By Tim Stelloh – NBC News
Golf star Tiger Woods will “never” play the sport full time again after he was seriously injured in a car accident this yearAlthough he still hopes to “play a tournament here or there,” he said in an interview published Monday in Golf Digest.
Comparing the sport to climbing the highest mountain in the world, Woods said that after previous back surgery he had to “climb Mount Everest one more time,” adding: “I had to, and I did. I don’t think I have the body to climb Mount Everest, and that’s fine. I can still play golf. “
Woods, 45, fractured the tibia and fibula in his right leg in an accident on February 23 in suburban Los Angeles.
Woods was traveling at more than 80 miles per hour (130 kilometers per hour) when he lost control of the Genesis SUV and crashed into a tree. There was no sign that he was impeded, authorities said, and no charges were filed.
Woods, who has won 82 tournaments in a 25-year career, including five Masters championships, was charged with drunk driving in 2017. Shortly after, he checked into a clinic for prescription drug abuse.
Authorities believe Woods tried to hit the brakes but accidentally stepped on the gas in the February crash. The SUV was going 75 miles per hour (120 kilometers per hour) when it hit the tree and was thrown.
Woods faced the possibility of an amputation after being transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Golf Digest reported.
[Tiger Woods agradece en Twitter la solidaridad que ha recibido tras el accidente que sufrió]
At one point, Woods wasn’t sure “if he was going to leave the hospital with one leg,” he told the magazine, adding that he still has “a long way to go” to rehabilitate his leg.
“I haven’t even gotten halfway there,” he clarified.
