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      Spieth and Fowler: Golf Prodigies Seek a Way Back From the Wilderness

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySpieth and Fowler: Golf Prodigies Seek a Way Back From the WildernessNot so long ago Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler were ascending PGA Tour stars. Now they feel each other’s pain and trade notes. Can they get their grooves back?Jordan Spieth, left, and Rickie Fowler during a practice round before the Charles Schwab Challenge last year.Credit…Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesMarch 3, 2021, 7:04 p.m. ETORLANDO, Fla. — It is remarkably difficult to be great at the highest level of golf at a young age. It is even harder to fail at golf after early triumphs.For the past year, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler, wunderkinds from the same generation who became close friends, have been living with the good and the bad of their precociousness.It is a peculiar type of purgatory because it is so public. “The hardest part,” Spieth said Wednesday, “is that it’s almost impossible to struggle in silence, in darkness, to get your work done in the dark.”Once among the game’s most spotlighted attractions, Spieth ranks 62nd in the world, even after a recent comeback. Fowler, equally popular, has slumped to 65th.The two now strive to quietly, even secretly, rebuild their golf games, but their celebrity denies them a necessary haven from scrutiny.“There’s just going to be so much noise around and so much emphasis on results versus the true understanding of what your end goal is and how much time that can take in golf,” Spieth, 27, said of the restorative process.Basic competency at the game deserts every golfer periodically, and it’s no different for the world’s best players, although their definition of basic competency is quite different. But a bewildered recreational golfer and a confused, 90th-ranked PGA Tour pro are the same in this way: Each can disappear to the unobserved end of the practice range to try to reclaim — or more likely revise — a swing gone wrong.When something similar happens to a three-time major winner like Spieth — or to Fowler, a Players Championship winner who has finished second at the Masters, the British Open and the United States Open (and third at the P.G.A. Championship) — there is no escaping to a private spot for a mental and physical rebuild. Instead, the fits and starts of reinventing their golf games are chronicled and evaluated day by day, double bogey by double bogey.Which is not how anyone escapes from golf hell.“It’s tough for all of us that are involved, from my caddie to my wife — she’s having to deal with me at home,” Fowler, 32, said Tuesday near the practice range for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which begins Thursday. “I’m trying to be the best husband that I can, not bringing golf back home, but when you’re out on the road that long, on the grind and putting in the work at home, it’s pretty much been all golf.”Fowler’s biggest hobby away from golf has been fishing. His slump has curtailed that as well.“A lot of people have asked, ‘Have you been able to fish much at home?’” he said. “But not really, no, because the days that I have off I just take completely off. Everything else has been workout, therapy and golf.”Fowler, as optimistic a player as there is on the PGA Tour, smiled. It is his go-to reaction. But even he had to concede, “It’s frustrating.”For Spieth, whose world ranking dropped to 82nd at the end of last season, troubles with his golf game emerged in 2018-19. First he tried just to find his way back to the promised land, a place he had inhabited as a 20-year-old, when he was three strokes away from becoming the youngest Masters winner ever. In time, as Spieth failed to return to the winner’s circle, myriad issues were cited: his alignment, his putting, his confidence, his ability to finish on the weekends of tournaments.Away from the golf course, Spieth worked as furtively as he could on a subtle but consequential swing modification, and on something simpler: consistency. In his last three tournaments, he has been rejuvenated, tying for fourth, third and 15th, his best three-event stretch since mid-2019.That rally has led reporters to ask if Spieth has tried to counsel Fowler, who in his last 10 events dating to October 2020 has missed the cut four times and finished outside the top 25 four other times.Spieth said the two had talked with each other, and he acknowledged that there were similarities between his struggles and Fowler’s. But in many ways, Spieth said, it still comes back to the notion that change is hard in golf, even for those once called prodigies.“He’s trying to make changes with an end goal to be more consistent and better than he ever was — and they’re significant changes,” Spieth said. “So it’s not going to be easy. You can’t just continue to compete and win while you’re trying to make big changes. These guys are too good out here.”But Spieth has faith in his buddy, the former shaggy-haired young wizard who turned pro when he was 20.“He’s got a lot more people in his corner than are not and that believe in him, and he believes in himself,” Spieth said.Fowler vowed not to be distracted by the focus on what he called “his valley.”“It’s a matter of time,” he said. But he added, “I’m ready to be past that.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Collin Morikawa Wins Workday Title on a Day of Tributes to Woods

