Tiger Woods is awake and recovering from surgery after serious car crash
UPDATE: The world held its breath awaiting news of Tiger Woods’ condition after the golf legend suffered serious injuries Tuesday in a rollover crash near Los Angeles.
Woods, 45, was awake, responsive and recovering in his hospital room after a lengthy surgery at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, according to a statement late Tuesday night on his official Twitter account.
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In that statement, Dr. Anish Mahajan, the chief medical officer at the trauma hospital, said Woods shattered the tibia and fibula bones of his lower right leg in multiple locations. Those injuries were stabilized with a rod in the tibia.
Additional injuries to the bones in the foot and ankle required screws and pins, Mahajan said in the statement. The lengthy surgery also reduced swelling.
You can read the entire statement posted to Twitter below.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) February 24, 2021
ORIGINAL REPORT: LOS ANGELES, California -- Golf legend Tiger Woods was hospitalized in serious condition Tuesday after a one-car rollover accident in Los Angeles County that required firefighters to extricate and pry him from the wreckage, according to the LA County Sheriff's Department.
Woods, 45, "showed no signs of impairment" and was conscious and communicating when authorities arrived.
“Tiger was able to speak to me lucidly,” Sheriff’s Deputy Carlos Gonzalez said. Woods appeared “incredibly calm,” the deputy said, likely because he was in shock.
Woods had “multiple leg injuries” and was in surgery at Harbor UCLA Medical Center following the accident, said Woods’ agent Mark Steinberg.
Those injuries were later described by sheriff's officials as "compound fractures" that were not life-threatening. Woods was listed in serious condition, officials added.
“I will say that it’s very fortunate that Mr. Woods was able to come out of this alive,” Gonzalez said.
The sheriff's department indicated Woods was the only occupant of the car, which suffered major damage, and said the cause of the crash was under investigation.
The airbags went off and the inside of the vehicle stayed basically intact, and that “gave him a cushion to survive the crash,” said Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who added that the golf superstar had to be pulled out through the windshield.
A KABC-TV helicopter over the wreck showed a car on its side (you can see it in the video player at the top of this article), with its front end heavily damaged just off the side of a road near a hillside.
Woods’ vehicle crossed the center of the roadway before crashing, said Sheriff's Capt. James Powers.
“It’s kind of a downhill grade, and there are some winding turns, as well,” Powers explained. “(The vehicle) crossed the center median and went up the curb on the other side of the road, and it overturned into some shrubs.”
Powers said he thinks someone who lives near the scene reported the accident to sheriff’s deputies. “It took them about six minutes to arrive on scene, and they found a vehicle that had been overturned,” Powers said, “and it was off into some brush.”
“That road is kind of a steep climb, and he was coming downhill. Speeds can increase just by the momentum of a vehicle,” Powers added.
Authorities said another car, not involved in the initial rollover incident, stopped after the crash and was rear-ended but no one was injured.
Woods’ crash occurred shortly before 7:15 a.m. about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, on the border of the upscale communities of Rolling Hills Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes, officials said.
Woods was in Los Angeles over the weekend as the tournament host of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, where he presented the trophy. He was to spend Monday and Tuesday filming with Discovery-owned GOLF-TV, with whom he has an endorsement contract. A tweet Monday showed him in a cart smiling with comedian David Spade.
According to Golf Digest, also owned by Discovery, the TV shoot was on-course lessons to celebrities, such as Spade and Dwyane Wade. He did not play.
The 15-time major champion last played Dec. 20 in the PNC Championship with his 11-year-old son, Charlie. He had a fifth surgery on his back, a micro-discectomy, two days before Christmas and gave no indication when he would return. The Masters is April 8-11 and when asked if he would be there during the CBS telecast, Woods replied, “God, I hope so.”
This is the third time Woods has been involved in a car investigation. The most notorious was the early morning after Thanksgiving in 2009, when his SUV ran over a fire hydrant and hit a tree. That was the start of shocking revelations that he had been cheating on his wife with multiple women. Woods lost major corporate sponsorship, went to a rehabilitation clinic in Mississippi and did not return to golf for five months.
In May 2017, Florida police found him asleep behind the wheel of a car parked awkwardly on the side of the road. He was arrested on a DUI charge and said later he had an unexpected reaction to prescription medicine his back pain. Woods later pleaded guilty to reckless driving and checked into a clinic to get help with prescription medication and a sleep disorder.
