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Tiger Woods Injured in Car Crash. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired February 23, 2021 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Seeing the images of this crash, Brianna, I mean, it just -- it just, like you said, puts a terrible feeling in your stomach. You're hopeful he is OK.

But he was struggling to come back with the injuries he already had.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes.

SCHOLES: If he suffered more serious injuries in this crash, Brianna, we could be looking at the end of Tiger Woods' golf career. And here's just hoping he's OK.

KEILAR: Yes. And right now, we're just hoping he is OK.

Andy, thank you so much for that.

We did just get some information, I should say, from Tiger Woods' agent.

I'm going to hand off now to Brooke Baldwin, so that she can pick up the news from here, as we are covering right now Tiger Woods in a car crash, solo vehicle, sole occupant in a vehicle that rolled over and was removed by the jaws of life. He is right now suffering moderate to critical injuries. He's in the hospital. We're awaiting more details.

Our coverage will continue right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: All right, here we go. Let's take it from here. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being here with me.

Just a massive, massive story we're following right now, just gut- wrenching images here of this car. This was Tiger Woods car in Southern California as it clearly crashed in these woods. This is the area, if you know, Southern California, the border of Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes in L.A.

He had to be pulled out of this car by the emergency authorities with the jaws of life. So, just let me just set everyone up with that, in case you're just tuning in. He was the only person in this car. This happened right around 7:00, 7:20 this morning, Pacific Coast Time. So, again, this was a number of hours ago. It rolled over. What we're looking at is the aftermath. And let me just be honest with

all of you. We don't know a lot. The pictures tell part of the story. We're also hearing bits and pieces as far as he has been taken to the hospital. He was taken to UCLA Harbor.

And we're getting a little bit from his agent that he has suffered injuries to his legs. Beyond that, that's what we know. We know he had just been recouping off of back surgery number five, but how he is at this very moment, we don't know.

Alex Field is live for me right now this afternoon just trying to put together the bits and pieces that we do have.

And so, Alex, what do you know?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, look, this is news that's going to ripple across the world. Fans are going to be waiting by the minute to hear updates, certainly his family members, and that is what's most important right now.

We need to know more about the extent of these injuries. You mentioned some leg injuries. We have been talking about possibly moderate to critical injuries here. You do see the picture of that car that was rolled over where he had to be pulled out by the jaws of life.

But these updates are going to have to come from the hospital and those closest to him. We're talking about someone who has certainly defied the odds throughout his long career, a 15-time major champion, at the age of 45, still fighting, still talking about trying to go to the Masters in just a couple of months.

But this is, again, somebody who has been plagued by so many physical setbacks. We have been talking about the fact that he just underwent his fifth back operation. He's been recovering from a procedure earlier this year. We know that the focus has been there. We know that he is a fighter. He's been saying he hopes that he will get to the Masters this year

That's secondary right now. But there's been a toll that's been taken on his body. of course. He was talking just days ago about the fact that he's been doing extensive rehab, the fact that he has been in the gym. He says he's been sore, just really looking to see if his back will do it for him now in terms of the golf game, but really incredible questions now about what kind of condition he could be in.

Again, it's a single car rollover crash. That's how it's being described by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He was the only person in it. He is being treated at a hospital. And Brooke, we're just going to have to wait for these updates to keep coming.

BALDWIN: Just seeing these pictures loop over and over, the pieces of the car. It's awful.

Alex, thank you. As you get more information, we will put you back on TV. I'd mentioned off the top that we had heard from his agent about some

leg injuries. Let me be specific. According to his agent, who -- by the name of Mark Steinberg, he talked to "Golf Digest." And so the quote is that Tiger Woods suffered multiple leg injuries and -- quote -- "He is currently in surgery. And we thank you for your privacy and your support."

Christine Brennan, I have been listening to you the last couple of minutes with Brianna. And now I want to put you on TV once again.

Obviously, it's awful. We don't know a lot, as far as more specific on the injuries. But talk to me first just about what why he was in L.A. He was in a golf tournament just over the weekend, wasn't he?

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CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: He was yes.

