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Phil Mickelson won the Masters on Sunday, and punctuated the victory with an emotional embrace from his wife, Amy. At that moment, Mrs. Mickelson became as much a story as her husband.

Last year, Amy Mickelson was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has undergone treatment, and it has reportedly gone well. Still, the recovery has left her understandably fatigued. Her inability to walk the course and cheer on her husband made Phil's victory and their hug, while their three young children looked on, all the more sweet.

Concerned viewers were clearly interested in Amy's health. Web searches on "amy mickelson health" and "amy mickelson cancer" both spiked over 600%. Similarly, online lookups for her photos and biography surged nearly as high.

This has been an incredibly trying year for the Mickelson family. Phil Mickelson's mother was also diagnosed with breast cancer around the same time as his wife. Both women are undergoing treatment at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Following his win, Phil remarked, "In the last year we've been through a lot." "It's been tough. To be on the other end and feel this jubilation and share it with the family is great."

Amy Mickelson's age was also the subject of many Web queries. One-day search spikes for "amy mickelson age" and "how old is amy mickelson" both jumped over 300% in the Search box. For the record, she's 37, two years younger than her husband.

While Amy's ongoing recovery and appearance were two of the most searched-for angles, the Web was also quite curious about her ring. Indeed, Mrs. Mickelson is the owner of a truly impressive diamond. We're not sure if it's a wedding ring or an engagement ring, but we feel confident in speculating that the diamond causes massive double-takes whenever its worn.

Such was certainly the case on Sunday, when the TV audience caught a glimpse. Details on the ring are scant, but searches on "amy mickelson ring" and "amy mickelson diamond ring" each soared over 500%.

Tiger Woods hugs his mother Kultida after his apology for "irresponsible" behavior, made at his first public statement since revelations of his affairs surfaced in late 2009.

Tiger Woods publicly apologized on This morning for his infidelity to his wife, Elin, saying he was “deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behaviour.”

“I was unfaithful, I had affairs, I cheated. What I did was not acceptable and I am the only person to blame,” Woods said at his first public appearance since admitting he cheated on his wife and announcing in December he was taking an indefinite break from golf.

“I brought this shame on myself.”

He said he intended to return to professional golf one day, but “I just don't know when that day will be.”

Woods, one of the great golfers of all time and a huge draw for sponsors, said that he had undergone 45 days of therapy and had “a long way to go.”

He said he would be returning to the treatment centre – which he did not identify – starting on Saturday.

The 34-year-old American was speaking to reporters at the headquarters of the U.S. PGA Tour in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

He defended his wife and denied media speculation that there had been physical violence between the couple. The speculation arose after a bizarre minor car accident outside his Florida home Nov. 27, when he ran his SUV over a fire hydrant and into a tree.

“Elin never hit me that night, or any other night. There has never been an episode of domestic violence (in our family),” Woods said.

Woods spoke to a small group of “friends, colleagues and close associates” in the Sunset Room on the second floor of the TPC Sawgrass, home of the PGA Tour. Just one video camera broadcast the event and there were no questions.

His statement came during the Match Play Championship, sponsored by Accenture, the first company to drop Woods as a pitchman.

Ernie Els was among players who were upset to learn that Woods had chosen the week of a World Golf Championship for a public appearance that was sure to take attention away from the tournament. “It’s selfish,” Els told Golfweek magazine.

Finchem told reporters in Marana, Ariz., earlier this week that he didn’t think Woods’ appearance would undermine Accenture, and that Woods’s handlers “have their own reasons for their schedule.’’

In the letter, he said the tour discussed the timing with Accenture and “they understand that the PGA Tour was not involved in determining the timing of the statement.” Finchem also noted that Woods’s comments would be over well before television coverage of the third round from Dove Mountain.

The PGA Tour made available its sprawling, Mediterranean-styled clubhouse for the announcement, and was helping set up adjacent ballrooms at the nearby Sawgrass Marriott for media, where they watched Woods on closed-circuit TV. Finchem said in the letter that Woods’s management asked for the facilities, and “we agreed as we would for any member of the PGA Tour.’’

