Tiger Woods Update: Latest Spotting Shows Positive Sign Amid Recovery

Five months after suffering serious injuries in a car crash, Tiger Woods‘ recovery appears to be on an upward swing. The professional golfer, who was hospitalized for several weeks following the February crash in the Rolling Hills Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes area of California, was spotted out and about in Los Angeles this week, marking one of just a handful of public appearances Woods has made since the accident.

Woods stepped out with his girlfriend, Erica Herman, in Los Angeles this week. The two were spotted in photos obtained by TMZ outside of Woods’ Beverly Hills-area hotel. In the images, which you can view below or by clicking here, the golf legend seemed to have made great improvements in his recovery since he was last photographed out and about in mid-June. Although Woods still requires crutches and was seen still wearing a protective sleeve, he was spotted putting weight on his injured leg and even seemed to be able to do a little walking without the aid of the crutches.

The outing marked a major positive update on Woods’ recovery following the Tuesday, Feb. 23 crash, which left Woods with comminuted open fractures in his right leg, meaning his bone was shattered in at least 2 places and broke through the skin, after his the Genesis SUV he was driving crossed over a raised median and into two oncoming lanes of traffic. The vehicle hit a curb and a tree before rolling over several times. Woods suffered “significant” injuries in the crash and after being removed from the vehicle, was transported via ambulance to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The significance of his injuries were later revealed, with Woods having suffered “significant orthopedic injuries to his lower extremity” and a police report detailing a “laceration to the lower front jaw, bruised right and left rib cage” and “open fracture, mid shaft on his right leg, below knee.”

After being transported to the hospital, Woods underwent “emergency surgery by Orthopaedic trauma specialists,” Dr. Anish Mahajan, Chief Medical Officer at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, said in a statement at the time. Mahajan explained that during the procedure, “comminuted open fractures affecting both the upper and lower portions of the tibia and fibula bones were stabilized by inserting a rod into the tibia.” Woods also suffered injuries to his right ankle and foot, which were stabilized “with a combination of screws and pins.” Mahajan added that “trauma to the muscle and soft-tissue of the leg required surgical release of the covering of the muscles to relieve pressure due to swelling.”

Woods was later transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and released from the hospital on March 16. Since his release, Woods has made a handful of appearances, during which he has been seen wearing a black compression sleeve on his right leg and using crutches. Opening up about the crash and his recovery in May, Woods told Golf Digest he was taking his recovery “one step at a time” and was “focused on my No. 1 goal right now: walking on my own.”