Associated Press
OCOEE, Fla. ó Tiger Woods’ mother-in-law collapsed at his home and was rushed to a hospital early Tuesday, touching off the second media frenzy in two weeks surrounding the pro golfer’s carefully guarded private life.
Barbro Holmberg was taken by ambulance to Health Central Hospital with stomach pains after a 911 call from Woods’ house. Holmberg, a Swedish politician, was released about 11 hours later and returned to Woods’ mansion, hospital spokesman Dan Yates said.
“She was wheeled out in a wheelchair just like everyone else,” Yates said.
In a recording of the 911 call obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, a panicking woman tells the dispatcher that her mother has collapsed.
“Hurry up,” the woman says as a child can be heard crying in the background. “She collapsed in the bathroom. What do I do?”
A few seconds later the woman said her mother was breathing normally, talking and didn’t appear to be hurt from her fall.
The caller wasn’t identified. Woods’ wife, Elin Nordegren, has a twin sister, but it wasn’t clear whether she was at the house.
Health Central is the same hospital where Woods was treated after he crashed his sport utility vehicle outside his home in a gated community in nearby Windermere last month.
Holmberg, 57, arrived in the U.S. a few days ago, Yates said, just as her daughter grappled with fallout from the crash and the ensuing statement from Woods that he had extramarital “transgressions.”
Woods and his wife have a 2-year-old daughter and an infant son.
Family members visited Holmberg in the hospital, Yates said, but he did not specify whether Woods or his wife came. The family hired additional security to keep the media away.
Yates would not speculate on what caused Holmberg’s stomach problems or whether she had suffered previously with that type of distress. Holmberg’s spokeswoman, Eva Malmborg, said she wasn’t aware that Holmberg suffered from any disease.
Intense media scrutiny has followed the world’s No. 1 golfer since he hit a hydrant and a tree Nov. 27 about 2:25 a.m. Woods was cited for careless driving and fined $164.
The attention didn’t let up Tuesday, when dozens of live trucks, camera crews and reporters camped out on the hospital’s lawn, awaiting word of Holmberg’s condition.
“I think she understands,” Yates said of Holmberg.
The accident ó and Woods’ refusal to answer questions about it ó fueled speculation about a possible dispute between him and Elin.