Note this chart (from Google insight for Search), see how the search spikes up when the first report of the story came in (it was a car crash actually, with leading news agencies saying that Tiger was badly hurt in a car accident).
You can see how the story gains power as the details start to clear, note that there is not much activity before that accident, meaning that the yellow gossip press with its reports of an affair did not spark such an interest, it was the accident that started this going, ironically this was initiated by the person who wanted this the least.
Now check this out, search started getting more specific as the story develops, as people start to develop their own curiosity regarding the key players, what they look like and any new things that the press has to say about it.