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Tiger Woods’s Car CrashWoods Undergoes More ProceduresWill He Play Again?Golf Without TigerA Terrible Turn of FateHonoring WoodsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCollin Morikawa Wins Workday Title on a Day of Tributes to WoodsMorikawa, 24, who won the 2020 P.G.A. Championship in August, is doing things only Tiger Woods had done before turning 25.Collin Morikawa celebrated after winning the Workday Championship on Sunday in Bradenton, Fla.Credit…Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressFeb. 28, 2021, 9:20 p.m. ETBRADENTON, Fla. — Although he was atop the leaderboard, Collin Morikawa stumbled repeatedly on Saturday and Sunday at the PGA Tour’s Workday Championship, even calling one of his setbacks “stupidity at its finest.”But surmounting the unsettling vicissitudes of golf with a winning, steely resolve is becoming the hallmark of Morikawa’s career. Such a performance seemed especially appropriate on Sunday when tour players and fans honored Tiger Woods by wearing red shirts and black pants, Woods’s signature final-round outfit.In the end, Morikawa, 24, confidently persevered with a three-stroke victory in the World Golf Championship event to join Woods as the only player to win a major golf championship and a World Golf Championship event before age 25. Like many in the tournament’s field, Morikawa, who won last year’s P.G.A. Championship in August, grew up idolizing Woods. Standing next to the 18th green Sunday evening, Morikawa said of Woods, who remained hospitalized after a car crash in Los Angeles County, Calif., on Tuesday, “Tiger means everything to me.”He added: “I don’t think we say thank you enough, so I want to say thank you to Tiger because sometimes you lose people too early.”Morikawa mentioned Kobe Bryant and his paternal grandfather, Toshio, who he said died a month ago.“You don’t get to say thank you enough,” Morikawa said.The third-round leader, Morikawa turned in a Woods-like performance on Sunday, holding off the strongest tour field so far this year. It was Morikawa’s fourth PGA Tour victory, a stunning turnaround from his first, inglorious moment in the tour spotlight only eight months ago.At the Charles Schwab Classic in June, which was the first tournament last year after the men’s tour’s 90-day layoff because of the pandemic, Morikawa missed a three-foot putt that ended a two-man playoff that he lost. Just three events later, he won his first pro tournament, then added the P.G.A. Championship. Morikawa has ascended to sixth in the world rankings with a string of steady performances.Going through the crucible of successfully defending his third-round lead at the Concession Golf Club could be a springboard to more victories.“It makes me a little more comfortable after sleeping on the lead knowing that guys were ready to go low today,” Morikawa said. “I do feel confident.”Morikawa did not wear a red shirt in the final round, although his clothing manufacturer shipped him one. He said weather might have delayed the arrival.Morikawa was pursued on Sunday by two other young hotshots, Viktor Hovland, 23, and Scottie Scheffler, 24. He also had to fend off Brooks Koepka, a four-time major winner. Hovland made eight birdies to pressure Morikawa, who entered the final round with a two-stroke lead, but he faltered with bogeys on the 14th and 16th holes and finished in a three-way tie for second. Scheffler also had eight birdies, but a double bogey on the par-4 16th hole was his undoing and dropped him to fifth place. Koepka had an up-and-down round with five birdies and three bogeys, which stalled his charge, although he managed to tie Hovland and Billy Horschel for second.On Saturday, after Morikawa three-putted the 13th hole to make bogey, he called the outcome “stupidity at its finest.” He three-putted the 13th hole again on Sunday, but this time it led to a par, which was all he needed at the time to hold on to his three-stroke lead.“I said that yesterday because I psyched myself out before I even played the 13th hole,” Morikawa said of his “stupidity” remark. “But I learned from yesterday.” More

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      Honoring Tiger Woods, in Red and Black

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      Honoring Tiger Woods, in Red and BlackPhelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressTo honor Tiger Woods, who remains hospitalized after a car crash, a number of PGA Tour golfers, like Tommy Fleetwood and Cameron Champ, wore his signature final-round outfit at the Workday Championship on Sunday.See more of the tributes → More

