CLEARLY AT RON JOHNSON.
FORMER NYPD COMMISSIONER BILL
BRATTON, THANK YOU FOR YOUR
EXPERTISE.
>>> THE MAJOR CAR ACCIDENT
INVOLVING TIGER WOODS.
HIS TEAM SAID TIGER IS AWAKE,
RESPONSIVE AND RECOVERING IN HIS
HOSPITAL ROOM THANK GOODNESS
AFTER HAVING A ROD PUT INTO HIS
LEG DURING SURGERY FOLLOWING A
ROLLOVER CAR CRASH NEAR LOS
ANGELES YESTERDAY.
IN THE UPDATE TWEETED TO TIGER’S
ACCOUNT, THE CHIEF MEDICAL
OFFICER AND INTERIM CEO AT
HARBOR UCLA MEDICAL CENTER WHERE
WOODS UNDERWENT EMERGENCY
SURGERY SAID THE 45-YEAR-OLD
GOLFER SUFFERED SIGNIFICANT
ORTHOPETIC INJURIES TO HIS RIGHT
LOWER EXTREMITY.
THE ROD WAS INSERTED INTO HIS
TIBIA TO STABILIZE FRACTURES AND
SCREWS AND PINS WERE USED TO
STABILIZE INJURIES TO A FOOT AND
ANKLE.
DRIVING TO A TV SHOOT ON A
SWEEPING DOWNHILL STRETCH OF
ROAD THROUGH LOS ANGELES
SUBURBS, AUTHORITIES SAY WOODS
WAS ALONE IN HIS SUV AT AROUND
10:15 A.M. EASTERN, IT WAS ABOUT
7:15 A.M. THERE IT CRASHED INTO
A RAISED MEDIAN, CROSSED TWO
ONCOMING LANES AND ROLLED
SEVERAL TIMES BEFORE ENDING UP
ON ITS SIDE NEAR A STEEP ROAD
KNOWN FOR WRECKS.
POLICE SAY WOODS WAS ALERT AS
FIREFIGHTERS PRIED OPEN THE
FRONT WINDSHIELD TO GET HIM OUT
OF THE VEHICLE WHILE THE CAUSE
OF THE CRASH IS UNDER
INVESTIGATION, NO CHARGES WERE
FILED.
POLICE SAY THERE’S NO EVIDENCE
WOODS WAS IMPAIRED.
AND NO ONE ELSE WAS INJURED.
THEY HAVEN’T SAID YET HOW FAST
TIGER WAS DRIVING.
LET’S BRING IN MIKE TIRICO OF
NBC SPORTS AND BEST SELLING
AUTHOR AND COLUMNIST MIKE
LUBIKA.
MIKE TIRICO, YOU AND I WERE
GOING BACK AND FORTH YESTERDAY
TRYING TO GET INFORMATION ON
THIS.
TIGER OBVIOUSLY HE’S BEEN GOING
THROUGH A LOT WITH HIS HEALTH,
HIS BACK PROBLEMS, THE FIRST
THING TO SAY IS THANK GOODNESS
HE SURVIVED THIS WRECK AND LOOKS
LIKE HE’S RECOVERING AFTER
SURGERY THIS MORNING.
AS YOU SAW THOSE IMAGES OF THAT
CAR, WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR
MIND?
>> IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE
WATCHING A NASCAR RACE AND IT
WAS A REALLY BAD CRASH.
>> YEAH.
>> THAT’S SOMETHING YOU THINK,
MAN, CAN ANYBODY SURVIVE THAT
KIND OF IMPACT, THE DAMAGE THAT
WAS DONE TO THE VEHICLE.
IT’S A SCARY SIGHT, WILLY LI.
THE
WILLIE.
HE’S LUCKY TO BE ALIVE AND ALL
OF US COVERED SPORTS, KNOW
TIGER, ANYBODY WITH ANY HUMANITY
IS JUST GLAD TO SEE THAT.
THE CONVERSATION THAT WILL COME
WILL BE THE GOLF IN THE FUTURE
AND ALL THAT.
BUT WHAT STRUCK YOU YESTERDAY AS
YOU SAW THE AMOUNT OF COVERAGE
AND THE REACTION FROM PEOPLE
AROUND GOLF AND AROUND SPORTS
AND THE AROUND THE COUNTRY
INCLUDING FORMER PRESIDENT OBAMA
THE IMPACT THIS ATHLETE HAD
EXTRAORDINARY CULTURAL SPORTS,
SOCIETAL IMPACT AND WE’VE SEEN
SO MANY HIGHS AND LOWS AND TO
WATCH THIS PLAY OUT YESTERDAY
WAS A GUT PUNCH FOR A LOT OF
FOLKS.
>> WE SAW THAT STATEMENT, MIKE
TIRICO, LAST NIGHT FROM TIGER’S
TEAM UPDATING US ON HIS MEDICAL
CONDITION.
I MEAN, FRANKLY, WHEN YOU LOOK
AT THAT SCENE AND WE TURNED ON
OUR TVs YESTERDAY, YOU FEARED
THE WORST.
THERE WAS SOME RELIEF THAT
OBVIOUSLY THOSE ARE VERY SERIOUS
INJURIES TO HIS LEG, BUT YOU
LOOK AT THAT CAR AND YOU REALIZE
HOW MUCH WORSE IT COULD HAVE
BEEN.
YOU’RE DIALED IN TO TIGER’S
WORLD.
DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT
HOW HE’S DOING AND WHAT THEY’RE
HEARING FROM HIM THIS MORNING?
>> NO.
IT HAD BEEN PRETTY QUIET.
I WAS SURPRISED TO WAKE UP TO
THAT STATEMENT THIS MORNING AND
GLAD BECAUSE I KNOW THERE WAS SO
MANY QUESTIONS FROM SO MANY
FOLKS WHO DO CARE ABOUT TIGER
JUST TO HEAR WHAT THE SPECIFICS
WERE OF THE INJURIES AND YOU
START GOING THROUGH THE REAL
WORK THAT THEY HAD TO DO JUST TO
KIND OF KEEP THE LEG WITH A
CHANCE TO CONTINUE ON AND HAVE
SOME NORMALCY IN LIFE DOWN THE
LINE, BUT THOSE CLOSE TO TIGER,
THE PEOPLE IN THE GOLF WORLD,
THERE ARE A PRETTY SMALL GROUP,
THERE WAS A LOT OF CONVERSATIONS
AND TEXTS GOING BACK AND FORTH
IN THE LAST 24 HOURS OR 12 HOURS
I SHOULD SAY THAT WERE MOSTLY
GEARED TOWARDS, MAN, THANK
GOODNESS HE’S ALIVE AFTER THAT
BECAUSE THE FEARS OF WHAT YOU
SAID SHOWING THE SCENE AND
DESCRIBING IT WERE FELT BY SO
MANY.
>> YEAH.
HE’S BEEN STABILIZED.
HE’S UP TALKING.
IN FACT, WE HEARD FROM THE
OFFICER THE FIRST TO RESPOND TO
THE SCENE WHO SAID HE WAS
RESPONSIVE AT THE TIME, THAT HE
WAS TALKING TO TIGER.
HE SAID, WHAT’S YOUR NAME, SIR.