Golf:The US socialite at the centre of the Tiger Woods affair allegations spoke out today to deny she was a "home-wrecker" or "tramp". Rachel Uchitel, who reportedly sparked a row between the world number one golfer and his wife before his mystery car crash two weeks ago, used a magazine interview to claim she had been cast as "the villain of the story".

The 34-year-old nightclub hostess told OK!magazine: "In every story you need a villain and a hero. I've been characterised as a villain.

“People have called me home-wrecker, gold digger, tramp, whore. I made mistakes, but I’m not those things. I have good qualities.”

She added: “When you’re judged by the nation, it’s really difficult. It’s horrible.”

Ms Uchitel is one of a string of women linked to the world’s highest paid sportsman since he crashed his car outside his Florida mansion in the early hours of November 27th.

Another, cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs, went as far as releasing a phone message reported to be from Woods asking her to cover up over the alleged affair.

She has apologised to the golfer’s wife Elin in an interview with showbiz news programme Extra.

Ms Grubbs said: “I couldn’t describe how remorseful that I am to have hurt her family and her emotionally.”

But she defended herself by saying: “If it wasn’t me, it was going to be the other girls”.

Father-of-two Woods, 33, has not commented directly on the allegations but last week referred to “personal sins” and “transgressions” and apologised for letting his family down.

The damage to his previously wholesome image appears to have begun affecting some of his lucrative endorsements.

Adverts featuring the golfer have apparently disappeared from prime-time television broadcasts in the United States.

And sports drink maker Gatorade this week became the first company to drop its endorsement of Woods, although the firm said its decision was made months ago.

Nielsen, a New York-based consumer research company, has produced a study that shows Woods has not appeared in a prime time television commercial in the United

Stated since a November 29th Gillette advert.

A US politician has also retracted his bid to get the 14-time major winner recognised with the US’s highest civilian honour.

California representative Joe Baca had put forward legislation in March calling for Woods to be recognised with a Congressional Gold Medal for promoting good sportsmanship and breaking down barriers.

But in a statement released yesterday he said that he would no longer be pursuing the honour on Woods’ behalf “in light of recent developments”.