Tiger Woods loses tooth in mishap with cameraman

Tiger Woods had a hole in one.

To be precise, a hole in his set of teeth.

The former world No. 1 golfer surprised girlfriend skier Lindsey Vonn when he turned up at the resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo for the Super-G race wearing a skeleton-patterned scarf but caused more of a stir when photographs showed a gap where his tooth had been.

It turns out that an incident with a cameraman left the golf superstar with a missing tooth.

Woods lost his tooth after being hit in the face by a video camera as Vonn took a record 63rd World Cup Alpine ski title in Italy on Monday, according to his agent.

"During a crush of photographers at the awards' podium at the World Cup event in Italy, a media member with a shoulder-mounted video camera pushed and surged towards the stage, turned, and hit Tiger Woods in the mouth," the golfer's agent, Mr Mark Steinberg, told USA Today.

"Woods' tooth was knocked out by the incident."

The identity and network of the camera operator, who put a wedge between Woods' teeth, is not known.

Woods' new handicap, however, did not bother Vonn - she was just glad he was there to share in her special moment.

"To have Tiger here at this race on this occasion was really special for me," the 30-year-old told the US Ski Federation website.

"It's amazing - words can't describe my feeling. Sixty-three feels incredible.

"I'm really proud of what I've done and I'm excited about the future. I definitely felt like the pressure was off today. I just wanted to go out and have a good run today. I was relaxed and cool and I think it showed in my skiing.''

Vonn, who also achieved a dream when she starred in the last episode of her favourite TV series Law And Order in 2010, said she hoped the landmark win would earn the sport the attention she feels it deserves in the US.

As for Woods, the poor man must be feeling below par.

This article was first published on January 21, 2015.
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