Woods` crash hampers wealthy neighbors` privacy
The professional athletes, bold-faced celebrities and corporate moguls who live in Tiger Woods` neighborhood favor it less for its clay tennis courts and Arnold Palmer-designed golf course.
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Windermere: The professional
athletes, bold-faced celebrities and corporate moguls who live
in Tiger Woods` neighborhood favor it less for its clay tennis
courts and Arnold Palmer-designed golf course than for its
8-foot security wall and platoon of private guards.
Among the many Isleworth amenities - sprawling outdoor
sculptures, picturesque lakes, an 89,000-square-foot clubhouse
- the one its well-to-do residents value most is its privacy.
That`s been harder to maintain since Friday, when the
world`s top golfer and most famous athlete smashed his
Cadillac SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree as he pulled out
of his driveway in the middle of the night.
Woods` crash outside his multimillion-dollar home near
Orlando has drawn a media mob to the exclusive 300-family
community, or more specifically, to its gated checkpoints.
Visitors can only get past the Spanish-tiled gatehouse at the
main entrance if a resident gives their name to a guard. The
white-shirted guards in quasi-police uniforms then check
visitors` IDs to verify names on the list.
More than a dozen television trucks were camped outside
Monday as almost 100 reporters, photographers and TV crew
members filmed residents` comings and goings. TV helicopters
hovered overhead.
And the media are likely to stay until they get answers
to where Woods was headed at 2:25 a.m. and what caused the
crash.
Woods, who briefly lost consciousness and was treated for
cuts and bruises at a hospital, has issued two short
statements through his Web site and has declined to talk with
the Florida Highway Patrol.
In his statements, the famously insular golfer called the
accident embarrassing and asked the public to respect - what
else? - his privacy.
It`s the second time in three months his community has
made national news. In September, a prominent developer having
money problems was accused of fatally shooting his wife in
their home, which was once owned by Palmer.
Bob Ward is charged with second-degree murder in the
death of his 55-year-old wife, Diane. He has pleaded not
guilty and is free on a USD 100,000 bond.
In a state that boasts locales such as Miami Beach and
Key West, there are ritzier, more exotic spots than Isleworth,
which sits on old orange groves amid central Florida swamps.
Yet since the neighborhood`s development in the 1980s, it
has attracted sports stars and celebrities by the dozen.
Former and current residents include Shaquille O`Neal, Penny
Hardaway and Dee Brown from the NBA; baseball star Ken Griffey
Jr.; Andre Reed of the NFL; former Wimbledon doubles champion
Todd Woodbridge; and actor Wesley Snipes.
Orlando Magic forward Vince Carter has lived in Isleworth
long before he came to the NBA franchise this season. Carter,
who grew up in Daytona Beach, said he chose the community as a
place where he can relax.
"I like quiet. I like being a little out of the way,"
Carter said.
Carter also said he sympathizes with Woods, who has
attended Magic games in the past with courtside seats.
So many PGA golfers live in Isleworth that the
neighborhood fields a team each year to play in a tournament
against a rival luxury neighborhood in metro Orlando.
Isleworth`s Tavistock Cup team this year included Mark
O`Meara, Stuart Appleby, Darren Clarke, John Cook, J.B.
Holmes, Charles Howell III and Woods, among other pros.
Florida doesn`t have a state income tax and there are nearby
numerous world-class courses where they can practice.
Pro athletes are specifically attracted to Isleworth,
where new homes range from USD 1.5 million to USD 8 million,
"because of the security and the class of the whole place and
its accessibility to the airport," said Joyce McClane, a
retiree and one of Isleworth`s earliest residents.
She bought a lot in the neighborhood with her husband in
1987.
For Kyung Hee Yoon, the appeal is security. She and her
radiologist husband bought a USD 2.5 million home five years
ago after moving to central Florida from New York. Having
celebrity neighbors such as the PGA`s Appleby was almost an
afterthought, she said.
"It is actually not really a big deal," she said. "I
sometimes see (famous) people but it doesn`t bother me.
They`re just treated like neighbors."
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