Tiger Woods is awake and recovering from a major surgery carried out on his right leg Tuesday evening at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center after being involved earlier in the day in a single-car accident outside Los Angeles.

The golf player suffered “comminuted open fractures” to both the upper and lower portions of his tibia and fibula in his right leg, damage to the ankle bones, and trauma to the muscle and soft-tissue of the leg, according to an update released via his social media accounts. 

A comminuted fracture is when a bone shatters into multiple pieces, and an open fracture suggests bone broke through the skin.

Mr. Woods was driving when his vehicle veered off onto the wrong side of the road, then off the road entirely and onto a hillside. A neighbour called 911 to alert authorities of the accident. 

Mr. Woods was conscious when authorities arrived on the scene.

The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said the interior of the car Woods was driving remained intact, and wearing a seatbelt prevented the crash from being fatal.

This is the latest in a long history of injuries for the 15-time golf champion and 82-time PGA Tour winner. 

He underwent a microdiscectomy procedure to remove a pressurized disc fragment that was pinching a nerve last December. It was his fifth back surgery overall and the first since a spinal fusion in April 2017.