Tiger Woods became a self-indulgent, sex-crazed narcissist because he hung out with the wrong crowd — namely, hard-partying, high-stakes hoopsters Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, the shamed golfer's longtime former adviser claims in an explosive new interview.
"I told him, 'Stay away from that son of a b**** (Jordan), because he doesn't have anything to offer to the f***ing world in which he lives except playing basketball, which he did yesterday,' " lawyer John Merchant told the latest edition of Vanity Fair magazine, which hit newsstands Wednesday.
Tiger temptress and Las Vegas nightclub hostess Jamie Jungers added, "One of the times (Woods) arrived in town, he texted me, 'I'm gambling with Charles Barkley. Text me when you're here, and I'll tell the gate you're coming.'
"As soon as I got to (the private VIP casino's) gate, I said, 'I'm with Tiger,' and they walked me to their table. Charles was playing roulette, and Tiger was playing blackjack. I would say probably $25,000 and above."
The magazine's 14-page spread features sizzling-hot, nude and semi-nude photos. It includes a shot of Loredana Jolie Ferriolo laid out naked on a bed of New York Posts with room service at the Waldorf, pictures of other Tiger girlfriends, and seamy new details about Woods' infamous sex scandal, including:
• Tiger had such an insatiable sexual appetite that he would often dial up "matchmaker" Michelle Braun and demand that she send over women the same day. "He'd say, 'Hey, it's Tiger. I'm going up to LA for a meeting. You got anybody in Orange County today?' " Braun said.
• His first steamy hookup with waitress Mindy Lawton, who worked at a greasy spoon near his Florida manse, occurred in his home, where he lived with his wife and kids. Tiger was "unbuttoning (my blouse) as he was kissing," Lawton said, adding that they ended up naked on his kitchen floor amid "fine porcelain tile and brushed stainless-steel appliances."
• He eventually would show no remorse about cheating, readily answering questions about his marriage, which he described as "good," and noting after one romp that his wife, Elin Nordegren, was "in Sweden with her sister," Jungers said.
• The notoriously stingy Woods did buy dinner for Lawton — but only once, and even then, it was a chicken wrap from Subway, she said.
Merchant told Vanity Fair that his onetime best buddy started his fall from grace after hanging with the more seasoned celebs Jordan and Barkley, to whom Woods looked up.
"This is worse than one of Shakespeare's tragedies," Merchant said.
Diner waitress Lawton described to the mag how she first met Tiger and his wife while serving them.
"One of them would read the paper, just very cold," she said. "I didn't see any signs of affection. ... I figured he was in a loveless relationship with his wife."
Then one morning, "I could feel his eyes on me," Lawton said.
Soon after he left, she got a call at the eatery.
"Hi, this is Ti," the caller said.
"Who?" she asked.
"Tiger. A couple of friends and I are going out tonight to the Blue Martini, and I was wondering if you wanted to join us?"
They met up that night and ended up having sex at his house.
She said the superstar golfer was nonstop with his sexual demands.
One time, they didn't even make it into his house, she said. As they were entering through the garage, he made a grab for her near one of his golf carts, and they had sex on the spot, she said.
Another time, he insisted on meeting her right before a big golf tourney in 2007.
"He wanted that last piece of booty before he could go to his tournament. To make him shoot better," she said.
He and Lawton were nearly outed by the National Enquirer, even before last November's car crash at Woods' home, which exposed his affairs.
Lawton texted Tiger about her fears that the Enquirer was onto them around 2007, she told Vanity Fair.
"The National Enquirer has found out," she wrote.
"They have no proof," he replied.
"Church parking lot," she said.
"Oh, crap," he responded.
"I need to speak with you," she said.
"I can't, I'm at a children's function right now," he said.
Lawton said her co-workers hated Tiger because he'd leave them only a 15 percent tip on his AmEx black card.
But he wasn't cheap when it came to procuring sex, Braun said. She said Tiger paid $15,000 for his first meeting with Ferriolo. The world's most famous golfer allegedly tried to hide his identity from the model by calling himself "Michael Woods."
Ferriolo admitted that she had no idea who Woods was until learning his real name and Googling him. That's when she realized he was "a big icon."
She said it was clear from their nights of passion that one babe would never be enough for Tiger.
"He was very passionate," said Ferriolo, now writing a book about her affair with Woods, "Up to Par."
"He made me fall in love. I couldn't believe that he would turn out to be such a playboy."
In fact, the golfer played around so much on his wife that it appeared he eventually had no guilt about cheating, one of his gal pals said.
Jungers said she first slept with Woods in 2005 at his Las Vegas suite. After doing the deed, Jungers said, she asked him, "You're married, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, how's your marriage?"
"Good."
"Where's she now?"
"In Sweden with her sister."
But Jungers said Tiger's cheapness always bugged her.
She recalled how Team Tiger always flew her on discount carrier Southwest Airlines and never in first class.
Jungers remembered telling Woods in 2006, "I feel like we're at a point in our relationship where you wouldn't mind helping me. And he said, 'I can't.' "
Porn star Holly Sampson said she suspects that Tiger hooked up with her because she reminded him of Elin.
Noting that she resembles Nordegren, Sampson added, "I think he likes blondes . . . I'm sure he'd probably die to know that I was telling this."
Woods' adviser, Merchant, said a fight over money led to his ouster from Tiger's inner circle.
In 1996, when a 21-year-old Woods scored a $40 million endorsement deal with Nike, Merchant said he called out Tiger's dad, Earl, for grabbing $1 million of the deal.
Merchant said he was fired the next morning and Tiger was then surrounded with yes men and corporate enablers.
Meanwhile, Earl Woods, aside from being a money-grubber, also was uncouth, some sources said.
He was once given a "Father of the Year" award from an organization — and showed up at the coat-and-tie affair "in these little hot pants — short shorts — and a golf shirt, and he's got a big, old vodka gimlet going and a cigarette burning, and he's sound asleep, just hammered, s***-faced," a source told the mag.
The apple didn't fall far from the tree when it came to cheating, either, the source added.
"Earl always had a cute little assistant. There could always be a potential for harassment," the source said.
If Woods had listened to better advisers, Tiger wouldn't be in the mess he's in now, according to Merchant.
"I loved that boy!" he said. "I watched him grow over the years. I watched him relate to his father. I see all of that destroyed. It never should have happened."
