A year on from Tiger car crash, will it cost him his career?

ONE year on from the horrific car crash that drew a genteel Los Angeles suburb to the attention of the whole world, all is quiet once more along Hawthorne Boulevard in Rolling Springs.

The welcome sign so incongruously uprooted when Tiger Woods’ SUV crossed the central reservation and careered down an embankment has been replaced.

A notice stapled to a tree advertises a forthcoming auction of celebrity sports memorabilia, an ironic anniversary postscript to the celebrity sports debris scattered all over this pristine neighbourhood on that fateful February day.

On Saturday afternoon, one or two residents were out walking their dogs and one or two more were tending their gardens. ‘You’ll easily be able to see where it happened,’ said one. ‘When you get past the ravine, just look for the poor cactus tree.’

Struck hard by Tiger’s runaway car, it is in a poor state, its limbs suffering like those of the man who had to be cut from the wreckage of his luxury vehicle.

now Tiger is back in the city of angels this week, as non-playing host of the Genesis Invitational.

This was the storied event where he made his PGA Tour debut 30 years ago at the age of 16 and one that will now always be linked with what happened on the morning after Max Homa holed the winning putt in 2021. Woods (left) didn’t play at Riviera last year, as he sought to overcome yet more back problems. On the Monday, he set off early to complete a sponsor’s day at another Los Angeles golf club. He was running late as he entered Hawthorne Boulevard and, according to the subsequent police report, driving too fast. One local sheriff said he may have been going as fast as 87mph, more than twice the legal limit. At that speed, he certainly wouldn’t have had time to register the yellow warning signposts dotted all along the road as it goes into a steep downward incline. Drive down it, as it winds its way linking the locals to the central arteries of city life, and you can visualise how it could all unfold. Certainly, it would only take a momentary lack of concentration if you were speeding recklessly.

As Woods admitted months later, he was very lucky it didn’t cost him his life. We still don’t know if it will cost him what’s left of his career, a question that has always appeared secondary for much of the past 12 months when set alongside more primal considerations such as whether he would be able to walk again.

In December, he spoke for the first time in public about it, detailing the months where he was unable to move from his bedroom and then the painful rehab.

He admitted he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go through what it would take to return his game to the elite level, even if his stricken right leg was up to the task.

Two weeks later, there were encouraging signs, as he took part alongside his son Charlie in a parent-and-child exhibition event in Florida. There was enough evidence that his good shots were still on the money, but plenty of other signs of the tough road that still lay in front of him.

nine weeks on, at Riviera over the next few days, we should get an update on his status. A few of his friends, such as Justin Thomas, will know what’s going on with Tiger. But, one year after the car crash, the majority will be feeling the same mixture of anticipation and anxiousness as the rest of us as we await a progress report.