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      The Impact and Influence of Tiger Woods: Here. There. Everywhere.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Tiger Woods’s Car CrashWill Woods Play Again?Sheriff Expects No ChargesGolf Without TigerA Terrible Turn of FateCareer Highs and LowsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOn GolfThe Impact and Influence of Tiger Woods: Here. There. Everywhere.From fitness trailers to fist pumps and golf’s global representation, the star, recovering in the hospital after a serious car crash, has a hefty presence at a PGA tournament even when he’s not playing in it.Tiger Woods’s shadow loomed large Thursday at a World Golf Championship event, the first on the PGA tour since the news of his car crash.Credit…Erik S Lesser/EPA, via ShutterstockFeb. 25, 2021Updated 7:59 p.m. ETBRADENTON, Fla. — Tiger Woods was never expected to play in the first round of the PGA Tour event held Thursday in Central Florida. It did not matter. His presence, his influence, the impact of his life and career was evident throughout the grounds.If this is at least the beginning of the end of the Woods era in golf, in the wake of his serious car crash Tuesday, the setting at the Concession Golf Club, where the tournament is being held, revealed much about what he has meant to the sport and the almost incalculable change he has wrought.It was nearly impossible to look in any direction and not see Woods’s imprint.On the serpentine drive into the golf course, multiple, extra-wide trailers labeled “Player Performance Center” lined the road. They are mobile fitness facilities chock-full of treadmills and advanced exercise equipment.It would now be unthinkable to host a PGA Tour event without them, and the trailers log about 25,000 miles annually to keep up with the 100-plus pro golfers whose exacting workouts are now a sacrosanct part of their tournament regimens.Roughly 25 years ago, more PGA Tour players probably smoked than worked out during an event. What changed?Tiger Woods turned pro in 1996, won the Masters a year later and two months after that made the fastest ascent to No. 1 in the world golf rankings. Moreover, he was a workout freak, had started beefing up and his prodigious drives would soon spawn the redesign of top golf courses around the world.Golfers back then were a hodgepodge of shapes, some with bellies that bulged over gaudy white belts. It was an image that perpetuated the notion that golf was not a sport. There is a different look on the tour these days, and a short walk from the fitness trailers to the practice range would prove it.From behind the range, one could assess the form and movements of several dozen top golfers whose ages ranged from about 20 to 40. Nearly all had trim, athletic builds — and flat stomachs. They swung ferociously hard, yet never seemed out of balance, a compliment to their conditioning and developed strength and flexibility. Most had learned and honed that mix of pliancy and power from watching a single uber-dedicated golfer, their idol, Tiger Woods. Even the swing coaches who stood by the golfers had studied and memorized every Woods move before he had turned 30 years old. In other words, by the time he had won his 10th major championship.Just beyond the range was the first tee, and the path leading to it was awash in the emblems of corporate sponsors. Professional golf had always been supported by commercial interests but that relationship blossomed exponentially as Woods came up on the scene with a memorable Nike television advertisement when he stared into the camera and said: “Hello, world.”Thursday, there was a scoreboard near the first tee encircled by not one, but seven logos from tournament sponsors. The prize money for the one-week event is $10.5 million, or around five times what PGA Tour tournaments paid before Woods turned pro.This week’s event is a World Golf Championship event, a collaborative effort to periodically bring together the best players from tours in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. There were no world championships until 1999, by which time Woods, whose multicultural background had helped golf explode internationally, had won two majors and 13 PGA Tour events (and, of course, he won two of the three inaugural World Golf Championships in 1999).As play began in the first round, long putts dropped and players celebrated with uppercut, clenched fist pumps. There was no reason to ask where they learned such a signature move. They wore eye-catching colors made by top designers who earned most of their revenue outside golf and their garb was embossed with the logos of sponsors whose customers might not even be golfers: luxury car manufactures, credit card companies, premium watch makers. Woods pioneered such crossover appeal.It did not matter where one walked. Woods was here. Wednesday, Rory McIlroy, a four-time major winner who grew up idolizing Woods and now considers him a close friend, was asked if the players in this week’s field had considered some kind of tribute to Woods. McIlroy shook his head back and forth.“He’s not gone,” McIlroy said. “I feel like we should pay tribute to him every day for being on the PGA Tour and what he’s done for golf.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Bill Wright, Who Broke a Color Barrier in Golf, Dies at 84

