Rd later.
We don’t know what happened. I doubt that Tiger was going anywhere near 80 mph when he lost control, probably closer to the speed limit looking at how far (not very) he travelled up a side slope and came to rest.
His earlier driving problem in Florida involved passing out from painkillers, and this would appear to be the leading candidate. He was known to be in a hurry to make a filming appointment, day two of some stint that he had attended all day Monday. So distraction could have played a role.
Also there is a side street from the right (Tiger veered left) with traffic lights, near the point where he lost control, and it seems possible to me that somebody turning right from a red light (if he had the right of way) could have forced him to swerve in a vehicle he wasn’t normally driving (a loaner from a recent golf tournament he acts as host at Riviera in L.A.).
Also looking at the area on google earth, it’s mostly residential, there’s a high school and some open grassy areas, and it looks to me like the sort of place deer or other animals might frequent at dawn (the accident was at 0710h). His direction of travel before losing control was towards the northeast, the rising sun would have been somewhat in his line of sight to his east-southeast (but perhaps casting confusing patterns of light and shadow through the open spaces of the side street).
I can picture the roadway as it’s very similar to another bad traffic spot in my vicinity. One sudden overcorrection and you could be quickly out of control.
Let’s hope he has not sustained major injuries and can recover, he was already fighting the aftereffects of yet another back operation. I saw an interview with him at the weekend golf tournament (he was there to give out the trophy, not to play) and he looked a bit tired but basically at peace with what has to be a frustrating situation — if it wasn’t for this back problem, he’d very likely be winning three or four times a year still.
He’s been chasing Sam Snead with whom he’s now tied at 82 wins, but ironically this places him in the shadow of another legend, Ben Hogan, who recovered from perhaps a worse automobile accident in 1949.