"The AZ Insider" with Kathy Shayna Shocket: Get the inside scoop on Arizona's social scene and celebrity news.
Although Tiger Woods has resurfaced publically since his extra marital affair scandal and whopping $110 million divorce settlement from his wife Elin– -- he hasn’t been palling around with his best basketball legend buddies Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley.
And now Sir Charles, who has a home in Scottsdale, is revealing that he hasn’t spoken with the golf star in two years, since the infamous car accident in Florida and the subsequent stories of infidelity, multiple mistresses, and sexy cell phone messages, etc.
When Tiger changed his cell phone number after the Florida car crash, Charles was one of Tiger’s famous friends that weren’t given the new number. And Charles is upset and saddened that the friend he talked with at least once a week for 15 years has cut off contact.
It seems the last straw for Charles was Tiger’s firing of caddie Steve Williams. Now, on the heels of Tiger getting ready to hit the greens of the Bridgestone Invitational, Charles talked to ESPN New York sports radio host
Mike Lupica about his frustration. While he wishes Tiger "the best" with the Bridgestone Invitational, and said he will always love Woods like a brother, Barkley is saddened by the silence between the buddies. He uses the words “confused” and “disappointed”.
"You think you're friends with a guy. You talk to him once a week for 15 years. You're like, this dude is my friend, we do things, we have fun together," Barkley said. "I haven't talked to him in two years and I'm wondering what the hell is going on."
In Chuck’s discussion with Mike he said that “ I can say 100 per cent that myself and Michael we had no idea any of this stuff was going on. ” As for the reports of criticism from some that Michael Jordan and Charles were bad influences on Tiger- Charles told Mike - I don’t understand how come all of a sudden we all got the blame.”
(Tiger’s longtime former attorney John Merchant, was one of the most vocal people who blamed Charles and Michael, and lashed out at them in a 14 page Vanity Fair article by Mark Seal.)
Tiger and his wife officially divorced last year and there have been several reports about a new Tiger gal pal. According to several reports, Tiger was rumored to be seeing a 22-year-old college student named Alyse Lahti Johnston from Cleveland, Ohio, and was seen on Tiger’s Yacht. (And her mug shot from her arrest of suspicion of DUI in Orlando, Florida were published extensively.)
By the way, Charles Barkley (who was in Phoenix for the All Star game) jokes that he’ll be back at home in Arizona when it gets below 150 degrees.
Kathy Shayna Shocket is a Phoenix based writer. If you have a good item for The AZ Insider, you can email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
