Tiger Woods, Lindsey Vonn announce on Facebook they’re dating

Rumors of a Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn relationship surfaced at the beginning of the year, and the couple decided to make things Facebook official on Monday afternoon. Woods and Vonn simultaneously posted pictures to their Facebook accounts, confirming the tabloid reports that the two were dating. Tiger also posted four photos to his website:

In addition to the pictures, Woods released the following message:

This season has been great so far and I’m happy with my wins at Torrey and Doral. Something nice that’s happened off the course was meeting Lindsey Vonn. Lindsey and I have been friends for some time, but over the last few months we have become very close and are now dating. We thank you for your support and for respecting our privacy. We want to continue our relationship, privately, as an ordinary couple and continue to compete as athletes.

The rumors first kicked up when Tiger went to Abu Dhabi to start his 2013 season, as tabloids reported that Tiger made a stop in Europe to visit Vonn before the event in the Middle East. Those reports forced a Vonn spokesman to issue an ambiguous statement neither confirming nor denying the rumors.

Vonn then suffered a serious knee injury shortly after those rumors first popped up. The injury likely ended her competitive skiing for the rest of the year. After the injury, however, the rumors continued as various European outlets reported that Tiger sent his private plane to bring Vonn back to the United States for knee surgery in Colorado.

The persistent rumors can now be set aside with the athlete couple officially announcing their relationship. Tiger is in Orlando this week competing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he’s won seven times. He enters the week in form with two wins already this season, but it’s highly unlikely there will be many questions about that early success and his game during his press conference at Bay Hill.