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyBill Wright, Who Broke a Color Barrier in Golf, Dies at 84In 1959, decades before Tiger Woods, Wright became the first Black golfer to win a United States Golf Association event.Bill Wright in the Amateur Public Links Championship in Denver in 1959. His victory there was a singular moment for Black golfers at a time when the P.G.A. bylaws still had a “Caucasians-only” clause.Credit…Denver Post, via Getty ImagesFeb. 25, 2021, 6:56 p.m. ETBill Wright, the first Black competitor to win a United States Golf Association event in an era when African-Americans were not welcome either in segregated country clubs or in the top amateur and professional ranks, died on Feb. 19 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 84.His wife and only immediate survivor, Ceta (Smith) Wright, confirmed the death. She said he had a stroke in 2017 and had Alzheimer’s disease.Wright was attending the Western Washington College of Education (now Western Washington University) in 1959 when he won the U.S.G.A. Amateur Public Links Championship in Denver.After barely qualifying for match play, he had little trouble in the tournament. His skill on the greens led The Spokesman-Review of Spokane to call him a “slender putting wizard.”Wright’s immediate reaction to being the first Black golfer to win a national championship was to hang up the phone on the reporter who had asked how that felt.“I wasn’t mad,” he said in an interview with the U.S.G.A. in 2009. “I wanted to be Black. I wanted to be the winner. I wanted to be all those things.” But he was struck by how quickly his victory was viewed as one for his race. As he saw it, he said, “I was just playing golf.”Wright’s victory was a singular moment for Black golfers at a time when the P.G.A. of America’s bylaws still had a “Caucasians-only” clause (which would be abolished in 1961).A Black man did not win a PGA Tour event until 1964, when Pete Brown finished first at the Waco Turner Open in Texas. The next two African-American winners of U.S.G.A. tournaments were Alton Duhon (the 1982 U.S. Senior Amateur) and Tiger Woods (the 1991 to 1993 U.S. Junior Amateurs).Victoria Nenno, the senior historian of the USGA Golf Museum and Library, said in an email that Wright’s victory “deserves recognition not just for the challenges he overcame as an African-American golfer, but for the manner in which he won — with skill, precision and, most importantly, sportsmanship.”Winning the public links title earned Wright an exemption to play in the U.S. Amateur Championship later that year at the Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs. When the white golfers who were to join him for a practice round refused to play with him, Chick Evans, who had won the Open in 1920, invited him to join his group. That group included Jack Nicklaus, then 19 years old, who would win the event.“I have never forgotten it,” Wright once said of Evans’s gesture in an interview for usga.com. “He came over and made it so I could enjoy the most aristocratic hotel. It was just amazing.”William Alfred Wright was born on April 4, 1936, in Kansas City, Mo., and later moved with his family to Portland, Ore., and Seattle. His father, Bob, was a mail carrier and a skilled golfer. His mother, Madeline (Shipman) Wright, was a social worker who also golfed.Wright began playing golf at 14; a year later, he was Seattle’s junior champion. He excelled in basketball and helped his high school team win a state title in 1954. He graduated from Western Washington in 1960 and that year won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ individual golf championship. He also played in his first PGA Tour event in 1960, but learned how difficult it was to play a regular schedule without sponsors.“There was really no visible hope for people of color to play professionally,” Wendell Haskins, a former director of diversity for the P.G.A. of America, said in a phone interview. “He showed all kinds of promise, but the opportunities for him were limited.”Because he could not afford to play golf professionally full time, Wright taught sixth grade in Los Angeles for nine years, then owned a car dealership in Pasadena and was the teaching pro at the Lakes at El Segundo, a nine-hole municipal golf course, from 1995 to 2017.According to the PGA Tour, Wright played in at least 17 tournaments from 1960 to 1974 — his best finish was a tie for 40th place — and in nine PGA Tour Champions events (tournaments for golfers at least 50 years old) from 1988 to 1995. He also competed in the 1966 U.S. Open — he didn’t make the cut — and five U.S. Senior Opens.“He was a barrier breaker,” Ceta Wright said. “The sad part is that he hoped his success would open the doors for other Black golfers. But it really didn’t.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Tiger Woods and Another Terrible Turn of Fate

