Tiger Woods delays interview
Amid a flurry of questions about his actions early Friday when he crashed an SUV at his Orlando-area mansion, Tiger Woods postponed an interview Saturday with Florida Highway Patrol troopers, but the golfer has agreed to be interviewed today, the agency said.
The interview was supposed to take place after 3 p.m. Saturday but was postponed shortly beforehand by Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg of IMG. Troopers were asked to return today, said Sgt. Kim Montes, an FHP spokeswoman. Woods’ wife, Elin, Friday told troopers seeking to interview Woods that he was sleeping. They agreed to return the next day.
Meanwhile, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has provided the 911 calls in the case to the highway patrol, the investigating agency. They will be released after a trooper determines whether they are needed as evidence, possibly today.
Woods, the world’s No. 1-ranked golfer, suffered facial cuts when he crashed into a fire hydrant and a neighbor’s tree while leaving his mansion about 2:25 a.m. Friday, said Windermere police, who initially responded to the call. There has been widespread speculation in the news media and among bloggers on what precipitated the accident, but no official account has emerged.
The 2009 Cadillac Escalade sustained between $5,000 and $8,000 in damage to the front right and left, troopers said. The left and right rear-side passenger windows were also broken out, but the FHP hasn’t determined how that happened, Montes said.
On Friday, Windermere officials said Woods’ wife told them she had smashed a window of the SUV with a golf club and pulled her husband out. Windermere police said that when they arrived, Woods was lying on the ground, dazed and bleeding from the lips and with blood in his mouth. The crash knocked Woods, 33, unconscious for about six minutes, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office, which does not investigate auto accidents but took the 911 calls, on Saturday issued a statement saying the information released by Windermere “may, in fact, be counterproductive to the ongoing investigation into this incident.” Windermere Police Chief Daniel Saylor did not return repeated phone calls.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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