviour, to anybody. However many rumours may have circulated, however uncouth some of his habits - such as  spitting and swearing on the greens, and being churlish to caddies - his talent provided all the excuse, or shield he needed.

Tiger was so focused, nobody dared disturb him. At the major championships in Britain, he tended to rent houses rather than join other players at hotels, under the guise of maintaining his privacy. He allowed no visitors and, in recent years, his wife was, at best, an infrequent member of his tournament entourage.

On the course, he stared straight ahead, interacting with no one, except maybe his caddie. He demanded utter loyalty of his friends and the proximity of his management. He never divulged anything about himself and for years it was believed that, far from having something to hide, the former child-prodigy was frankly a little bit dull.

He said nothing, people thought, because he had nothing to say. It was as if he had picked up a golf club at the age of three and - save for the aberration that was his marriage - never showed any interest in picking anything, or anyone else up since.

This was the seemingly impervious image that won him deals with big names such as Nike, Gillette and Pepsi - endorsements that, should he be able to maintain them, could see his fortune increase six-fold to £3billion in the next ten years.

But Mindy - and the others -  saw a very different Tiger. Lynn said: 'I saw the texts he sent her. One of them said he was dreaming of being inside of her. Another said, "Do you want to get laid?" It was crude. There was no mention of love. She said he didn't talk about his wife.'

Had Tiger mentioned Elin, it might have meant confronting the sordid reality that his 'romance' with Mindy was conducted while his wife was pregnant with their first child.

Instead, Lynn said: 'He talked very little about anything. She said he never wore condoms. That really broke me up. I was so worried she might catch a disease, especially as we suspected he was promiscuous. But Mindy was in love with him. I think she thought he was faithful to her.'

In fact, it seems likely that Tiger's affair with Mindy overlapped with his relationship with Jaimee Grubbs, the 24-year-old cocktail mistress he met in April 2007 and with whom he had a three-year affair. According to a source close to Jaimee, she very much enjoyed her affair with Tiger - perhaps having less romantic notions than Mindy.