WOODS CAR CRASHED IN RUSH FOR TV PROJECT

LOS ANGELES: Tiger Woods was hurrying to a golf club to meet two NFL quarterbacks for a television shoot when he crashed and shattered his right leg on Wednesday, local time.

The golfer was not drunk and will not face criminal charges over the accident, the LA County sheriff said on Thursday. Woods lost control of a borrowed SUV while travelling at high speed on a steep, winding road through an affluent south Los Angeles suburb early on Tuesday morning.

Police said he was fortunate to survive the crash, which happened at an accident blackspot less than 20 minutes before he was to meet NFL stars Drew Brees and Justin Herbert at a local country club.

The crash was “purely an accident”, Alex Villanueva, the sheriff, said. There were no indications alcohol, drugs or medication were responsible, he added.

He said his department was not expecting to bring any charges against Woods, 45, who was recovering on Thursday after surgery for his injured leg in a south LA hospital. Surgeons had to pin his right leg, ankle and foot in several places. He was said to be awake and responsive.

“He was not drunk,” Mr Villanueva said on Instagram Live. “Definitely we can throw that one out. There was no evidence of any impairment at all.”

He said “driver’s inattention” and the “speed involved” were possible explanations and the investigation team would check his phone records and pull information from the “black box” of Woods’ courtesy car, which could reveal the exact speed he was travelling.

The sheriff added: “We don’t contemplate any charges whatsoever in this crash. This remains an accident.”

Woods’s Genesis GV80 careered over a central reservation, crossed the lane for oncoming traffic and flipped several times before coming to rest on its side about 100m from where the crash began.