Wife aids Woods after SUV crash

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By Joseph Weber

Tiger Woods suffered cuts to his face when he crashed his SUV early Friday outside his mansion near Orlando, Fla., and police said his wife helped rescue him by smashing the back window with a golf club.

The PGA Tour star, 33, was alone in his Cadillac Escalade and pulling out of his driveway in the gated Isleworth community about 2:25 a.m. when he hit a fire hydrant and a neighbor's tree.

Woods' spokesman, Glenn Greenspan, said in a statement that the golfer was treated at Health Central Hospital and released in good condition. Greenspan described the accident as "minor." He did not say where Woods was going.

Woods is scheduled to host the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, Calif., beginning Thursday. His agent, Mark Steinberg, said he did not know whether Woods planned to play next week.

Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Kim Montes said the air bags in Woods' SUV didn't deploy and that troopers didn't know what caused Woods to hit the hydrant and the tree.

The patrol said alcohol was not involved, although the accident remains under investigation and charges could be filed.

Windermere Police Chief Daniel Saylor told the Associated Press that officers found Woods lying in the street with his wife, Elin, hovering over him. She told officers she was in the house when she heard the accident and "came out and broke the back window with a golf club."

"She supposedly got him out and laid him on the ground," Saylor said. "He was in and out of consciousness when my guys got there."

Saylor said Elin Woods told officers she was in the house when she heard the accident and "came out and broke the back window with a golf club," he said, adding that the front-door windows were not broken and that "the door was probably locked."

Woods had lacerations to his upper and lower lips, and he had blood in his mouth, Saylor said.

The chief said Woods was in and out of consciousness when the officers arrived. He said the officers held Woods to the ground and "when he woke up, he tried to get up and lost consciousness."

He said officers treated Woods for 10 minutes until an ambulance arrived. Investigators said they had not yet had the chance to speak to Woods.

"We will ask him everything," Montes said. "We just haven't had a chance to do so because he was being medically treated."

Saylor said his responding officers did not hear anything about a reported argument between Woods and his wife.

"Right now we believe this is a traffic crash. We don't believe it is domestic issue," Montes said.

Officers initially reported Woods' injuries as "serious," a description the patrol later said is standard when an accident victim is taken to the hospital.