No other PGA Tour player could command this kind of attention, though.

Woods is one of the most recognized athletes in the world. Television ratings double when he is in contention, which has happened a lot on his way to winning 71 times on the PGA Tour and 14 majors, four short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus.

No other athlete had such a spectacular fall. Accenture and AT&T have ended their endorsement contracts with him, and Woods has become the butt of jokes on everything from late shows to Disney performances.

In the hours leading up to his appearance, it already was shaping up as a major event.

Along with familiar faces, Woods’s management team invited limited media.

“This is not a press conference,” Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent, said on Wednesday.

Three wire services — the AP, Reuters and Bloomberg — were invited. The Golf Writers Association of America was offered a pool of three reporters, negotiated for six reporters, then its board of directors voted overwhelmingly not to participate.

“I cannot stress how strongly our board felt that this should be open to all media and also for the opportunity to question Woods,” said Vartan Kupelian, president of the 950-member group. ``The position, simply put, is all or none. This is a major story of international scope. To limit the ability of journalists to attend, listen, see and question Woods goes against the grain of everything we believe.’’

Woods had not been heard in the 78 days since a magazine released a voicemail he allegedly left one of the women to whom he has been romantically linked, warning that Woods’s wife might be calling.

Pulitzer Prize winner Buzz Bissinger, author of Friday Night Lights, explores Tiger Woods' downfall in the new February issue of VanityFair.

One interesting insight into the real Tiger , whom Bissinger refers to as a "sex addict," comes from a 1997 GQ interview Bissinger digs in which a 21-year-old Tiger is making a "series of profane quips" about women, sex and athletes. 

This cover shot, photographed pre-scandal by Annie Leibovitz, is one of a full portfolio inside the magazine of never-before-seen shots of a raw Woods.

AT&T Inc. said Thursday it would no longer sponsor Tiger Woods, joining Accenture and Gillette in dropping support for the golfer after numerous allegations of infidelities.

The phone company hasn't used Woods' image extensively in advertising, but its logo appeared on his golf bag. That deal had been billed as a "multi-year" agreement when it was signed early in 2009. Woods has also been the host of the AT&T National PGA Tour event since it started in 2007. The phone company said it would continue to sponsor the event, which will be held in Newtown Square, Pa., in July. 

AT&T did not comment on its reasons for dropping Woods, or how much his contracts were worth. Woods has taken an indefinite leave from playing.

Consulting firm Accenture dropped the athlete two weeks ago, saying he was "no longer the right representative" of the company's values. Gillette, a unit of the Procter & Gamble Co., said that it won't air ads that feature Woods promoting its razors or include him in public appearances.

Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer, a unit of luxury goods empire LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, also said that it would "downscale" its use of golfer Tiger Woods' image in its advertising campaigns for the foreseeable future.

Electronic Arts Inc., which puts out the "Tiger Woods PGA Tour" series of golf video games, has not said what its plans are for the franchise. The company did not immediately return requests for comment Thursday.

 Tiger Woods's cheating was no secret to other golfers, Swedish LPGA star Helen Alfredsson said Wednesday, while Golf Digest announced it was putting the 14-time major winner's advice column on ice.

Alfredsson became the first professional

golfer to say she had heard stories about Woods cheating on his Swedish wife Elin, the New York Daily News reported, citing her interview with Swedish television station TV4.

"I heard it last summer during the British Open," Alfredsson said, describing Woods as "cold" and saying there was "something odd about him" that belied the clean image he enjoyed until the sex scandal erupted four weeks ago.

"In the quietest water swims the ugliest fish," Alfredsson said.

Woods, a week shy of his 34th birthday, has indefinitely halted his golf career to cope with personal issues in the wake of a media storm that has seen at least 14 women claim affairs with him.

"If he just paid for the escorts, I understand it a bit more. Then no one needed to know," Alfredsson said. "But now he did everything and a girlfriend and everything."

Alfredsson, 44, said she wondered why Woods even bothered to marry when he was reportedly using Elin's pregnancy as an excuse for not being with a woman a full 12 months before his first child was born.

