While Tiger Woods pocketed $1.62 million 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 $295.60 a week.
And according to court records in Orlando, Herman isn’t sending a check to Tom Morris, the Florida investor who won a $240,233.08-judgment against her and two former business partners.
While Tiger Woods pocketed $1.62 million in his first victory in five years at the Tour Championship Sunday in Atlanta, Erica Herman (pictured at a gala today with Woods in Paris) faces financial trouble
Erica Herman is facing financial hardship alone – even if she celebrated Woods’ Sunday win with a loving kiss on his lips as he told her ‘I love you.’
Her wages at Woods’ restaurant, $1,586.54 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 $200,000 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.
The Woods Jupiter, the golfer’s South Florida restaurant, where Erica Herman is director of operations. Her wages of $1,586.54 a week are being garnished and the golfer’s business automatically sends the money to Morris
Erica Herman (pictured with Woods), is facing a debt that could take her 67 years to pay back
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 ignoring it then attempting to fight, a judgement for $240,233.08, including interests, fees and fines.
Herman failed to pay anything until Morris caught up with her after she was hired at The Woods Jupiter, the American grill that Tiger Woods opened in 2016.
Herman opened Don’t Tell Anyone (pictured), a speakeasy type late-night club in the hip Thornton Park area of Orlando, on New Year’s Eve 2014. Within months, however, the bar also closed, and investor Morris’ money was gone
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.
Tiger Woods and ski champion Lindsey Vonn in 2014
Tiger Woods and his then-wife Elin Nordegren in 2007
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 $13,000 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 $1,300 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.
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.
On Monday, Herman and Woods jetted to Paris for the Ryder Cup and photos appeared of the pair dining at a Ryder Cup event today. The tournament begins at Le Golf National Paris on Friday
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 $26,635.80, 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’ $50 million-mansion in exclusive Jupiter Island.
On Monday, Herman and Woods jetted to Paris for the Ryder Cup and photos appeared of the pair dining at a Ryder Cup event today. The tournament begins at Le Golf National Paris on Friday.
Herman’s cellphone isn’t accepting calls and she couldn’t be reached for comment.