Tiger Woods and his girlfriend Erica Herman celebrate after the Tour Championship victory. Photo / Getty Images
Tiger Woods and his girlfriend Erica Herman celebrate after the Tour Championship victory. Photo / Getty Images
While Tiger Woods pocketed US$1.62 million (NZ$2.45m) in his first victory in five years at the Tour Championship Sunday in Atlanta, the woman who gave Woods the stability he needed to climb his way out of a career slump is facing a debt that could take her 67 years to pay back.
And from what public records in Florida obtained exclusively by DailymailTV show, Erica Herman is facing the financial hardship alone – even if she celebrated Woods' Sunday win with a loving kiss on his lips as he told her "I love you."
Herman, 34, the director of operations of The Woods Jupiter, the golfer's South Florida restaurant, and his girlfriend of a year, recently started paying back a huge debt from a failed business venture at the rate of US$295.60 a week (NZ$446.42), according to the Daily Mail.
Tiger Woods' girlfriend Erica Herman (right) and his daughter Sam and son Charlie during day four of The Open Championship 2018. Photo / Getty Images
And according to court records in Orlando, Herman isn't sending a check to Tom Morris, the Florida investor who won a US$240,233.08 (NZ$362,807.20)-judgment against her and two former business partners.
Her wages at Woods' restaurant, US$1,586.54 (NZ$2,396.04) a week, are being garnished, and the golfer's business automatically sends the money to Morris. At that rate, she'll be all paid up by 2085, as her former partners are out of the picture.
"She is indeed under a garnishment order," said Grey Squires-Binford, Morris' lawyer. "Of course, we'd much rather get a lump sum payment, but Ms. Herman is reimbursing as she was ordered to do."
According to court records, Herman, party planner Jesse Newton, her ex live-in boyfriend, and former business partner Ricky McIntosh received a US$200,000 (NZ$302,046) investment from Morris eight years ago to set up a chain of five nightclubs throughout Orlando.
They eventually opened the short-lived Lotus restaurant then Don't Tell Anyone, a speakeasy type late-night club in the hip Thornton Park area of Orlando, on New Year's Eve 2014.
Woods and his girlfriend Erica Herman celebrate after the final round of the Tour Championship. Photo / Getty Images
DTA, as it was known, was three years behind schedule but started picking up buzz for a few months when, on social media, patrons lauded the presence of "top talent," meaning beautiful women, and the posh VIP feel.
DTA served famous gangster-themed drinks like the $9-Meyer Lansky.
Within months, however, the bar also closed, and Morris' money was gone.
Morris filed suit, and after months of Herman ignoring it then attempting to fight, a judgement for US$240,233.08 (NZ$362,807.20), including interests, fees and fines, was passed.
Herman failed to pay anything until Morris caught up with her after she was hired at The Woods Jupiter, which the golfer opened in 2015.
Indebted brunette Herman is a big change of life partner for Woods and a stark contrast to Elin Nordegren, Woods' ex-wife and the product of Swedish intelligentsia, and ex-girlfriend Lindsey Vonn, the ski champ daughter of a complex litigation attorney, both wealthy women.
Dailymail.com, meanwhile, can reveal also that Herman's background is littered with more financial problems.
In 2012, Crescent Bank sued Herman in Orlando to repossess a US$13,000 (NZ$19,630) BMW she bought with a loan.
And for two years starting in 2012, Herman and Newton's landlord tried to evict them seven times when they failed to pay their monthly US$1,300 (NZ$1,960) rent.
Each time the landlord filed an eviction notice, the records show, the couple paid back rent, sometimes three months' worth, and got to stay.
Captain's assistant Tiger Woods of the US Team and Erica Herman look on during the Presidents Cup. Photo / Getty Images
Landlord John Strelecky finally managed to obtain an eviction notice in March 2014 that gave Herman and Newton a few days to clear out.
Records show Herman and Newton moved in together in Orlando in 2007 and broke up just before she left for Jupiter to work at The Woods in 2016.
Newton, who now runs a marketing firm in Orlando, declined comment when reached on his cell phone.
After Herman moved to Jupiter, a debt collector filed yet another lawsuit against Herman in Palm Beach County in December to force her to pay US$26,635.80 (NZ$40,226.20), supplies bought for the nightclub businesses on credit. That lawsuit was dismissed in July after the debt collector failed to locate Herman.
According to address records, Herman appears to be living on and off at Woods' US$50m (NZ$75.5m) mansion in exclusive Jupiter Island.
On Monday, Herman and Woods jetted to Paris for the Ryder Cup. The pair attended the Ryder Cup Gala Dinner today in nearby Versailles. The tournament begins at Le Golf National Paris on Friday.
