Tiger Woods 'still owes ex-wife $70m' over divorce settlement

Poor Tiger Woods: it's been a truly wretched few days for him.

It may seem like it'd great to be Tiger, and in many respects it still would be, but the former world number one is now injured again and reportedly facing huge divorce settlement payments.

The 14-times Major winner, who continued to struggle with his swing and short game at Torrey Pines, was two-over-par on the North course when he decided to pull out of the Farmers Insurance Open after 12 holes, his third withdrawal in his last nine tournaments.

Woods, who has won eight tournaments at Torrey Pines, including a US Open, was taken straight from the course to the car park where he told reporters he had failed to get his gluteus maximus muscles warm.

"It's just my glutes are shutting off," the 39-year-old said.

"Then they don't activate and then, hence, it goes into my lower back. "So I tried to activate my glutes as best I could, in between, but they never stayed activated."

He is now seemingly a doubt for the Masters, which would represent another huge blow in his quest to land another Major, but he's also got other - very big - things to worry about off the course.

What could hurt about as much as his latest injury is a Palm Beach Post report that the American still owes his ex-wife Elin Nordegren US$54 million (AU$70m) as part of their vast 2010 divorce settlement.

According to the reports, if Woods does not pay Nordegren the money by January 15, 2016, he could even lose his famous Jupiter Island home.

The reason? Nordegren has reportedly created a holding company under the name of JRD Ventures which holds the mortgage on the house.

What is more, Jose Lambiet of Gossipextra.com claims to have the legal papers to back it up and has posted them online.

The website is even now running a countdown clock to ensure that Woods does not lose track of when his mammoth payment is due.

Still, Woods should be able to pay his former wife what she is owed given that his estimated net worth currently sits at around US$600 million.