Tiger Woods had multiple open fractures to his lower right leg after he crashed his SUV this morning, the surgeon said, adding that a rod had to be placed in the tibia and screws and pins in the ankle.
The chief medical officer at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center Anish Mahajan said that Woods shattered tibia and fibula bones on his right leg in multiple locations. Those were stabilized by a rod in the tibia. He said a combination of screws and pins were used to stabilize additional injuries in the ankle and foot.
The golfer's muscles surrounding the bones were cut to relieve swelling, Mahajan said, describing his "significant orthopedic injuries."
Woods, 45, suffered comminuted fractures - a break or splinter of the bone into more than two fragments - in both the upper and lower parts of the tibia and fibula, his doctors said.
According to the police officer who first arrived at the scene, the star golfer seemed lucid and coherent at the time he was found. The officer added that Woods opted to wait for paramedics and EMS officials from the Los Angeles Fire Department instead of attempting to extricate Woods from the driver's seat of his
The golfer, who joined the PGA Tour in 1996, had been on his way to a Los Angeles golf course, to film for GolfTV. He had arrived in California earlier to host the PGA Genesis Invitational tournament, with Genesis giving him the GV80 SUV to drive for the week.
An investigation has been launched, with an impending probe to test whether Woods, who resides in Florida, had drugs or alcohol in his system.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Woods did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the early-morning incident.