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Tiger Woods’s Car CrashWill He Play Again?Sheriff Expects No ChargesGolf Without WoodsA Terrible Turn of FateCareer Highs and LowsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySports of the TimesTiger Woods and Another Terrible Turn of FateIt is easy to cling to memories of Tiger Woods at his peaks, but his vulnerability tells as much, if not more, about his powerful hold on sport and culture.Tiger Woods at Augusta National Golf Club in 2019, when he won his fifth Masters title and his 15th major championship.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York TimesFeb. 25, 2021Updated 8:08 a.m. ETThe sight of his demolished S.U.V., sitting forlornly on a grassy Southern California hillside, belied the image of Tiger Woods as an invincible force marching across the golf course to certain, thrilling triumph.That was not always the case, and lately his victories have been far from commanding. But so much is embodied in Tiger. And in this period of pandemic and relentless loss, we struggle to confront visions of a crumpled vehicle, of him lying in a hospital bed, of leg bones shattered and questions about whether he will play again — while still dissecting who he is and what he has wrought.What happened to the sterling athlete who so many expected to reshape the game of golf and even, perhaps, the broader culture?Woods’s greatness, once seemingly preordained, has been dimmed over the past dozen years by stunning falls from grace and by betrayal from his body.But many of us still cling to him, even if it means grasping at shards of memory. We remember the prodigy who burst into view on the nationally televised “Mike Douglas Show,” hitting putts at age 2.We remember his Stanford years and the Masters of 1997, the first of 15 major titles, won in history-making fashion at age 21.When you think of Woods, what comes to mind?After his first Masters victory in 1997, Woods received his green jacket from Nick Faldo, the previous year’s winner.Credit…Amy Sancetta/Associated PressIs he the superstar who lived for toppling records? Who grew up with his eyes fixed on breaking Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 major championships? Recall that there was a time when this seemed like an audacious, even arrogant, goal. Then he set about the chase, quickly drawing oh-so-near to Nicklaus, major after major. Is he the golfer whose very presence in a largely segregated, upper-crust sport was not only startling, but also a harbinger of the issues that frame our world today?With his shimmering brown skin, his power and confidence, Woods blew down the doors of the all-white country clubs. Remember the snide and easy way in which the golf veteran Fuzzy Zoeller referred to Woods as “that little boy”? Or Zoeller’s publicly urging Woods not to put fried chicken and collard greens on the menu of the Masters’ champions dinner?That was the golf culture Woods strode into, and took over, as the world watched.But how did he see himself? Here things get tricky. Raised in predominantly white suburbs by a mother from Thailand and an African-American father, Woods was one of the first major sports figures to openly embrace the idea that he represented multiplicity. “Growing up,” he told Oprah Winfrey shortly after that first Masters win, “I came up with this name: I’m a Cablinasian.”In a world that struggles to go beyond placing race in tidy boxes, that comment alienated some of his most ardent supporters. But if he was chided for seeming to keep his Blackness at a distance, it didn’t dent his popularity. No matter how Woods defined himself, he was imbued with a certain power. Forever the trailblazer and talisman. He put a torch to the old order. That was enough.Then came 2009, and a troubling descent. It began with tabloid tales of the married Woods engaging in serial infidelity. Eventually his deepest flaws were exposed: his illicit texts, his trysts, his trips to rehab as he battled addiction.Woods frustrated at a tournament in 2018.Credit…Sam Hodgson for The New York TimesWoods was among the first transcendent sports stars to emerge at the dawn of the digital age. His aura, his race, his swagger and shotmaking, the club twirls and fist bumps and miracle shots — all of it was perfectly suited for YouTube and the rise of sports apps that feast on fleeting moments and sensational emotion.The digital age also magnified his troubles. Each imperfection was there to see, personal and professional. For much of a decade, as the advancing years wreaked havoc on his body and the surgeries piled up, Woods was a shadow of his former self. Heading into 2019, he had not won a major tournament in nearly 11 years.Yet Woods somehow remained swaddled in Teflon. The revelation of his human frailties cost him plenty of fans and endorsements. But a significant portion of his admirers forgave and forgot. The continued embrace was a willful act by a public all too eager to dole out second and third chances to a winner. Especially a winner like Woods.He continued to be a top draw, a global icon, even as he grimaced through season after season, age and injury taking an ever-steeper toll. At one point, he was ranked 1,119th in the world. But then came April 2019, and the Masters. Summoning every remnant of his former self, he surged to victory, legions celebrating his fifth champion’s green jacket.Nobody who watched that tournament will forget it. Not just the stirring comeback, but the sight of Woods