"BLOOD EVERYWHERE",Tiger Woods' tooth knocked out

Tiger Woods, flashing a (full) toothy smile on Tuesday, addressed the most famous missing-tooth photograph in the world and insisted he had been smacked in the face by a camera a week ago in Italy — not his ex-wife Elin Nordegren four years ago in Orlando, Fla.

Woods, who is playing in this week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, spoke publicly for the first time about the photograph of him with a missing front tooth while watching girlfriend Lindsey Vonn win a Jan. 19 World Cup ski race.

Woods’ representatives stated at the time that he had been hit in the mouth inadvertently by a cameraman’s equipment. Speculation ran rampant that the missing tooth was a fake he had as a result of Nordegren taking a 6-iron to his face in anger — as had been reported at the time of Woods’ infidelity scandal in 2009.

On Tuesday, Woods’ story was blaming the aggressive cameraman on the slopes in Italy, and he’s sticking to it.

“The photographer changed positions and I got hit,” Woods said. “It was an accident. … There was blood everywhere. That didn’t feel very good.’’

Woods said he was waiting on the slope to greet Vonn when a “dude with a video camera on his shoulder, right in front of me, kneeling, stood up and turned and caught me square on the mouth. He chipped that [tooth], cracked the other one.’’

There have been rampant doubts about Woods’ story for two primary reasons:

First, the ski race organizers disputed his claim, saying no such thing happened.

Second, with all those photographers and cameramen around, how is it possible that not one of them captured the incident with either a still photograph or on video? Modal Trigger

We live in a video age in which everything almost every one of us does every day is on camera. Woods, one of the most recognizable people on the planet, was surrounded by cameras, and there is not a single photo or video of him being hit or bloodied. Also, there was no evidence in the photo that was taken of him with the missing tooth that he had any damage to his lip.

The whole thing is, indeed, curious, but Woods calmly laughed it off on Tuesday.

Asked what his reaction is to people not believing his story, Woods said, “Dude, you guys … it’s just the way the media is. It is what it is. It’s a new world. We need to talk about something. Have to fill up space.’’

Woods’ presence at this tournament, the first time he has played this event since 2001, is certain to fill the TPC of Scottsdale grounds this week more than they usually are.

Woods stopped playing this event in part because of security concerns. In 1999, a heckler following him was subdued by police and found to have a gun. Two years later, a fan threw an orange onto the green while he was putting.

“I think the people here have done a fantastic job over the years making sure things are a lot more safe,” Woods said.