Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn

Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn

Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn, Tiger Woods still knows how to be a chivalrous gentleman. The divorced, scandal-prone golfer, 37, dispatched his private jet to an airport in Austria on Friday (Feb. 8). As photos at TMZ reveal, Woods' friend Lindsey Vonn was seen boarding the aircraft to fly home to the U.S. to undergo several necessary surgeries. Vonn suffered two torn knee ligaments earlier this week after a nasty fall doing the super-G during the Alpine Ski World Championships.

Vonn's posh ride home is the strongest evidence yet of a growing closeness between Woods and Olympic gold medalist Vonn, 28, who have been romantically linked after being spotted in Antigua in January and on the slopes in Austria last November. The blonde athlete -- who divorced fellow skier Thomas Vonn last month after 11 years together -- "will not participate in any speculation surrounding her personal life at this time," she said in a statement last month.

"They've been seeing each other for the past 9 months or so regularly," a source tells Us Weekly of the hush-hush pair. Woods, of course, divorced wife Elin Nordegren in 2010 following his epic cheating scandal.

The Swedish model, 33, has kept herself busy with the construction of a stunning $12 million oceanfront home in North Palm Beach, Fla. -- funded by her reported $100 million settlement with the golfer, with whom she shares kids Sam, 5, and Charlie, 3.