He was -- the PGA Tour was in L.A. And he actually appeared on television with the broadcasters with CBS for a couple minutes to talk about his future, because, of course, Tiger Woods is one of the biggest names not just in golf, Brooke, as you well know, but throughout sports and throughout culture.

BALDWIN: He's a legend

BRENNAN: Oh, my gosh, I mean, it's a first-name basis, Tiger.

And there are people now in their 20s who've grown up and have never known a day without Tiger Woods as a force in their life, right, and as a part of our culture, and the conversation and the ups and downs of Tiger's life.

And, again, these pictures are really tough to look at, and you hope -- I have covered him for years. I know him. You just hope for the best and obviously great concern here, of course. As journalists, we're covering a story, but he's a human being. And he's a dad, and he's a son.

And you care very, very much about that. But, yes, the focus for Tiger was -- you mentioned the back surgery, another one. He's 45, but he has the body of about a 75-year-old in terms of injuries over the years that he has had.

And yet he's come back time and again. And he -- two years ago, he won the Masters. And so he -- the talk was that he could come back. And he said: I don't even know what the plan is yet.

And, of course, with the Masters, what, five, six weeks away, that was concerning, that was troublesome. That was over the weekend. Now that seems like a million years ago, because instead of worrying about if Tiger is going to play (AUDIO GAP) major one, one that he loves so much, the Masters, of course, now we're looking at and hearing stories about, is he OK, what are his injuries?

In surgery, as you said, Mark Steinberg is saying. Mark has been with Tiger throughout the length of his career. They are inseparable. So, when Mark Steinberg says something about Tiger, he knows what he's talking about.

And so those are the concerns now, of course.

BALDWIN: The juxtaposition, just on screen, where -- rolling through these pictures of Tiger Woods, of course, in the green jacket down at Augusta, as you point out, off this fifth back surgery, people hoping to see him down on the course in Georgia in April.

And then to see the pictures of this car, the fact that he had to be pulled out of it, because -- with the jaws of life, obviously speaks to the extraordinarily serious nature of this crash and the fact that he is in surgery, according to his agent.

Can you also speak to you -- listen, America loves a legend. America also loves a good comeback story. And to know that he actually had come back in 2019, and in that green jacket, he'd won the Masters after that those DUI pictures from just a short few years ago in 2017, just remind us the arc of his more recent career.

BRENNAN: It really starts, the second act, or maybe the third or fourth act for Tiger, started with a car crash also, obviously one that was far less consequential than this one clearly looks to be, in 2009, when he ran into a fire hydrant and then a tree outside of his house.

This was an accident that then sparked this downward spiral, Brooke, of his life and his image as a role model, where his family life was torn apart. And we found out a lot of sordid details about Tiger and his personal life.

And from that moment on, which was 2000 -- November, Thanksgiving 2009, going into 2010, he started to rebuild his image. And he was coming back and he got back to number one again in golf. And all of these things started to happen. It was almost an improbable second act comeback story.

Then, in 2017, there was the DUI in Florida. And when I say the DUI, I think a lot of people might remember the mug shot picture and also...

BALDWIN: The photos.

BRENNAN: Yes, and the videos, the dashboard videos of him trying to walk and trying to do all the things that they do on sobriety tests, and he was in jail for during that time, was taken to jail and obviously taken out.

So, the point is, he's had these stops and starts. That was very concerning. That was painkillers and other drugs put together. Obviously, he's had a lot of injuries, a lot of surgeries. And he said he got addicted to painkillers.

So then...

(CROSSTALK) BALDWIN: But he came back. He came back.

BRENNAN: He did.

And it was 2019 at the Masters, almost two years ago, one of the great moments in sports history. I know that sounds like hyperbole, Brooke, but it really was. This man who had basically just been left on the discard pile in sports -- like, no way can Tiger win another major -- and, of course, he won the Masters, with his daughter and his son watching. So heartfelt, so heartwarming, really one of the sports stories of the year in 2019.

And so that's where we have kind of left Tiger. He's been playing sporadically until he had this fifth back surgery recently, and, of course, has not been playing.

