Golfing legend Tiger Woods nearly lost his life on Tuesday after he suffered a tragic car crash in Los Angeles. Reports state that he is now awake and responsive after undergoing surgery.
According to reports by BBC, the 45-year-old, who is a 15-time golf major champion had to be “extricated from the wreck” by firefighters and paramedics at the crash site.
Tiger Woods suffered injuries to his legs and it has been reported that they were “open fractures”, which are affecting the tibia and fibula bones in his lower right leg. The fractures were, however, stabilised by inserting a rod into the tibia. Screws and pins were also used to stabilise his injuries around his foot and ankle too.
“He is recovering in his hospital room,” added a statement, published on Woods’ Twitter account.
Woods suffered “comminuted open fractures” to both the upper and lower portions of his tibia and fibula in his right leg, as well as damage to the ankle bones and trauma to the muscle and soft-tissue of the leg, according to an update released via his social media accounts on Tuesday night.
Tiger Woods is currently recovering from the major surgery on his right leg Tuesday evening at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center after being involved earlier in the day in a high-speed single-car accident outside Los Angeles.
Anish Mahajan, chief medical officer of the Harbor UCLA Medical Centre where Woods is being treated, said the open fractures were comminuted, meaning broken in more than two pieces. A comminuted fracture is when a bone breaks into more than two pieces, and an open fracture suggests bone broke the skin.
Mahajan added: “Trauma to the muscle and soft tissue of the leg required surgical release of the covering of the muscles to relieve pressure due to swelling.”
According to the deputy from the LA County Sheriff’s Department that was first on the scene of the accident, Woods was ”fortunate to be alive” given the state of the car crash. The deputy arrived at the scene at 07:18 local time on the border of Rolling Hills Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes.
Carlos Gonzalez said the golfer was “not able to stand under his own power” before being removed from the vehicle which had sustained major damage.
He said that the American was wearing his seatbelt and was “still calm and lucid” when he told him his name.
“It’s very fortunate that Mr Woods was able to come out of this alive,” he added.
Tiger Woods were fortunate to be alive after the car crash said, deputy
Woods was the sole occupant of a 2021 Genesis GV80 SUV when he headed northbound on a downhill, windy portion of Hawthorne Ave., a two-lane road in Rancho Palos Verdes.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Woods was driving at a “relatively greater speed than normal” when his vehicle crossed onto the wrong side of the road at approximately 7:12 a.m. before veering off the road entirely and onto a hillside. A neighbour called 911 to alert authorities of the accident, and Woods was conscious when they arrived on the scene.
LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that Woods’ car “crossed the centre-divider to the point that it rested several hundred feet away” and “that indicates they were going at a relatively greater speed than normal”.
He added: “However, because it is downhill, it slopes and curves, that area has a high frequency of accidents. It is not uncommon.”
He said the car hit a kerb, a tree and rolled over several times. Villanueva added “there was no evidence of impairment” with Woods.
Personnel from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said the interior of the vehicle Woods was driving remained intact. That, combined with the fact that Woods was wearing a seatbelt, allowed him to escape what “otherwise would have been a fatal crash,” according to Villanueva.
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