TIGER WOODS’S CAREER HANGS IN THE BALANCE
LOS ANGELES: Police were yesterday trying to determine what caused Tiger Woods to swerve off a Southern California road in his sport utility vehicle, colliding with a tree and rolling down a hillside in a crash that left the golf great seriously injured.
Woods, 45, was pried from the wreckage by rescue crews and rushed by ambulance from the scene of the crash outside Los Angeles to nearby Harbor-UCLA Medical Center suffering what his agent described as “multiple leg injuries.” A statement posted on Woods’ official Twitter account said he had undergone a “long surgical procedure” to his lower right leg and ankle and was “awake, responsive and recovering in his hospital room.”
Compound fractures of his tibia and fibula were stabilised with a rod, and screws and pins were used to stabilize additional injuries to his foot and ankle, Dr. Anish Mahajan, chief medical officer of Harbor-UCLA, said in the tweet. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies responding to the wreck found no immediate indication that Woods had been under the influence of alcohol or drugs before losing control of his vehicle. Sheriff Alex Villanueva, however, said the golf star, who was “lucid” following the accident, appeared to have been going faster than normal for a downhill, curving stretch of road known by locals to be hazardous. Weather was not considered a factor.
Woods’ injuries were not life-threatening, but sports commentators were already speculating that the crash could end the career of the greatest golfer of his generation. Woods 15 major titles stand second only to the 18 won by Jack Nicklaus.