So he's 45 years old. It is remarkable that he is having -- has had these second and third chances in his career. It speaks to how talented he is as an athlete, as a competitor. There's no one better. If you wanted to -- whether it's tiddlywinks or World War III, you wanted Tiger Woods on your side, because he just (AUDIO GAP) to lose.

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And that's the man that Americans and around the -- I think that fans around the world have grown to love.

BALDWIN: How many years -- I mean, he was so young when he first, right, was starting to play golf.

Can you just speak to just how this has been really in his blood his entire life? And also I recognize that, of course, we're focusing on the golfer Tiger Woods, the legend Tiger Woods, but he was also -- he is also a father.

BRENNAN: Well, he is. He has a daughter who plays soccer and a son who plays golf. And they actually just played in a father-son event a few months ago that was delightful and entertaining, to see his son now as a young kid who can play golf as well and had some of the same swagger as his dad. People got a real kick out of that. And his daughter is a really good soccer player.

So, they're -- he's a sports dad. He loves to have his kids playing sports, and watching them play sports. But going back, as you asked, back when Tiger first came on the scene, he was you know, 2, 3, 4 years, he was on "The Mike Douglas Show" hitting golf balls with Jimmy Stewart watching.

And his father, Earl Woods, really said that this is a -- this is a man who is going to -- a boy who's going to grow into a man and be a leader in this world and will be the kind of iconic figure that we haven't seen before.

Now, I think it was a bit over the top for Earl to describe him as the next Gandhi or the next Mandela. But (AUDIO GAP) dad, he said those things. And -- but he was right about the golf. And sure enough, Tiger came out, said, hello, world, back in 1996, won a tournament right away as he turned pro, and then won the Masters in 1997, which really was the moment when he said, hello, world, I'm in charge here, and when America fell in love with him.

And so that's been since 1997. So, look at all this time that has passed. And he's lived three or four lifetimes in that time in terms of the various problems he's (AUDIO GAP)

BALDWIN: Yes.

BRENNAN: ... and, of course, the incredible highs of winning golf tournaments.

BALDWIN: Christine, you have been extraordinary. Let me thank you and also ask you to stay with me.

I want to go now, though, to Andy Scholes, our CNN sports anchor.

And, Andy, do you have any update on his condition? How's he doing?

SCHOLES: Yes, I don't have any update, Brooke.

And what we have been hearing, the reports and what his agent said, that he's in the hospital. And our heart just breaks seeing those images of that car.

BALDWIN: It does.

SCHOLES: And just hope that Tiger is OK, because, Brooke, Tiger -- you heard Christine talk about just the legendary career. And he was probably in the ninth inning of that career, the fourth quarter. He's 45 years old, battling back from a fifth back surgery, trying to play in the Masters, which is one of his favorite tournaments.

And the 2019 Masters, for me, and sports fans all over the world, was one of the most incredible sporting events I have ever witnessed, many have ever witnessed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: You were there, weren't you?

SCHOLES: I was there. I interviewed Tiger after he won...

BALDWIN: What was that like?

SCHOLES: ... that improbable Green Jacket.

I mean, for me -- people always ask me, Andy, what's the highlight of your sports broadcasting career? And I tell them, Brooke, it was interviewing Tiger Woods after he won the 2019 Masters, just because of how magical a moment that was. It was a moment we thought we would never see again.

And just to see Tiger back on top. And I said this previously, Brooke. After that interview Tiger, he didn't pop up from the chair and run away and go celebrate. He slowly got up, and he walked away, was bent over a little bit, because playing four rounds of competitive golf, this -- for Tiger now, I mean, it was tough.

A lot of the times, he's struggled to make it through these tournaments, but he battled through and was still trying to go out there and compete and win more majors. And to see this crash, and him to suffer even more injuries, it's just tough to see.

BALDWIN: As Christine said, he's a 45-year-old man with the body of a 75-year-old.

But can you just indulge me a little bit more? Take me back to that moment when you're in Augusta, 2019. I want to know, when the cameras aren't rolling, what is Tiger Woods like?

SCHOLES: So, Tiger, he will crack jokes with you.

