Auto-crash: Tiger Woods suffers ‘multiple open leg fractures’
Tiger Woods cheated death after he careered off a road in a horror car smash which left him with shocking injuries to both legs.
The 45-year-old golf legend was pulled from the wreckage of his SUV before being transferred to hospital by paramedics in Los Angeles.
He had emergency surgery last night after firefighters cut him conscious from wreckage at an accident hotspot in Rancho Palos Verdes shortly after 7.15am on Tuesday.
Woods reportedly hit a raised central reservation at “speed”, smashed through a street sign, hit a tree and then flipped his Genesis GV80 SUV several times.
The vehicle came to rest in bushes at the side of the road where Woods was found trapped inside the car by Deputy Carlos Gonzalez, who was alerted by a neighbor who heard the crash.
Gonzales said: “He was able to speak to me. He seemed calm and lucid. I kept Mr Woods calm until LA County fire department arrived on the scene.
“He told me his name was Tiger, and at that point I immediately recognized him. He seemed lucid and calm.”
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Doctors said Woods suffered “comminuted” fractures in the upper and lower parts of the tibia and fibula – meaning the breaks had led to bone splintering.
They fitted metal rods, screws and pins to his shattered right shinbone and calf bone following the crash.
He was this morning said to be “awake, responsive and recovering in his hospital room.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the golfing star was “lucky to be alive.”
Woods was wearing a seat belt which helped him survive, along with the airbag that activated, revealed a sheriff’s deputy at the crash scene.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the front end and bumper of Woods’ vehicle were “totally destroyed.”
“The interior was more or less intact, which gave him the cushion to survive, otherwise it would have been a fatal crash,” he said.
Woods was conscious but “he was not able to get up, no, that was not an option,” Villanueva added.
Villanueva said he was traveling at “a greater speed than normal” adding the “area has a high frequency of accidents,” reports the Mail.
Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Daryl Osby said a pry bar and ax were used to extract Woods from the vehicle.