The night of June 6, 2000, 25-year-old Tiger Woods lounged on a sofa in Cherry Hills Village watching 22-year-old Kobe Bryant in the NBA Finals.
“Kobe is my man, the Lakers my team,’’ Tiger told me. He was visiting Denver for a kids’ First Tee exhibition two weeks before playing in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. “If he and the Lakers take the title and I can get the Open, that would be awesome.’’
On the same day, June 18, Kobe won the first of his five championships in Southern California, Tiger, in Northern California, won the first of his three U.S. Open championships.
They would become two of America’s most iconic athletes, illustrious champions and legendary men.
My first reaction to news of Woods’ car accident last Tuesday: Kobe and Tiger. Oh, no, not again.
Thirteen months and about an hour in distance apart in greater Los Angeles, Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant were involved in horrific crashes.
Kobe died in a helicopter catastrophe in January 2020; Tiger suffered multiple injuries — a shattered ankle and compound fractures in his legs — in a single-car accident Tuesday morning, and the sheriff’s deputy first on the scene said that Woods was fortunate he survived being a fatality because he wore seat belts and air bags deployed. He underwent surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
The original news declaration created a wave of fear and concern throughout the country. But as Tiger was transported for treatment and operations, the follow-up announcement stated that his injuries weren’t life-threatening.
But they may be golf-threatening.
Woods is 45. Bryant was 41.
Everybody in the world, not just sports fans, knows of both — and by their unique first names.
Tiger and Kobe — close friends in diverse sports over a 20-year span.
A year ago at the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles at Riviera Country Club, the PGA and Tiger honored Kobe. “So many lives saddened,” Woods said then. “How do we move on? For many of us, we won’t.’’
Because of a back operation in December, the latest of five during the past several years, Woods couldn’t compete last week in the Genesis, but he served as the tournament host and presented the first-place trophy, not far from where he grew up. In a Sunday afternoon CBS interview, Tiger said he was uncertain if he could play in the upcoming Masters, a major he has won five times (the last in 2019).
Tiger was scheduled to tape golf teaching sessions with celebrities Monday and Tuesday for Golf Digest. He had departed Rancho Palos Verdes alone early Tuesday when his automobile veered off an extremely dangerous downhill, swerving road (with a 45 mph speed limit where accidents frequently occur). The SUV (courtesy car) suddenly crossed the high curb of the median, struck a sign, careened into a tree, rolled over and landed at the bottom of a hill. Woods was trapped in the heavily damaged vehicle, and a nearby neighbor called 911. The deputy who arrived about eight minutes later (7:28 a.m.) said Woods was “conscious and lucid’’ and talking, but obviously injured.
First responders who arrived shortly utilized an axe and another tool to break out the windshield and pry the driver’s door to remove Woods, place him on a board, then carry him in an ambulance to the nearest trauma center.
Authorities said there was no evidence of impairment (alcohol, illegal drugs, medication).
Twice before Woods has been in news-creating traffic situations. In 2009, after a disagreement with his then wife, Tiger’s car was discovered with damage outside his home in Florida. He was treated for minor face cuts. The incident led to the infamous Woods sex scandal and his divorce. In 2017 Woods was stopped in Jupiter, Fla., for erratic driving and charged with DUI. Tests revealed five legal medications in his system.
Kobe had his own disreputable legal entanglement (a sexual assault charge, later dropped) in Edwards near Vail in 2003.
Bryant retired from the NBA at the end of the 2015-2016 season after reaching the postseason 15 times. Woods has won 15 major championships and 82 tournaments overall on the PGA Tour.
In February 1949, Ben Hogan — like Woods, one of the most extraordinary golfers — was returning to Texas after a tournament when a Greyhound bus collided head-on with his Cadillac. To protect his wife, Hogan dived to the passenger seat — also saving his own life. Hogan’s collarbone, several ribs, an ankle, his pelvis (in two places) and his leg were shattered, and it took more than an hour to extricate him.
Hogan, Denver Open champion in 1948 and a late leader at the U.S. Open at Cherry Hills in 1960, recovered and won six more majors.
Tiger is fortunate, and the country can sigh.
He will live to play and win again.
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