Woods was “awake, responsive and recovering” after surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the statement said.
The 45-year-old was driving shortly after 7 am PT on Tuesday in Rancho Palos Verdes, near Los Angeles, when the SUV he was using crossed a central flower bed and swerved on two lanes before hitting a curb. , hit a tree and set aside on the brush.
Woods remained conscious but suffered serious injuries to his legs, officials said on Tuesday.
Orthopedic trauma specialists inserted a shaft into his tibia to stabilize the bones of the tibia and fibula, stabilized the bones of the foot and ankle with a combination of screws and pins and relieved the pressure on the muscle and soft tissue of his leg, surgically releasing the coverage of the muscle, said the chief physician, Dr. Anish Mahajan, in the statement.
After seeing the damage at the crash site, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that “nothing short of a miracle” Woods was alive.
“We saw accidents with much less obvious [damage] which are fatalities, “Villanueava told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Tuesday.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s assistant Carlos Gonzalez responded to the accident, where he found a lucid grove, still attached to his seat belt, but stuck when the vehicle overturned and knocked on the driver’s door. Gonzalez said that as soon as he realized that the golfer was conscious, he kept him talking in hopes of preventing him from going into shock before medical help could arrive.
“I think that the fact that he is wearing a seat belt and the vehicle’s safety features work as designed by the manufacturer probably resulted in reducing his injuries or saving his life,” Gonzalez told Cuomo.
The rescue
When he arrived at the scene, Woods looked not only lucid, but calm and uninterested in his injuries – potentially pointing to shock, Gonzalez said.
Los Angeles County firefighters arrived to release him, but the golfer tried to pull out of the SUV, but failed, Chief Daryl Osby told CNN’s John Berman. Woods could not stand on his own, said Gonzalez.
Firefighters used a lever and an ax to free the golfer, who last weekend hosted a PGA Tour event in the area, but did not play due to recent back surgery.
They broke the windshield with the ax and used the bar to rip the seats and metal off Woods’ legs, said Osby.
The rescue team put Woods on a collar around his neck, fixed splints on his legs and used a table to take him through the giant hole in the windshield to an ambulance. He went to the hospital in serious but stable condition with injuries to both legs, said Osby.
How the accident happened
The 15-time main champion drove a courtesy Genesis SUV vehicle and is believed to be traveling at high speed, officials said. There were no skid marks or other indications of braking, Villanueva added.
Villanueva said the section of the road is “down a curve”, and he and Gonzalez said the area is known as a problematic place for speeding and accidents.
The deputies who responded to Woods saw no evidence of compromise, Villanueva said, and did not ask hospital staff to draw blood, he said. A Los Angeles police source told CNN that no sobriety tests were administered due to the severity of Woods’ injuries.
The sheriff’s department said Woods was the only occupant of the car.
Another car, not involved in the initial rollover incident, stopped after the accident and was hit in the back, according to Los Angeles County PIO Henry Narvaez.
Woods received Genesis International and was on the course the day before
Woods was probably going to the Rolling Hills Country Club near Rolling Hills Estates for a photo shoot with Golf Digest and Golf TV, according to Daniel Rapaport, Tiger Woods’ correspondent for Golf Digest.
“Tiger has a long-term partnership with Discovery developing exclusive content for GOLFTV and Golf Digest,” said the statement from Golf Digest. “He was filming his last series with us yesterday, which will see him giving course instructions to a number of celebrities, including Jada Pinkett Smith, Dwyane Wade and David Spade. He should continue to film with us today.”
Filming scheduled for Tuesday would include Woods with Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, a source familiar with the filming told CNN. ESPN reported that New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees would also be part of the shoot with Herbert.
CNN contacted the New Orleans Saints for comment, but received no response.
Woods had a call at 7:30 am, with filming supposed to start around 8 am It was the second day of filming.
Rapaport told CNN’s “Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” that Woods was not playing or hitting, but giving gaming lessons to celebrities.
“He was in a good mood on Monday when he did that,” Rapaport said of the shoot.
Woods hosted the Genesis Invitational over the weekend and was seen intermittently on Saturday and more frequently during Sunday’s final round.
Many sports stars posted their support for Woods after news of the accident.
CNN’s Stella Chan and Cheri Mossburg reported from Los Angeles and Madeline Holcombe reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN’s Jill Martin, Steve Almasy, Paul Vercammen, Andy Rose, David Close, Kevin Dotson and Dan Moriarty contributed to this report.