The real Tiger story?

This account has been flying around for more than a week - and as with all the stories about what really happened that Thanksgiving night in Florida, there is zippo confirmation from any of the immediate parties. (I heard about it on Christmas Day from a friend who had been emailed the story from a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend.....) But the rehash took on instant credibility once it was posted by retired Atlanta sportswriter Furman Bisher, who says he heard it "from a trustworthy journalist I have known for years." Deadspin says it's a hoax - as do others - but Bisher's posting does have flashes of believability - enough on a slow news week for lots of folks to now consider it the real explanation. Bisher, who is 92 and apparently not aware of how fast a juicy Internet posting can spread, said in a follow-up that he was "rather startled when the darned thing developed legs of its own" and that "it was not intended for anybody but those who are plugged into my blog." Well, too late. Anyway, here's the beginning of the post - believe, don't believe, it's up to you.

The following is a legitimate message I received from a trustworthy journalist I have known for years. It's the Tiger-Elin incident finally put into reliable form, and I send along for no purpose other than to present the picture in its clearest form. --Furman Bisher

Forwarded story:

I have a Member who lives 10 houses down from Tiger in Isleworth. As we know Tiger's agent is Mark Steinberg. My Member plays golf and is real good friends with another IMG Agent; who is very good friends with Steinberg and they share the same office. This information came from the other IMG Agent to my Member, and then to me today, and according to them is up to date as yesterday when my Member left Orlando.

On Thanksgiving Day, after he and Elin and the family had turkey dinner, he spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch watching football and texting Rachel. After each received and sent text message he would clear his message box to rid himself of the evidence. Sometime in between there, one of his Orlando buds called him to see if he wanted to get together at the Clubhouse to play poker with the guys, to which Tiger said yes. Tiger left the house around 7:30 to go play poker, and left behind his cell phone....and one message he had forgot to delete from Rachel.

"Rachel" is Rachel Uchitel, the gal pal who appeared in the National Enquirer and got this whole thing started. The gist of what follows (here's Furman's actual post) is that Elin hit Tiger in the face with a 9-iron, injuring him so severely that he flew to Phoenix the next day for emergency cosmetic surgery. He is still recovering. Meantime, the couple has been working with a marriage counselor, and they supposedly want to stay together.