The Malaysian Insider

FLORIDA, Nov 30 — The golfer Tiger Woods on Sunday said that the car accident that sent him to the hospital early Friday morning was his fault and “has become embarrassing” to him and his family.

“I’m human and I’m not perfect,” he said in a statement on tigerwoods.com, his Web site, before adding: “It’s a private matter and I want to keep it that way.” He also said that “malicious” rumours about him and his family were irresponsible.

Just before his statement was published, the Florida Highway Patrol announced in an e-mail message that Mark Nejame, a lawyer, had contacted officials to say that he was representing Woods and that the interview the troopers had scheduled with Woods had been cancelled.

The highway patrol also released the 911 call made by one of Woods’s neighbours following the accident, with a man saying “A car has hit the pole” with his “neighbour lying on the ground.” In the 4-minute call, the man says, “I need an ambulance immediately. I have someone down in front of my house. They hit a pole.”

In his statement yesterday, Woods said: “I have some cuts, bruising and right now I’m pretty sore.”

The traffic crash remains under investigation and charges are pending, according to Sgt Kim Montes, a spokeswoman for the highway patrol. Earlier in the day, she had said that troopers would interview Woods after they reported to duty at about 3 pm, more than two days after the accident, but later issued a statement saying that the meeting did not happen.

“The troopers went to the house to see if they could speak with Woods”, she said, adding that his “attorney was present” and said the golfer was unavailable for an interview, but the lawyer provided troopers with Woods’s “driver’s license information, registration and current proof of insurance as required by Florida Law.

“The crash investigation is ongoing and charges are pending,” Sergeant Montes said.

Woods was not required to speak to the police, The Orlando Sentinel reported. When police officials showed up at the athlete’s home in Windermere, Fla, near Orlando, on Friday, his wife Elin told them he was sleeping. On Saturday, Woods’s agent, Mark Steinberg, scheduled the interview for yesterday.

“It’s unusual, but I will say it’s happened before,” Sgt Montes told The Associated Press. “This is not the first time that we’ve gone back to get a statement from a driver. ... We try and give the driver every opportunity to tell us their side of the story before we complete our investigation.”

Sgt Montes told The Orlando Sentinel that Woods had not been given a breath test or a blood or urine test. But she said such tests would not be conducted unless a trooper had probable cause for doing so, such as the finding of a liquor bottle in a car or the smell of alcohol on someone’s breath.

Wood crashed his 2009 Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant and a neighbour’s tree as he was backing out of his driveway early Friday morning in the gated community of Isleworth, an Orlando suburb where many high-profile athletes live. He sustained cuts to his upper and lower lips and was left unconscious for some time, according to an incident report. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where was treated and released in good condition.

But subsequent reports indicate that his wife had to smash a car window with a golf club in order to get Woods out of the car.

According to experts who advise high-profile athletes and celebrities, every hour that passed without word from Woods might have proved damaging to his image by allowing an online rumour mill to produce conjecture and opinion.

“I think the next 24 hours are critical that Tiger addresses this publicly,” Steve Rosner, the founder of 16W Marketing, who represented the former Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor, said on Saturday. “I understand it’s a personal matter, but because of who he is in the sports world, not only domestically but worldwide, I think it would help for him to put in his own words what transpired.”

Mike Paul, the founder of MGP & Associates, a public relations firm, said that 5,151 stories have been published worldwide in electronic or print form since the incident.

“My advice to Tiger is pretty simple,” Paul said on Saturday. “Own it, say it yourself, say it yourself with full conviction and responsibility and get it out of the way.

“You have an opportunity to change rumour and innuendo into truth. Moving past fear and doubt — that’s something they did not do well during the first 24 hours.” Indeed, Woods wrote on his Web site: “This incident has been stressful and very difficult for Elin, our family and me. I appreciate all the concern and well wishes that we have received. But, I would also ask for some understanding that my family and I deserve some privacy no matter how intrusive some people can be.” On Saturday, Sgt Montes told the news media in an e-mail message: “We will not be addressing any rumours or other scenarios. If our investigation takes us in a different direction, we will let the media know.” Woods, 33, was lying on the street unconscious near his vehicle for nearly five minutes, according to an incident report released by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, which received the initial 911 call from an Isleworth resident.

Woods and his 29-year-old wife of five years have two children, Sam Alexis, 2, and Charlie Axel, born in February. The couple married in October 2004.

Much of the speculation in the news media about the cause and nature of the incident stemmed from reports from the Windermere, Fla, police chief, Daniel Saylor, who said Friday that Woods’s wife used a golf club to break the rear window of the SUV to help extricate Woods.

Regarding speculation about the incident, Woods wrote yesterday: “My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.”

Chief Saylor told reporters that when officers arrived on the scene, Woods was “drifting out of consciousness.” He was taken to the hospital 23 minutes after officers from the sheriff’s office arrived and was later released.

According to information from the dispatchers, and released by the sheriff’s office, Woods was lying on the street unconscious at 2:29:20 am At 2:33:49, the dispatcher reported that the “male is breathing.”

Chief Saylor said Friday that Woods sustained cuts to his upper and lower lips and that there was blood in his mouth. Saylor said Woods was treated on scene for 10 minutes. The dispatch report shows that at 2:52 am, Woods was transported to Health Central Hospital in Ocoee. He was treated and released Friday in good condition, a spokesman for Woods said. — New York Times