|
A crane
is used
to lift
a
vehicle
following
a
rollover
accident
involving
golfer
Tiger
Woods,
Tuesday,
Feb. 23,
2021, in
the
Rancho
Palos
Verdes
suburb
of Los
Angeles.
Woods
suffered
leg
injuries
in the
one-car
accident
and was
undergoing
surgery,
authorities
and his
manager
said.
(AP
Photo/Ringo
H.W.
Chiu)
|
|
Woods
faces
hard
recovery
from
serious
injuries
in car
crash
By
STEPHANIE
DAZIO
AND
DOUG
FERGUSON
apnews.com
LOS
ANGELES
- In a
career
filled
with
remarkable
comebacks,
Tiger
Woods
faces
his
toughest
recovery
of all.
Woods
was
driving
through
a
sweeping,
downhill
stretch
of road
through
coastal
suburbs
of Los
Angeles
when his
SUV
struck a
sign,
crossed
over a
raised
median
and two
oncoming
lanes
before
it
toppled
down an
embankment,
coming
to a
halt on
its
side.
The
airbags
deployed.
A
sheriff’s
deputy
poked
his head
through
a hole
in the
windshield
to see
Woods,
still
wearing
his
seatbelt,
sitting
in the
driver’s
seat.
The
crash
caused
“significant”
injuries
all down
his
right
leg that
featured
rods,
pins and
screws
during
what was
described
as a
“long
surgical
procedure”
at
Harbor-UCLA
Medical
Center.
Anish
Mahajan,
the
chief
medical
officer,
said
Woods
shattered
tibia
and
fibula
bones on
his
right
leg in
multiple
locations.
Those
were
stabilized
by a rod
in the
tibia.
He said
a
combination
of
screws
and pins
were
used to
stabilize
additional
injuries
in the
ankle
and
foot.
A
statement
on his
Twitter
account
said he
was
awake,
responsive
and
recovering.
“I
will say
that
it’s
very
fortunate
that Mr.
Woods
was able
to come
out of
this
alive,”
said
Carlos
Gonzalez,
the
deputy
from the
Los
Angeles
County
Sheriff’s
Department
who was
the
first on
the
scene
after a
neighbor
called
911.
ratio
Youtube
video
thumbnail
“As
if his
body
hasn’t
endured
enough,”
Jon
Rahm,
the No.
2 player
in the
world,
said
from the
Workday
Championship
in
Florida.
“I just
hope he
can get
out of
the
hospital
after
recovery
and he
can
still
play
with his
kids and
have a
normal
life.”
The
single-car
crash
was the
latest
setback
for
Woods,
who at
times
has
looked
unstoppable
on the
golf
course
with his
15 major
championships
and
record-tying
82
victories
on the
PGA
Tour. He
is among
the most
recognizable
sports
figures
in the
world,
and at
45 with
a
reduced
schedule
from
nine
previous
surgeries,
remains
golf’s
biggest
draw.
He
won the
2008
U.S.
Open
with
shredded
knee
ligaments
and two
stress
fractures
in his
left
leg. His
personal
life
imploded
on
Thanksgiving
weekend
in 2009
when he
was
caught
having
multiple
extramarital
affairs,
and he
returned
to win
his 11th
award as
PGA Tour
player
of the
year and
reach
No. 1.
And
then
after
four
back
surgeries
that
kept him
out of
golf for
the
better
part of
two
years,
he won
the
Masters
in April
2019 for
the
fifth
time, a
victory
that
ranks
among
the
great
comebacks
in the
sport.
Now
it’s no
longer a
matter
of when
he plays
again —
the
Masters
is seven
weeks
away —
but if
he plays
again.
No
charges
were
filed,
and
police
said
there
was no
evidence
he was
impaired.
Woods
was in
Los
Angeles
over the
weekend
as the
tournament
host of
the
Genesis
Invitational
at
Riviera
Country
Club.
Monday
and
Tuesday
had been
set
aside
for
Discovery-owned
GOLFTV
for
Woods to
give
playing
tips to
celebrities.
A tweet
Monday
showed
him in a
cart at
Rolling
Hills
Country
Club
with
comedian
David
Spade.
He also
worked
with NBA
great
Dwyane
Wade,
who
posted a
video to
his
Instagram
account.
Woods
was
headed
to
Rolling
Hills on
Tuesday
when the
accident
happened.
“It
was a
great
day,”
Wade
said
Tuesday
night on
Turner
Sports,
where he
is a
studio
analyst.
“And I
woke up
today so
proud to
be able
to post
that
moment
for the
world,
like a
little
snippet
of our
moment
together.
And I
took a
nap, and
I woke
up to
the
news.
So, you
know,
just
like
everybody
out
there,
my
thoughts
and
prayers
are all
to his
loved
ones.”
Thoughts
and
prayers
have
come
from
everywhere
— Jack
Nicklaus
and
Michael
Jordan,
Mike
Tyson,
and
former
Presidents
Barack
Obama
and
Donald
Trump.
Woods
played
golf
with
both of
them,
and
Trump
awarded
him the
Presidential
Medal of
Freedom
in 2019
after
perhaps
his
great
triumph
— the
Masters
after he
had gone
through
four
back
surgeries.
Woods
had a
fifth
back
surgery,
a
microdiscectomy,
on Dec.
23, just
three
days
after he
played
the PNC
Championship
with his
son
Charlie,
who now
is 12.
Woods
also has
a
13-year-old
daughter,
Samantha.
The
news put
a damper
on the
World
Golf
Championship
in
Florida,
where
Woods
was
eligible
to play
if
healthy.
“I’m
sick to
my
stomach,”
said
Justin
Thomas,
No. 3 in
the
world
and
among
the
younger
players
whom
Woods
has
embraced.
“It
hurts to
see one
of my
closest
friends
get in
an
accident.
Man, I
just
hope
he’s all
right.”
The
crash
happened
about
7:15
a.m. as
he drove
his
courtesy
vehicle
from the
Genesis
Invitational
through
the
upscale
suburbs.
Gonzalez
says he
sometimes
catches
people
topping
80 mph
(129
kph) in
the 45
mph zone
and
crashes
are
common.
Police
said
Woods
was
alert as
firefighters
pried
open the
front
windshield
to get
him out.
Los
Angeles
County
Sheriff
Alex
Villanueva
said the
airbags
deployed
and the
inside
of the
SUV
stayed
mostly
intact,
which
“gave
him a
cushion
to
survive
the
crash.”
Authorities
said
they
checked
for any
odor of
alcohol
or other
signs he
was
under
the
influence
of a
substance
and
found
none.
They
didn’t
say how
fast he
was
driving.
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.
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
he had
an
unexpected
reaction
to
prescription
medicine
for 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.
Woods
hasn’t
won
since
the Zozo
Championship
in Japan
in fall
2019,
and he’s
reduced
his
playing
schedule
in
recent
years
because
of
injuries.
Besides
his five
back
surgeries,
he’s had
four
surgeries
on his
left
knee.
He
was
asked
during
the CBS
broadcast
Sunday
at
Riviera
about
recovering
from his
back
surgery
in time
to play
the
Masters
and
Woods
replied,
“God, I
hope so.
I’ve got
to get
there
first.”
___
Ferguson
reported
from
Jacksonville,
Florida.
AP
Basketball
Writer
Tim
Reynolds
reported
from
Miami.
Advertise With Us:
Certified Minority Business Enterprise
|
|
|
|
|
|