Tiger Woods opens up about devastating car accident in 1st on-camera interview
Tiger Woods is opening up about his road to recovery after a devastating car crash nearly cost him his life.
In an interview with Golf Digest, the golf legend revealed how he wishes he could go back to doing the things he could do before the accident.
"I'm not Wolverine, even though sometimes I think I am," he said. "It's just one of those things where I wish I could go and do everything I used to do and I can't."
In February, the 45-year-old professional golfer sustained serious leg injuries in a rollover crash in Southern California. The car he was driving, a 2021 Genesis GV80 mid-size SUV, was found several hundred feet away from the center divider, in an area that has a "high-frequency" of accidents, officials said at the time.
Authorities later stated that Woods wouldn't face charges, due to no "evidence of impairment" found by investigators when he was treated at the scene.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva told reporters at the time, "We don't contemplate any charges whatsoever in this crash" and that the wreck was "purely an accident."
After his right leg was shattered by an open fracture, Woods told Golf Digest that he feared that he would never walk the same -- let alone play golf again.
"There was a point in time I won't say it was 50/50 but it was [expletive] near there that I was going to walk out of that hospital with one leg," he said. "Once I [kept it], I wanted to test and see if I still had my hands."
Woods said he would have his girlfriend, Erica Herman, and his friend Rob McNamara throw him things to move his arms.
Following his accident, Woods began a rehabilitation process that included three months in a hospital-type bed in his home. He then used a wheelchair, then crutches, which eventually led to him moving on his own.
Woods said the lessons he learned from his father helped him get through those challenging months.
"This is where dad's teaching came into play. You don't know how long a firefight is gonna take," he said. "One of my dad's ways of getting through that was live meal-to-meal -- I just shortened up the windows of, 'Oh, this is gonna be nine months of hell' to 'It's just two or three hours.' If I can repeat these two to three hours at a time. Next thing you know it adds up."
The golf pro said his greatest motivation to recover is his son, Charlie. During rehab, Woods said they spent time bonding over golf.
While Woods said he misses being a competitor, he's also come to terms with the end of his days as a full-time tournament golfer.
"I think something that is realistic is playing the tour one day -- never full time, ever again -- but pick and choose," he said. "It's an unfortunate reality, but it's my reality. And I understand it, and I accept it."