And he will -- I remember, for me, I'm always -- I'm not starstruck a lot around a lot of people, but Tiger Woods is just one of those people. There's not many people in the world known by one name, Tiger. And so, whenever I was around him, I always kind of got a little giddy, even though I'm around athletes all the time, just because it's Tiger Woods.

And asking him a question was always such a privilege. Sitting down with him after he won the Masters was the highlight of my career, and just shaking his and being able to talk to him and hear him talk about the comeback and talk about how he got to experience that 2019 win with his kids, especially embracing his son on that -- after the 18th green, how special of a moment that was for him.

[15:15:15]

And we really -- many sports fans got to relive his entire career watching the documentary on HBO recently. And it brought everything back about the emotions you have with Tiger Woods. And I have always said this, too, Brooke.

I go to these golf majors and watch him compete. You can see it on TV too. I have never seen grown men cheer for another grown man like I have seen with Tiger Woods.

BALDWIN: No kidding.

SCHOLES: I mean, when he hits incredible putts, and when he won the 2019 Masters, I mean, you have people -- you have men crying watching just a sport, another man accomplish something in sports, which just goes to talk about how incredible Tiger Woods is and the incredible impact he's had on the world and definitely the sport of golf.

BALDWIN: He is extraordinary.

We are all -- Andy, thank you so much. We are all holding our breaths, holding our breath for good news, despite the horrendous images that we're seeing here in Los Angeles, the aftermath of this Tiger Woods car crash this morning in L.A. Stay with me.

We're going to work on getting updates for you. We know, again, he is in surgery. His agent said he suffered multiple injuries to his legs, had to be pulled out of that car this morning with the jaws of life.

Stay with me. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

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BALDWIN: Welcome back to the breaking news here.

The legend, the GOAT, really, Tiger Woods has been involved in a very serious car crash earlier this morning in Los Angeles. This is the aftermath. This is the aftermath here. This is what we have from the L.A. sheriff, that Tiger Woods was injured in a single vehicle rollover crash.

And so he was actually pulled from that car, with emergency officials using the jaws of life. This was right around about 7:20 PST, so still a number of hours ago. We know it rolled over this morning. It was -- if you know the L.A. area, this is on the border of Rolling Hills Estates in Rancho Palos Verdes.

The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department says his vehicle was heading northbound on Hawthorne Boulevard at Blackhorse Road when it crashed. We know he was taken to the hospital. He was taken to UCLA Harbor. And according to authorities, his injuries are somewhere in the neighborhood of moderate to critical.

And, specifically, we're getting a bit from his agent, who talked to "Golf Digest," who said that Tiger Woods suffered multiple leg injuries. And he also said he's currently in surgery and he's thanking everyone for their privacy and support. And, as you can imagine, just a quick Twitter check in commercial break, just thoughts and prayers are pouring in from athletes, from celebrities and from just ordinary folks just so inspired by a man who really came to be known by his first name, Tiger.

On the phone with me now is Ron Sirak, contributor to The Golf Channel.

And, Ron, I hear you have been covering Tiger Woods since day one. Do you know any more about his condition? Have you been in touch with his agent? Can you help us -- just anything?

RON SIRAK, THE GOLF CHANNEL: No, I have just seen the statement that his agent, Mark Steinberg, put out. And I have seen photos of the car. It looked like it went off the road, tumbled down a hillside.

It sounds like they were very serious injuries. And it sounds like they got him medical care immediately and quickly. So, hopefully, they can they can deal with it right away. The scary thing here is that Tiger is coming off of several other

injuries that he had. He just had his fifth a surgery on his back in December. So, whatever comeback he was making from those issues could be set back significantly by this.

BALDWIN: Everyone thinks of Tiger Woods obviously winning the Masters five times over, most recently in the Green Jacket in Augusta in 2019, after that huge comeback and some serious ups and downs in his world.

What's he been up to most recently besides recovering from this fifth surgery?

SIRAK: Well, what he really did towards the end of the year that was really -- touched a lot of people's hearts, he played in the father- son tournament with his 11-year-old son, Charlie.

