Woods had rod placed in shin

Tiger Woods is recovering in a Los Angeles hospital after undergoing a lengthy surgery for severe leg and ankle injuries he suffered Tuesday morning in a single-car accident.

The chief medical officer and interim chief executive at Harbor-ucla Medical Center detailed the extent of the injuries, saying that a rod, pins and screws were needed to stabilize Woods’s injuries.

“Comminuted open fractures affecting both the upper and lower portions of the tibia and fibula bones were stabilized by inserting a rod into the tibia,” Anish Mahajan said in a statement. “Additional injuries to the bones of the foot and ankle were stabilized with a combination of screws and pins. Trauma to the muscle and soft-tissue of the leg required surgical release of the covering of the muscles to relieve pressure due to swelling.”

A comminuted open fracture is one in which a bone breaks in multiple places and breaks through the skin. Multiple surgeries and infection are common risks of compound fractures.

Woods’s team added that the golfer is “awake, responsive and recovering in his hospital room.”

“Surgically, they have to repair all those pieces, piece them all together and make sure it’s stable,” John Torres, an emergency room physician, said Wednesday on the Today show. “The concern (with an open fracture) there once it breaks through the skin, is that there’s a high degree of the possibility of infection, not just to the skin, but to the bone itself and that’s when you begin to have complications.”

Woods had been in the Los Angeles area for the Genesis Open, a golf tournament his foundation sponsors. He was en route to Rolling Hills Country Club when his SUV crossed a median on a hilly, curvy road.

The vehicle rolled several hundred feet before settling on the driver’s side.