UPDATED 2/24/21 10 a.m. ET: A tweet from Tiger Woods’ Twitter account claims the golfer is "awake, responsive, and recovering” after undergoing surgery on his right leg. It also provided a statement from Anish Mahajan, the Chief Medical Officer at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, who said that Woods had a rod inserted into his leg to stabilize fractured tibia and fibula bones, as well as pins and screws inserted into his ankle and foot for other fractures.
Mahajan also noted that the covering of several of Tiger’s leg muscles had to be “surgically released" to allow for swelling. The statement does not mention any damage to any other limbs, though the designation of the right leg breaks as “open” (meaning the bone protrudes through the skin) paints a rather grim picture.
TMZ noted in interviews with residents that the stretch of road where Woods rolled his vehicle is known to be treacherous. The road features a steep downhill stretch that includes a tricky turn, where Woods’ crash occurred. The road has a runaway ramp for cars and trucks that might lose track of their speed.
LASD Deputy Carlos Gonazalez gave a press conference about being the first person on-scene. In his statements to the press, Gonzalez noted that Woods was lucid after the crash and had a good sense of where he was. He said Woods did not appear concerned with his injuries, before adding that such a response is typical from people who are in shock following an accident.
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Tiger Woods has been injured in a single-car crash in Ranchos Palos Verdes, California, with fire crews having to use the jaws of life to extract him from the vehicle. Images from the scene quickly emerged on social media, showing Tiger’s car in bad shape.
Images and video from the scene quickly emerged on social media, showing the extent to which Tiger’s car was damaged.
L.A. County Sheriffs released a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
“On February 23, 2021, at approximately 7:12 AM, LASD responded to a single vehicle roll-over traffic collision on the border of Rolling Hills Estates and Ranchos Palos Verdes,” officials said. “The vehicle was traveling northbound on Hawthorne Boulevard, at Blackhorse Road, when it crashed. The vehicle sustained major damage.”
LASD confirmed that Tiger was “extricated from the wreck with the ‘jaws of life’ by Los Angeles County firefighters and paramedics, then transported to a local hospital by ambulance for his injuries.”
Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, released a statement saying Tiger suffered “multiple leg injuries” and is currently in surgery.
ESPN’s Michael Eaves tweeted that the injuries are “not considered life-threatening.”
The Los Angeles Timesreports a source as saying Woods suffered a shattered ankle and two leg fractures as a result of the crash.
According to TMZ, Woods was attending his annual Genesis Invitational golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades.
Woods was previously in a car accident in 2009, when he crashed his SUV at his Florida home. He was also arrested and charged with a DUI in 2017 after police discovered him passed out behind the wheel of his car.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that authorities “did not see any evidence” of Woods being impaired.
“What we’re (sic) at is signs of under the influence of either narcotics, medication, alcohol, order of alcohol, all these different things that would give you an idea in their behavior, but there was none present,” Sheriff Villanueva said, per Deadline.