And it was amazing to see, because Charlie was like a miniature Tiger Woods. And they were dressed alike and he has an incredible golf swing. But the affection between the two of them really, really touched a lot of people.

Over the last two or three years, really since Tiger had his fourth back procedure, a major one, we have seen a different Tiger Woods out there. Where the original Tiger Woods, original version, was really easy to be awed by and to respect, this one's easier to like.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Why. What do you think has changed?

SIRAK: He just seems to be enjoying the game a little bit more. He's opened up to people around him. He used to play in a tunnel out there. He would ignore the fans. He would just be into focusing on it.

And now you see him interacting with his fellow playing partners more. You see him interacting with the galleries more.

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BALDWIN: I think of Tiger Woods, you think of -- I think of golf and I think of Tiger Woods. You think of excellence.

You think of these legacy players, you think of Tiger Woods. What kind of just impact has he had not just, Ron, on the sport of golf, but just on America?

SIRAK: Well, he took golf not only from the back of the sports section to the front of the sports section. He took golf out onto the front page of the newspapers.

He became the lead stories on the national news. You know, as a black man, a multiethnic man, achieving success and becoming the greatest player perhaps ever in what was an overwhelmingly white sport shattered barriers in so many ways.

You could not have made up Tiger Woods, I mean, even right down to the name. He's tall. He was good-looking. He's athletic. He's dynamic in his personality. And this is the most important part. He was better than advertised. He not only lived up to the hype. He exceeded the hype.

And that's very, very rare in our overly hyped world that we live in now. He changed the game of golf. He became that one word superstar, the way Pele was in soccer or Ali was in boxing.

BALDWIN: And to your point about being a man of color inspiring so many young little boys and little girls who don't look like me, who have darker skin tones, that, you know what, you can do it too.

I'm curious. And I was talking to our correspondent a second ago who said interviewing Tiger after he won the Masters in 2019 was and will forever be the highlight of his sports career, of his sports correspondent career.

And I was asking him, what is Tiger Woods like, for those of you who have been in this rarefied air? What's he like when the cameras aren't rolling? Ron, what is he like?

SIRAK: Well it's -- as I said, I think he's changed in recent years. But I first met him in 1995 at the Masters.

And throughout all those years, I always got everything I needed from Tiger as a reporter. I always got everything I needed, but it was always on his terms. You know, we would do it while we were walking. We would be walking from the parking lot to the clubhouse, from the clubhouse to the practice range, from the practice range to the first tee.

He'd answer all my questions, he'd always be there, but he always would keep those little fences around him. He would keep those little barriers around them and not let -- he let very few people into that inner circle.

And since that fourth back operation, as I said, I think that, when he came back, it all meant more to him. I think he started to realize how lucky he had been to be -- to achieve everything he'd achieved, and also how, particularly as an athlete, you get old young as an athlete.

BALDWIN: Yes.

SIRAK: And he's 45 years old now. And he doesn't have the same skills that he once had.

The year 2000 was the best golf maybe anybody has ever played. And I think he started to put all of that into perspective. And I also think the family -- being a family man gave him a different perspective. He has two children now.

And I think the scandal ,which shattered a lot of that aura of invincibility around him, was a humbling thing, had a humbling effect on him.

BALDWIN: Ron, thank you so much, Ron Sirak, for just -- what a role you have had, the pinch me position you have been in for so many years covering the legendary Tiger Woods for as long as you have.

Thank you so much for just providing some color to the man we all know from a distance as Tiger Woods. Thank you so much for calling in. I really appreciate you.

And, again, if you are just tuning in, Tiger Woods has been involved in this just horrendous, horrendous accident there in Los Angeles this morning. He was pulled out of this car after it rolled this off this area of L.A., pulled out of the car, jaws of life, and is currently in surgery, multiple leg injuries.

And the update as far as conditions are, it's moderate to critical.

As you can imagine, messages of support, they are pouring in. Jada Pinkett Smith has: "Tweeted prayers up for the GOAT. Tiger Woods, who was in an accident this morning, was just with him yesterday. Don't take not even a moment for granted. I know you're good because you're Tiger. Within is a beast."

And more on the breaking coverage here after a quick, quick break.

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