A little-known luxury SUV loaned to Tiger Woods for a sponsored tournament in California saved him from almost certain death after his horror crash on Tuesday.
The golfer was behind the wheel of a Genesis GV80 which he flipped, leaving him with a shattered right shin bone and calf bone.
Woods, 45, is ‘awake, responsive and recovering in his hospital room’ and many are praising the superior safety features of the car.
A Genesis GV80 SUV driven by US golfer Tiger Woods is loaded onto a flatbed truck after his Los Angeles crash on Tuesday
The golfer was behind the wheel of a Genesis GV80 (pictured) which he flipped, leaving him with a shattered right shin bone and calf bone
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the golfer is ‘lucky to be alive’ and credited the car’s 10 airbags and the fact Woods was wearing a seatbelt.
The 300-horsepower SUV had been loaned to him during the sponsored PGA Genesis Invitational.
The GV80, which has a top speed of 240km/h is the only SUV sold by Genesis, a relatively little-known carmaker owned by Korean company Hyundai.
It comes with 10 airbags, a forward-collision warning system, an interior camera to warn drivers if they fall asleep, and evasive steering technology.
The GV80 is the only SUV sold by Genesis, a relatively little-known carmaker owned by Korean company Hyundai
It comes with 10 airbags, a forward-collision warning system, an interior camera to warn drivers if they fall asleep, and evasive steering technology
The car also boasts a cruise-control system which adapts to the driver’s motoring style, and has noise cancellation to dampen the sounds of the road
Woods is awake and recovering in hospital after being given a general anesthetic during surgery to repair his shattered right leg
The $50,000 care also offers a 14.5-inch horizontal touchscreen on the central console.
The car also boasts a cruise-control system which adapts to the driver’s motoring style, and has noise cancellation to dampen the sounds of the road.
The GV80 is expected to be Genesis’s best-selling car in the US by the end of this year.
The car has won praise for its design and safety features and competes with vehicles like the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the BMW X5 and the Mercedes GLE.
Police said the golfer was ‘lucky to be alive’ after he hit a raised central reservation while driving at high speed, smashed through a wooden street sign, splintered a tree, and then rolled his car several times
Police say Woods was travelling at high speed when he hit a raised central reservation, smashed through a wooden road sign, splintered a tree and then rolled his SUV off the wrong side of the road where it came to rest at the bottom of an embankment
Photos after the crash show the Genesis Invitational logo on the side of the smashed-up vehicle which was lying on its side after rolling.
Despite the airbags deploying, the footwells of the car were not as well protected, suggesting why Woods suffered injuries to that part of his body.
Deputy Carlos Gonzalez, who was first on the scene of the crash, said the car and the fact that Woods was wearing a seatbelt, saved his life.
Meanwhile Sheriff Villanueva said the front end of the SUV was ‘totally destroyed’ but that the interior was ‘more or less intact’.
Gonzalez told ABC7: ‘As indicated by the sheriff, the interior passenger compartment of the vehicle was intact, the airbags deployed successfully, again he was wearing his seatbelt.
Deputy Carlos Gonzalez, who was first on the scene, is pictured addressing a press conference on Tuesday afternoon
Investigators are pictured photographing the badly-damaged SUV, with greenery still attached to it
‘I think this, this also kind of speaks to the marvel of modern automobiles and that they’re much safer than they’ve ever been previously.’
Woods was put under general anesthetic at Harbor-UCLA hospital after the crash as surgeons fitted metal rods, screws and pins to his shattered right shinbone and calf bone.
Anish Mahajan, chief medical officer at the hospital, said Woods suffered comminuted open fractures of his tibia and fibula – where the bone splinters into two or more pieces and comes through the skin – and had a rod inserted in his tibia, with his foot and ankle ‘stabilized with a combination of screws and pins’.
Muscles surrounding the bones were cut to relieve swelling, Mahajan said, describing the injuries as ‘significant’.
Police say Woods did not appear to be under the influence at the time of the crash but that blood tests will be carried out as part of an investigation due to last ‘weeks’.
Woods has been recovering from back surgery and was not playing golf professionally, though he was expected to return sometime later this year. It is not clear whether he was taking pain medication, though he has taken opiod medication after back surgery in the past which resulted in an addiction.
A Genesis spokesman said: ‘This morning, Genesis was saddened to learn that Tiger Woods had been in an accident in a GV80.
‘Our thoughts and prayers are with Tiger and his family at this time.’