Besieged Woods pulls out of event

Golfing phenomenon Woods is one of the most recognisable athletes in the world [AFP]

Tiger Woods has announced he won’t be playing in the golf tournament he was supposed to host this week because of injuries sustained in a car accident that has grabbed headlines all over the world.

Woods was due to be the star attraction at the Chevron World Challenge beginning on Thursday.

It’s a lucrative end of season invitational event that he helps to organise.
 
But the world number one has decided he’s not fit to compete, after suffering cuts to his face when his car hit a fire hydrant and a tree outside his house in Florida.
 
By missing the event, Woods will also avoid having to face the media, which is keen to find out more details surrounding the crash and which has been maintaining a watch on his property ever since.
 
One fellow pro also calling for full details of the incident to be released is double Major-winner John Daly.

Daly had said he didn’t want to know the details of the accident.

But in a fresh statement in Australia on Tuesday, Daly said he should tell his story.

‘Tell the truth’

“The thing that Tiger needs to look at is, whatever happened, just tell the truth,” said Daly, who will play the Australian Open at the New South Wales Golf Club from Thursday.

He also called on Woods – who said he would not compete again until next year – to attend the Chevron event.

Woods said on Monday his injuries would prevent him playing in the tournament and he would not compete again until next year.

“I am extremely disappointed that I will not be at my tournament this week,” Woods said on his website on Monday.

“I am certain it will be an outstanding event and I’m very sorry that I can’t be there.”

His decision to withdraw comes after a car crash left him with cuts and bruises when his SUV hit a fire hydrant and a tree at 0225 local time on Friday outside his home in an exclusive, gated community near Orlando.

Woods was treated and released from a hospital after the accident, and has not been seen in public since.

By skipping the tournament, Woods will escape having to face TV cameras and a horde of media seeking more details about the smashup.

Only a few players were at Sherwood Country Club – where the tournament is being held – late on Monday afternoon.

Padraig Harrington was on the golf course and didn’t get word until later that the host was not going to be there.

‘Not to be’

“It would be a nice opportunity this time of year to go head-to-head with him, but it’s not to be,” the Irishman said.

He said Woods’ absence would be felt all week, until the back nine on Sunday when the focus probably will shift to who’s winning the event – and the $1.35million prize.

Though he cited injuries from the accident in withdrawing from the tournament, Woods didn’t specifically say what those injuries included.

A neighbour, who called 911 after Woods ran over the hydrant and hit a tree, said he was unconscious and lying on the ground outside the vehicle.

His wife Elin Nordegren told police she used a golf club to smash the back windows to help him out.

Woods’ only public comment has been via two statements released on his website, one saying the accident was his fault alone and the second saying he was withdrawing from the tournament.

The incident has caused a mass of media speculation, with unfounded allegations that Woods was attacked by his wife following press rumours that he had been spending time with nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel.