Tiger Woods, the world’s No. 1-ranked golfer, was injured early Friday in a one-car accident in front of his home, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. His wife broke the back window of his vehicle with a golf club to help get him out of the car, according to a local police chief.
Woods was leaving his home at 2:25 a.m. Friday in the Isleworth community in Windermere, an Orlando suburb, when the Cadillac Escalade he was driving struck a fire hydrant and drove into a neighbor’s tree. His spokesman said that Woods, 33, was treated and released from Health Central Hospital in Ocoee in good condition.
Windermere’s police chief, Daniel Saylor, said officers found Woods lying in the street and his wife, Elin, with him. “She was frantic, upset,” Saylor said in a briefing Friday night. “It was her husband laying on the ground.”
Woods had lacerations to his upper and lower lips, and he had blood in his mouth, Saylor said. Woods’s wife told officers she was in the house when she heard the accident and “came out and broke the back window with a golf club,” Saylor said, adding that the front-door windows were not broken and that “the door was probably locked.”
Saylor added: “She supposedly got him out and laid him on the ground. He was in and out of consciousness when my guys got there.”
He said the officers treated Woods for 10 minutes until an ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital. Woods was conscious enough to speak, he said. “He was mumbling, but didn’t say anything coherent,” Saylor said.
The highway patrol incident report originally listed Woods’s condition as serious — a highway patrol spokesman told The Orlando Sentinel that that is customary when a patient is transported to a hospital — but Woods’s spokesman, Glenn Greenspan, issued a statement saying Woods was in good condition.
The highway patrol said that alcohol was not involved in the accident, although it remained under investigation and charges could be filed.
Saylor said his responding officers did not hear anything about an alleged argument between Woods and his wife.
“Right now we believe this is a traffic crash,” a highway patrol spokesman, Sgt. Kim Montes, said. “We don’t believe it is a domestic issue.”
The Associated Press reported that the highway patrol said tapes of the 911 call would not be released until they could be reviewed — probably Monday at the earliest.
The accident report was not released until nearly 12 hours after Woods was injured. Montes said the accident did not meet the criteria of a serious crash, and the highway patrol put out a press release only because of inquiries from the local news media.
Two troopers tried to talk to Woods on Friday evening, but his wife said he was sleeping and they agreed to come back Saturday, Montes said. She added that troopers still did not know what caused Woods’s vehicle to hit the hydrant and the tree. Saylor described the damage to the front of Woods’s vehicle as “not real extensive, but not real light.” The air bags did not deploy.
Beyond the statement issued by Greenspan, no further information, including where Woods was going at that time of day, was posted on Woods’s Web site. Greenspan and the agent Mark Steinberg said there would be no further comment. Woods is the host of the Chevron World Challenge next week at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., where he is expected to hold a previously scheduled news conference on Tuesday.
The accident, and its attendant publicity, threw a rarely cast spotlight on Woods’s carefully honed private image. As zealous about guarding his private life as he is about winning Grand Slam titles, Woods is known for having a close circle of friends who seldom, if ever, disclose personal details about him and his family.
Woods has also been aggressive about defending his image. When an Irish magazine published fake nude photographs of his wife several years ago on the eve of the Ryder Cup, Woods’s wife sued — and eventually received an apology and a settlement of more than $180,000, which was donated to charity.
Woods himself received a $1.6 million settlement after he sued the builder of his yacht for using his name and photographs in promotional materials. The yacht was named Privacy.