wrapping his son, Charlie, and his daughter, Sam, in his arms as he walked from the final green. It called to mind the embrace given by Woods’s father, Earl, after the Masters win in 1997. It spoke, too, of poignant change in the face of time. Woods was no longer the soaring young champion, but he could still reach the highest peaks, if only in short bursts.Woods after winning the 2019 Masters, his first major victory in over a decade. Credit…Doug Mills/The New York TimesApril 2019 feels so long ago, given all that the world has gone through this past year.And now this. On Tuesday we saw the remains of that S.U.V. and waited for the updates. We shuddered, remembering Kobe Bryant’s helicopter, strewn across another Southern California hillside just over a year ago.We listened as a sheriff and his deputies described the wreckage, explaining that Woods was lucky to be alive and that drugs and alcohol did not appear to be involved. They said he had been pried from his vehicle and carried off on a stretcher.“Unfortunately,” said one of them, “Mr. Woods was not able to stand on his own power.”How could such a circumstance befall Tiger Woods, who strode across majestic golf courses with so much purpose? It was a reminder, once again, that heroes are human, full of weakness, unable to dodge the terrible twists of fate that stalk us all.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Will Tiger Woods Play Golf Again? Doctors Predict a Difficult Recovery

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Tiger Woods’s Car CrashWill He Play Again?Sheriff Expects No ChargesGolf Without WoodsCareer Highs and LowsEven before Tuesday’s crash, Tiger Woods’s career had been hampered by injuries in his neck, back, knee and lower legs.Credit…Illustration by Tim Oliver/The New York Times; Photograph by Rob Carr/Getty ImagesSkip to contentSkip to site indexWill Tiger Woods Play Golf Again? Doctors Predict a Difficult RecoveryAfter a serious car crash on Tuesday, he risks infections, bones that do not heal, and foot and ankle injuries that impede walking.Even before Tuesday’s crash, Tiger Woods’s career had been hampered by injuries in his neck, back, knee and lower legs.Credit…Illustration by Tim Oliver/The New York Times; Photograph by Rob Carr/Getty ImagesSupported byContinue reading the main storyFeb. 24, 2021Updated 9:33 p.m. ETThe serious lower leg injuries Tiger Woods sustained in a car crash on Tuesday typically lead to a long and perilous recovery, calling into question his ability to play professional golf again, according to medical experts who have treated similar injuries.Athletes with severe leg injuries thought to doom their careers have managed to come back — the quarterback Alex Smith returned to playing football last season after a gruesome leg break, and the golfer Ben Hogan returned decades ago after a car accident.But Woods’s injuries are more extensive, and his path to recovery is strewn with serious obstacles. Infections, inadequate bone healing and, in Woods’s case, previous injuries and chronic back problems may make a monthslong or even yearslong recovery more difficult, and may reduce the chances that he will play again.In the accident near Los Angeles, Woods’s lower right leg was smashed and his right foot severely injured, and his leg muscles swelled so much that surgeons had to cut open the tissue covering them to relieve pressure, Dr. Anish Mahajan, the chief medical officer at Harbor-U.C.L.A. Medical Center, where Woods, 45, was treated, wrote in a Twitter message posted on Woods’s account.Doctors also inserted a rod into Woods’s shin bone, and screws and pins into his foot and ankle. Physicians familiar with these kinds of injuries described the complications they typically bring.The injuries are frequently seen among drivers involved in car accidents, said Dr. R. Malcolm Smith, the chief of orthopedic trauma at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass. Usually they occur when the driver frantically stomps on the brake as a car careens out of control.When the front end of the car is smashed, immense force is transmitted to the driver’s right leg and foot. “This happens every day with car crashes in this country,” Dr. Smith said.Such lower-leg fractures on occasion bring “massive disability” and other grave consequences, said Dr. Smith. “A very rough estimate is that there is a 70 percent chance of it healing completely,” he added.The crash caused a cascade of injuries. It smashed Woods’s shin bones, with primary breaks in the top and bottom parts of the bones and a scattering of bone fragments. When the bones in Woods’s shin shattered, they damaged muscles and tendons; pieces poked from his skin.The trauma caused bleeding and swelling in his leg, threatening his muscles. Surgeons had to quickly cut into the layer of thick tissue covering his leg muscles to relieve the swelling. Had they not, the tissue that covers swelling muscle would have acted like a tourniquet, constricting blood flow. The muscle can die within four to six hours.It is possible that some muscle died anyway, between the accident and the surgery, Dr. Smith said: “Once you lose it, you cannot get it back.” More