LOS ANGELES, California – Famed golfer Tiger Woods Tiger Woods is “awake, responsive and recovering” after an accident at Rancho Palos Verdes, according to a statement posted on his Twitter account.
Woods underwent surgery after several serious injuries to both legs in a spectacular car accident Tuesday morning in Los Angeles County.
During a press conference, authorities reported that Woods was conscious and able to communicate with officers the moment he was pulled from the vehicle with an ax and crowbars.
They added that they found no evidence of disability and they are investigating high speed and possible distraction behind the wheel as possible causes of the accident.
The crash, involving only Woods’s vehicle, occurred on Tuesday, February 23 at 7:12 a.m. between Rolling Hills Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes. The car crossed lanes, hit a sidewalk, a tree and then rolled over several times.
The athlete was the only person on board the car who sustained serious damage.
The airbags deployed and the car’s interior remained essentially intact, which “gave him a pillow to survive the accident,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.
Both legs were seriously injured, fire chief Daryl Osby said.
Initially, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said on Twitter that Eldrick “Tiger” Woods had been pulled from the wreckage by paramedics and firefighters and taken to a hospital by ambulance.
His manager, Mark Steinberg, said in a statement that the athlete is currently undergoing surgery for injuries to his leg. “Tiger Woods was in a car accident this morning in California, where he sustained multiple leg injuries.”
He added that “we value your privacy and support.”
Scenes shot from a helicopter showed the car from the side with the front badly damaged and parts around it.
The crash will be investigated by agents from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office at Lomita Station. The results are expected to take several weeks.
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Woods was in Los Angeles for the weekend to host the Genesis Invitational tournament in Riviera, where he presented the trophy. He would be filming Monday and Tuesday with GOLFTV, owned by Discovery, with whom he has a sponsorship deal. A tweet on Monday showed him in a cart laughing with David Spade.
According to Golf Digest, also owned by Discovery, the television session consisted of on-track classes for celebrities such as Spade and Dwyane Wade. Hasn’t played.
The 15-time senior champion last played in the PNC Championship on December 20 with his 11-year-old son Charlie. He had a fifth back surgery, a microdiscectomy, two days before Christmas and gave no indication of when he would return. The Masters is from April 8-11 and when asked if he would be on the CBS broadcast, Woods replied, “God, I hope.”
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This is the third time that Woods has participated in an automobile investigation. The most infamous was the early morning after Thanksgiving in 2009, when his SUV hit a fire hydrant and crashed into a tree.
That was the start of shocking revelations that he had cheated on his wife with several women. Woods lost a major sponsorship from the company, attended rehab in Mississippi, and did not return to golf for five months.
In May 2017, Florida police found him sleeping behind the wheel of a car awkwardly parked on the side of the road. He was arrested on a DUI charge and later said he had an unexpected reaction to prescription medications for his back pain.
Woods later pleaded guilty to reckless driving and checked into a clinic for help with prescription drugs and a sleep disorder.