"When he says to the girl that he cannot see her because he has family matters, when Elin will give birth, is he not a bit cold?" Alfredsson pondered.

Elin Woods has reportedly hired a divorce attorney and was said to be most upset about Woods carrying on one relationship for three years and another while she was pregnant.

Golf Digest, which pictured Woods and US President Barack Obama on its latest cover before the scandal broke, said Woods will not write his usual monthly pieces for the magazine during his professional hiatus.

"Golf Digest has had a long-standing relationship with Tiger Woods to provide instruction articles for the magazine, and we do not have any plans to change that," the magazine said in a statement.

"We respect Tiger's decision to take a break from professional golf and focus on his family. Tiger's bylined instruction articles will not be published in Golf Digest during his time away from the game."

Woods has writen for Golf Digest since turning professional in 1996.

See Tiger in Photos:

Loredana Jolie is the latest woman to be linked to Tiger Woods' expanding list of alleged partners. According to the New York Daily News, Hollywood madam Michelle Braun says Woods would spend more than $60,000 on expensive prostitutes, preferring "three-ways" -- "he was rarely with just one girl." Braun claims that "one of his favorites was Loredana Jolie." According to the article, Jolie is a "gorgeous blond" from Sicily who has worked as a Playboy model.

A "Spring Break 2004" gallery landing page at Playboy.com features previews of six women, including one named Loredana Jolie (scroll down for screenshot). The site says Jolie was "Cyber Girl of the Week" in September 2002. Jolie's Playboy.com page is here.

Braun's credibility has already been called into question, however. She also claims that Jamie Jungers, one of Tiger Woods' alleged mistresses, has worked as an escort, an allegation Jungers strongly denied in an interview on the Today show. Below, see the photo of Jolie.

The superstar golfer has also reportedly reneged on a promise he made to his wife to go into rehabilitation to wean himself off the prescription drugs Ambien and Vicodin.

A close friend of Ms Nordegren told the News of the World: "Tiger was supposed to be working on getting better and he hasn't done anything. Instead he just went to stay with a friend and says he's 'trying to get better on his own'.

"Elin is livid he hasn't checked into rehab and gotten himself off his drugs. He's acting like a big baby," the source said.

"Now she wants 100 per cent divorce, 100 percent custody of the children and half of everything. And she won't be changing her mind."

Ms Nordegren is reported to have engaged the services of renowned Californian divorce lawyer Sorrell Trope, who represented Britney Spears in her court battles with Kevin Federline.

Woods has vowed to quit golf for at least the next 12 months, according to the newspaper, with the devastated star telling aides he feels "helpless" and is "not in control" of his life.

The aides also say the star is fighting deep-seated "personal issues", including his use of pain medication like Vicodin and sleeping tablets Ambien.

A source told News of the World: "Tiger is a broken man, on the edge and unable to come to terms with what's happening in his life.

"He has made it clear that he doesn't want to do anything on the golf course in the next year.

"He has realised that his golf tour life has become a no-holds-barred non-stop party. But he reckons things will blow over."

The pair's children, Sam, two, and 10-month-old Charlie will be Ms Nordegren's top priority.

"She's like a mama bear protecting her young," said the source.

"She's prepared to give him visitation - but she wants the visits to be monitored.

"This may seem a little extreme but it shows her anger. Elin firmly believes she'll win custody as well as half everything Tiger has. He's in for a fight."

According to the friend, the Swedish former model isn't even bothered whether Woods, 33, is still in contact with his mistresses.

"She couldn't give a hoot," said the friend. "She couldn't care less if he wants to ruin his life some more. 'Let him see them if he wants' is her attitude.

"Tiger is his own worst enemy because at the start, Elin was sympathetic towards him. He was so physically and emotionally ill, she was thinking of giving him a second chance. But Tiger's refusal to go into therapy is the last straw."

In a message posted on his Web site on Dec. 11, Tiger Woods announced that he would be taking an "indefinite break" from golf. "I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father and person," he wrote. Woods is shown above speaking to the press after the Australian Masters in

The confessional interview has become an almost unavoidable ritual for disgraced figures who seek to emerge once again in public.

