Harrington understands Woods' move

Padraig Harrington has defended Tiger Woods' decision to skip his own tournament following the world number one's car accident last Friday.

Woods had been set to host and compete in this week's Chevron World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club in southern California, an annual event which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. The American, however, announced his withdrawal from the 72-hole tournament on Monday, citing the injuries he had sustained in the one-car accident outside his home near Orlando, Florida.

Woods has since been cited by Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) officers for careless driving and, with the investigation now ended and no criminal charges being brought, Harrington said: "He was in a car crash and was injured. That's the fact that's causing him to not come here and play."

He added: "That's as far as I'm going with it at the moment. As I said, the rest is all interest and speculation, and it is natural for somebody of his profile for speculation and things and for everybody to be talking about it.

"It made the front pages of every newspaper at home, which is incredible considering there was a rail crash at the same time in Russia where there were 89 people killed. The front page picture was Tiger Woods.

"It's a phenomenal story. The spotlight is massive. It's pretty legitimate for people to be discussing it and talking about it, but we just don't know what the facts are.

"We do know there was a car crash, we do know he was injured. I'm sure if I was unconscious for six minutes I wouldn't be playing golf the following week, it wouldn't be high on the agenda."

On the other side of the United States, FHP announced they had finished their investigation into the one-car accident having concluded that Woods "was at fault in the crash".

Woods' reluctance to speak to investigators and an American tabloid report published early last week speculating on the state of his marriage of five years prompted fresh speculation regarding the possible events leading up to the crash and the nature of the injuries he sustained.

In a prepared statement, FHP public affairs officer Sergeant Kim Montes added that there had been insufficient evidence to persuade the Florida State Attorney's office to seek a search warrant to obtain Woods' medical records from his hospitalisation.