LOS ANGELES — Authorities planned to announce Wednesday what caused Tiger Woods to crash an SUV in February in Southern California, a wreck that seriously injured the golf superstar.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva previously said detectives had determined the cause of the crash, but he would not release it, citing privacy concerns and a purported need for Woods’ permission to divulge information.
The sheriff planned to discuss the findings of the investigation, including “causal factors,” during a news conference Wednesday morning in Los Angeles, the sheriff’s department said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear whether Woods had any involvement in the expected announcement.
Documents show that Woods told deputies he did not know how the crash occurred and did not remember driving. At the time of the wreck, Woods was recovering from a fifth back surgery, which took place two months earlier.
Woods, who is originally from the Los Angeles area, had been back home to host his PGA tournament, the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, when the crash happened on Feb. 23.
He was driving an SUV loaned to him by the tournament when he struck a raised median in Rolling Hills Estates, just outside Los Angeles. The SUV crossed through two oncoming lanes and uprooted a tree on a downhill stretch that police said is known for wrecks.
The athlete is in Florida recovering from multiple surgeries. Woods has never gone an entire year without playing, dating back to his first PGA Tour event as a 16-year-old in high school.
Rory McIlroy, a four-time major golf champion who lives near Woods, said he visited him on March 21.
“Spent a couple hours with him, which was nice. It was good to see him,” McIlroy said Tuesday from the Masters. “It was good to see him in decent spirits. When you hear of these things and you look at the car and you see the crash, you think he’s going to be in a hospital bed for six months. But he was actually doing better than that.”
In the weeks after the crash, the sheriff called it “purely an accident” and said there was no evidence of impairment.
Detectives searched the data recorder of the 2021 Genesis GV80 SUV, known as a black box. Investigators did not seek a search warrant, however, for Woods’ blood samples, which could be screened for drugs and alcohol.
In 2017, Woods checked himself into a clinic for help in dealing with prescription drug medication after a DUI charge in Florida, where he currently lives.
— Associated Press Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed from Augusta, Georgia.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