And for several weeks, specialized television news producers have been fanning out across the country — even across the globe — in the effort to land the most highly sought-after interview in years: the scandal-tarred golf star Tiger Woods.

All the big shows are in the hunt. "They're figuring out who might be some intern's cousin's neighbor who caddies at the golf resort that Tiger Woods played at three years ago," says Jessica Stuart, a former producer for NBC's Today Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show and ABC News.

Since the first accusations surfaced of Woods' marital infidelity, ABC News has had a Swedish-speaking producer camped out in Sweden to seek out relatives of his wife, Elin Nordegren.

The country's most dominant and once most prominent athlete is now kept from view by an invisible army of security guards, agents and handlers.

But in media circles, it is a truism that at some point, somewhere, Woods will have to come out of seclusion and sit down for a televised interview. In network parlance, such interviews are called "gets," and they aren't scheduled, they're "booked."

"Booking is the game," says Today Show executive producer Jim Bell. "That is the game."

Not For The Faint Of Heart

It's more than just bragging rights. Exclusive interviews help generate publicity for big moneymaking shows like Today and ABC's Good Morning America, and The Oprah Winfrey Show, along with their celebrity hosts.

There are two kinds of "gets," which lead to two different kinds of inducements to encourage people to agree to the interviews. The first involves normal people who are caught up in extraordinary situations — say, the survivors of a natural disaster or the spouses of soldiers held captive abroad.

Producers will often go to great lengths to ingratiate themselves with those people and their families. Sometimes they end up staying in small towns for days and weeks, breaking bread, even babysitting children as they hope to convince their harried parents they will be treated with respect. Shows find that paying for a trip to tape the interview at their studios in Manhattan, with airfare and a room at a nice hotel, will often do the trick.

But the competition can be fierce. And it can hinge on unexpected personal quirks. Laurye Blackford was a top booker for Good Morning America when she was trying to win over Tillie Tooter, an 83-year-old grandmother who had survived in her car for three days after it went upside down into a snake-infested swamp. "She loved Good Morning America," Blackford recalls. "GMA thought that interview was locked up. Turns out that the doctor who saved her life was a Today Show viewer." ABC didn't get Tudor on its show.

Then there's the hunt for the famous, people with more clout and sophistication at handling the press. They can often call their own shots. Networks will still send junior producers out in the field with orders to get the job done. Meanwhile, the big-name anchors will send handwritten letters or fruit baskets containing notes of gentle blandishment.

Jessica Stuart now runs her own television production consulting company, Long Story Short, in Washington, D.C. But she says she learned the booking business wasn't for the fainthearted a decade ago — back when she worked for NBC's Today.

"During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, my competition had gotten the first interview with her attorney, [William] Ginsberg, and I physically threw myself in front of his car while it was moving to try to stop it to get an interview," Stuart says now, with a laugh. "I was 21 and really hungry. No one told me to do it. I just wanted that 'get.' "

Striking The Deal

In fact, several television news executives said the last comparable big televised interview was Lewinsky herself, in 1999, right after the U.S. Senate acquitted President Clinton. Barbara Walters conducted that interview for ABC News.

And special interview subjects sometimes get special inducements. Networks say they never pay for interviews. But ABC gave Lewinsky the foreign broadcasting rights for the interview tapes. She made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling them to broadcasters outside the U.S.

Similarly, two years ago, the British Princes William and Harry sat down with Matt Lauer of the Today Show. NBC paid $2.5 million to the princes' foundation, named for their mother, the late Princess Diana. Officially, the payment gave the network the rights to broadcast a benefit concert in the United States. The Today Show's Jim Bell acknowledges the juxtaposition.

"There are things that have gone on with interviews that make people a little queasy," says Bell. "I feel like for the most part, though, we meet our standard. We're going to ask anything. No one comes in here and gets a cakewalk. If viewers feel comfortable with it — we feel comfortable with it — that's fine."

