Life of Wry

The good news: Tiger Woods will be okay. The spectacular single-car accident this morning in which his car rolled and rolled and rolled (and yes, landed in the woods, on the side of a cliff), and resulted (so far) in numerous compound fractures to his legs, did not kill him. He’s alive and will live to see his two young kiddos grow up (if nothing else bad happens).

The bad news: Palos Verdes will probably be the place his golf career ended. That’s not a very nice distinction.

It was a bit shocking to be listening to CNN at the moment they interrupted coverage of Senate confirmation hearings to go live to Southern California, where, at the boarder of Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hill Estates, Tiger Woods had run his car off the road (Hawthorne Boulevard, right by Peninsula High School!), had been removed from the vehicle using the jaws of life (turned out not to be the case) and was being transported to the hospital.

Goodness!!

Well, I texted Betsy right away to find out if he’d been taken to Torrance Memorial … right to her ER! (But she didn’t answer right away and no he hadn’t). I then texted Matt and Chris and we had a nice three-way (text conversation) all about the details and tried to imagine what was going on — why was he there, where had he stayed, where was he going. Chris reminded us that that stretch of Hawthorne is very treacherous — lots of accidents — and even has a runaway ramp for trucks and cars out of control.

I watched more CNN … their coverage was breathless and hyped way up (but interesting to me for lots of reasons) and learned–finally during a press conference a couple hours later–that he was taken by ambulance to Harbor (now a UCLA trauma center.. but of course I know it well because I was a candy striper there, back in the day). We learned that he was lucid and aware when the police folks arrived (quickly, I might add!), and had likely just underestimated the nastiness of that road, taking the turn at too high a speed and just lost control of an unfamiliar vehicle. He’d been, as I guessed, staying at Terranea, and was on his way to an 8am shoot at the Rolling Hills Country Club… I think some kind of a Golf Digest tips for celebrities film gig.

For sure the world was paying attention for lots of legitimate reasons.. he’s more than just a golf legend as so many articulated (all afternoon!), and his talents, charisma, ground breaking and celebrity transcended the sport. I’m sad for him, but glad he’s okay, and hope he’ll claw his way back to some kind of showing on the golf course at some point. His is a complicated story, but mostly he’s a supremely talented world class athlete and a role model to lots of black kids. And a dad.