Former world No 1 allegedly back in swing of things and dating step-daughter of Rangers boss

ORLANDO, Florida - Tiger Woods is dating the blonde 22-year-old step-daughter of Glasgow Rangers Chairman Alastair Johnston, an executive at the IMG agency that represents the golfer, according to reports.

Alyse Lahti Johnston, whose biological father is former St. Louis Cardinals baseball pitcher Jeff Lahti, was first linked to Woods by sports blog TerezOwens.com and since then has been the subject of hundreds of US and British reports.

Woods, a 35-year-old father of two whose 14 major titles rank second to the all-time record of 18 won by Jack Nicklaus, has not won in 16 months since a car crash touched off revelations of his affairs with multiple mistresses.

The sex scandal led to his divorce from Elin Nordegren last August and Woods has not been linked with another woman until Woods and Johnston were seen last week on the golfer's yacht Privacy, which docks in North Palm Beach, Florida.

Woods and Nordegren are moving to separate mansions in the Palm Beach area in the next few weeks from Windermere, the private community near Orlando where they lived and where Woods, according to the New York Post, might have met Johnston when she was only eight years old and the girl next door.

Alastair Johnston, the 62-year-old football boss who spends half his year at Windermere, told the Scottish Daily Record that he had no clue about any dating relationship between Woods and his step-daughter.

"Tiger Woods has been my next-door neighbor for 15 years and Alyse has known him all her life," he told the newspaper. "They are part of the same crowd and I don't know where this supposed special relationship came from.

"They are part of the same crowd that are the same age and go the gym and out to dinner together. Do they spend time together? Yes, but they are not going out with each other."

The Post reported that Johnston was the architect of the golfer's $60 million endorsement deal with Nike in 1996 when he turned professional. The deal launched Woods on the way to becoming the first $1 billion athlete, largely on his skills as a pitchman, a career that has faded greatly since the sex scandal erupted.

The 22-year-old is reportedly attending classes at Northwood University near Woods' new $60 million Jupiter Island home, which has a four-hole golf course training area and a yacht dock.

She is a native of Cleveland, who moved to Windermere after completing studies at Ohio State University, according to Britain's Daily Mail.

Agence France-Presse