Tiger Woods won’t play in Thousand Oaks, cancels Tuesday news conference
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Tiger Woods canceled plans to play in his golf tournament in Thousand Oaks this week and to appear Tuesday at a pre-tournament news conference following an accident in his car that left him with facial cuts and sparked worldwide speculation about what happened.
“Due to injuries sustained in a one-car accident last week, Tiger Woods will be unable to play in the 2009 Chevron World Challenge,” his website said in a statement, adding that Woods also “will not participate in any other tournaments in 2009 and will return to action next year.”
“I am extremely disappointed that I will not be at my tournament this week,” Woods said in the statement. “I am certain it will be an outstanding event and I’m very sorry that I can’t be there.”
At the same time, the tournament -- which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation -- issued a terse statement saying that Woods also had canceled a pre-tournament news conference that was scheduled tomorrow at the Sherwood Country Club.
Woods’ accident occurred at 2:25 a.m. on Friday in front of his mansion near Orlando, Fla., when he backed his black Cadillac Escalade out of his driveway and then ran over a fire hydrant before hitting a tree on a neighbor’s property. The car’s front end was badly damaged and, according to police, Woods’ wife said she used a golf club to break through a window to remove him from the vehicle.
Woods was treated and released from a local hospital with injuries that included cuts on his face, authorities said.
But Woods has declined to speak with state troopers since then. He issued a statement Sunday saying the situation was “my fault” and “embarrassing,” but didn’t address any details of the accident that he termed “a private matter.”
Meantime, the Florida Highway Patrol is seeking a search warrant for hospital records that would document the treatment Woods received after the accident, TMZ.com is reporting, saying the police want to determine if the injuries Woods had came from an auto accident or domestic violence.
-- Jim Peltz