But he says that Woods has strong enough incentive at some point to do it without anyone having to strike special deals.

"I think there's a lot in it for him," Bell says. "He has to get past this, and part of that is answering questions people have."

Former network booker Laurye Blackford isn't so sure.

"The media thinks they have a right to hear from him — that he has to come out to speak to them," says Blackford, who left TV in 2008 to be a media consultant for the McCain presidential campaign and specifically worked with Cindy McCain. "If I were advising him, I would say, 'You don't owe them anything.' But he has a bigger career."

Will Tiger Come Forward?

The Today Show has been aggressive in broadcasting interviews with at least two women who have come forward to say they had extramarital affairs with Woods.

Blackford says she has a high regard for her former competitors at NBC. But she says she was surprised by its choices: "Wanting that big interview, you really have to weigh, is it worth talking to these women — and possibly losing Tiger because of that?"

Bell says that consideration never came up at the perennially top-rated Today.

"When you can simply say to people more people are going to watch you on our show, that's a very powerful card that wins a lot," Bell says. "In many cases, people will come to us, you know, before we've even reached out to them."

Bookers say you can tell a lot about Woods' intentions by whom he selects to talk to, assuming he does. If he submits to Oprah or the Today Show, he'll want to retain the women fans who have made up a surprisingly strong component of his audience. If he appears on ESPN or HBO's Real Sports, he'll be going after the hard-core sports fan.

News producers say they're told to do most anything short of lying to or bribing the people they want on the air. But Jessica Stuart says there are tougher things to do than chase celebrities: She once talked a married couple into appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss their failure to have sex for more than a year.

After all that time cavorting with an endless stream of floozies, Tiger Woods is now just a sad lone wolf.

The golf great has been spending his days in seclusion -- eating cereal and watching cartoons -- and his nights hitting golf balls to clear his head since his carefully crafted world unraveled following revelations of rampant womanizing that drove his wife out the door, it was reported yesterday.

Woods has isolated himself from even his closest friends since wife Elin Nordegren learned of his philandering ways, leading those close to him to worry he might be "cracking up."

"There is a real concern among his friends that he is dealing with the situation in a very unhealthy way," a source told the London Sun.

Former NBA star Charles Barkley -- a close Tiger friend -- said he had been reaching out to Woods but had no luck contacting him.

"I've been trying to get to him and can't. It's very frustrating," Barkley said. "Hey, man, we love you. If you need anything, pick up the phone."

Woods has not been seen in public since a bizarre Thanksgiving-weekend car crash outside his Florida home led to an endless stream of stories about steamy affairs, several of them long term.

But neighbors in the gated community where Woods lived with Nordegren say they spotted him coming home for therapy sessions with his outraged wife following their initial split.

"[He would] come by in the early evenings only for their counseling and therapy," a neighbor told Us Weekly.

During the agonizing sessions, Woods would "just apologize over and over again" for his sexual transgressions during their five-year marriage. Then he'd go to a local golf course to hit some balls.

"He goes after dark so he can't be seen," a source told the magazine. "For him, what's more therapeutic than hitting golf balls, the thing he's best at in the whole world?"

The therapy sessions did little to help. Nordegren has made it clear she is filing for divorce. She reportedly reached out to a top LA divorce lawyer to renegotiate her prenuptial agreement. She was spotted recently without her wedding and engagement rings on her finger.

The collapse of the marriage began Thanksgiving week, when the first of a bevy of Tiger birdies emerged. Nordegren reportedly chased Tiger out of their home with a golf club, which led to Woods crashing his SUV into a tree.

The floodgates then opened, with as many as 13 other women coming forward claiming steamy in-the-sheets action with Woods during the course of his marriage. There has been widespread speculation that Nordegren -- with whom Woods has two young children -- could try to take her hubby for half of his billion-dollar fortune.

Now a British bookmaker is taking bets on just how much Nordegren will get when it is all said and done.

William Hill is offering 25-1 odds that she will get more than $500 million in the divorce settlement. The odds drop to 6-4 for less than $100 million and 1-2 odds for between $100 million and $500 million.