Elin Woods a private, family-oriented wife

ORLANDO, Fla. - Since Tiger Woods wrecked his SUV just outside his Isleworth home two weeks ago, we've been bombarded with revelations about the many women with whom he's allegedly had passing liaisons. But what about the woman who has been there all along - his wife, Elin?

Other than being lampooned as a golf-club-wielding, modern-day cavewoman bent on either bashing or rescuing her mate, she's been the forgotten woman in this debacle.

That could be just the way she wants it.

Elin Woods, 29, is invariably described as an intensely private person. Focused on her family, homes and fitness regimen, she shuns the nightlife her husband apparently loves. Now that his personal life is under a worldwide microscope, she has retreated even further into her tight, protective circle of family and closest friends.

"I see her in the neighborhood jogging or pushing her babies in a double stroller. She's a very healthy mother. She looks wonderful for having two babies in a row," said Jacqueline Siegel, who lives in the upscale Isleworth development where the couple owns a $2.4 million home.

Elin plays on the Isleworth tennis team, attends friends' baby showers and answers her own front door to hand out candy to Halloween trick-or-treaters, but she is not involved in the local community, Siegel said.

"She seems to be a really sweet, maybe shy type of person. I've tried to get a few favors from her for some of our events, but didn't have any luck," Siegel said. "She's more the type of mother who stays home and takes care of the children when her husband goes out. She doesn't go out to a lot of clubs."

"Private" and "family-oriented" is also how others in the Orlando area describe Elin Woods, who has not commented publicly about the accusations against her husband. Even at PGA tournaments, she tends to disappear as soon as she sees cameras pointed in her direction.

"I have tried to get her involved in a couple of things, but she seems to keep very much to herself," said Sonja Haltiwanger, a member of Orlando's Downtown Arts District's executive council.

Elin Woods is rarely seen in area shops, restaurants or nightclubs. She did not participate in a fund-raiser organized by the wives of local golfers at the Mall of Millenia during the Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament last year, said Brenda Lounsberry, the mall's marketing director.

Born Elin Maria Pernilla Nordegren in Stockholm, Sweden, on Jan. 1, 1980, she is the daughter of Thomas Nordegren, a journalist who served as a Swedish radio bureau chief in Washington, and Barbro Holmberg, a politician who is in Orlando and was rushed to the hospital earlier this week after passing out in the Woods' home. Elin has a twin sister, Josefin, and an older brother, Axel.

As girls, the sisters worked as supermarket cashiers to help pay for their schooling. Elin started modeling in 2000 and that year appeared on the cover of Cafe Sport magazine in a swimsuit.

About the same time, the twins moved to Florida to work as au pairs for Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik.

"Mostly [I'm moving] to just have it good, meet some friends and play some golf," she told Cafe Sport.

Parnevik introduced Elin to Tiger Woods at the 2001 British Open - a move he said he regrets in the latest issue of Life & Style. "We probably thought [Tiger] was a better guy than he is," Parnevik said.

While attending the Presidents Cup tournament in South Africa in November 2003, Tiger proposed to Elin on a visit to the luxurious Shamwari Game Reserve. They were married the following October.