Write Tiger Woods off at your peril.
According to a report in the New York Post , Woods has vowed not to let his car crash finish his career, reportedly telling friends: “It can’t end like this.”
According to newspaper sources, Woods, 45, told those close to him – including girlfriend Erica Herman, agent Mark Steinberg and caddie Joe LaCava during a recent hospital visit – that if he can play again, he will.
Woods has been transferred from Harbor-UCLA Medical Centre to Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre to continue his recovery from serious leg injuries sustained in a single-car accident earlier this week.
The move was announced in a statement by Dr Anish Mahajan, interim CEO/CMO of Harbor-UCLA Medical Centre on Friday afternoon.
“On behalf of our staff,” the statement reads, “it was an honour to provide orthopaedic trauma care to one of our generation’s greatest athletes.”
Woods suffered comminuted open fractures to both the upper and lower portions of the tibia and fibula bones of his right leg, as well as damage to the bones in the right foot and ankle. During an initial surgical procedure on Wednesday, doctors stabilised the fractures with a rod in the tibia, and inserted rods and pins into the foot/ankle area. Woods also sustained trauma to the muscle and soft tissue of the right leg, which required surgical release of the covering of the muscles to relieve pressure.
Woods was the sole occupant of a 2021 Genesis GV80 SUV when he headed northbound on a downhill, windy portion of Hawthorne Avenue, a two-lane road in Rancho Palos Verdes. 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 before veering off the road entirely and onto a hillside at 7:12am local time. A neighbour called 911 to alert authorities of the accident. Woods was conscious, “lucid and calm” when they arrived on the scene. There is no indication that Woods was impaired at the time of the accident.
Woods was taken to Harbor-UCLA, the closest Level 1 trauma facility, where he underwent emergency surgery.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre is located near West Hollywood in Los Angeles, roughly 30 kilometres north of Harbor-UCLA. It is widely considered one of the top hospitals in the United States.
There is no indication yet of when Woods could return to his home in south Florida.
