Woods’ crash hampers wealthy neighbors’ privacy
December 1, 2009
WINDERMERE, Fla. (AP)—The professional athletes, bold-faced celebrities andcorporate moguls who live in Tiger Woods’ neighborhood favor it less for itsclay tennis courts and Arnold Palmer-designed golf course than for its 8-footsecurity 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-doresidents value most is its privacy. That’s been harder to maintain sinceFriday, when the world’s top golfer and most famous athlete smashed his CadillacSUV into a fire hydrant and a tree as he pulled out of his driveway in themiddle of the night.
Woods’ crash outside his multimillion-dollar home near Orlando has drawn amedia mob to the exclusive 300-family community, or more specifically, to itsgated checkpoints. Visitors can only get past the Spanish-tiled gatehouse at themain entrance if a resident gives their name to a guard. The white-shirtedguards in quasi-police uniforms then check visitors’ IDs to verify names on thelist.
More than a dozen television trucks were camped outside the entrance Mondayas 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 washeaded at 2:25 a.m. and what caused the crash. Woods, who briefly lostconsciousness and was treated for cuts and bruises at a hospital, has issued twoshort statements through his Web site and has declined to talk with the FloridaHighway Patrol.
In his statements, the famously insular golfer called the accidentembarrassing 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 fatallyshooting his wife in their home, which was once owned by Palmer.
Bob Ward is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his55-year-old wife, Diane. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on a $100,000bond.
In a state that boasts locales like Miami Beach and Key West, there areritzier, more exotic spots than Isleworth, which sits on old orange groves amidthe central Florida swamps.
Yet since the neighborhood’s development in the 1980s, it has attractedsports stars and celebrities by the dozen. Former and current residents includeShaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway and Dee Brown from the NBA; baseball star KenGriffey Jr.; Andre Reed of the NFL; former Wimbledon doubles champion ToddWoodbridge; and actor Wesley Snipes.
So many PGA golfers live in Isleworth that the neighborhood fields a teameach year to play in a tournament against a rival luxury neighborhood in metroOrlando. Isleworth’s Tavistock Cup team this year included Mark O’Meara, StuartAppleby, 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 nearbynumerous world-class courses where they can practice.
Pro athletes are specifically attracted to Isleworth, where new homes rangefrom $1.5 million to $8 million, “because of the security and the class of thewhole place and its accessibility to the airport,” said Joyce McClane, aretiree who was one of Isleworth’s earliest residents. She bought a lot in theneighborhood with her husband in 1987.
For Kyung Hee Yoon, the appeal is security. She and her radiologist husbandbought a $2.5 million home five years ago after moving to central Florida fromNew York. Having celebrity neighbors such as the PGA’s Appleby was almost anafterthought, 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.”
With its golf course, tennis courts and camp for kids, Isleworth’s countryclub is the nexus of the neighborhood’s social life. Sometimes the celebrityathletes get special treatment and can play golf when the course is closed.
“It’s just a perfect life,” McClane said. “We’re very fortunate.”
