Latest Woods accident raises more questions
Fourth traffic incident and second DUI cloud Tiger's immediate and long-term future
Last Tuesday, Tiger Woods returned to competition at TGL. Now what? (James Gilbert/TGL Golf via Getty Images)
Just miles from his home near the Medalist Golf Club where he practices, wearing a blue golf shirt with the Sun Day Red logo, Tiger Woods again rocked the sports world with the kind of bad news that has come to cast a dark shadow on so much he has done in golf.
Woods ended up in a Martin County, Florida, jail on Friday afternoon after he refused to take a urine test following a two-vehicle accident in which he hit the back of a pickup truck, flipped his Landover on its side, and fortunately, escaped serious injury.
By now you know the details of his arrest on charges of DUI. It was the fourth time dating to 2009 that Woods was involved in a vehicle incident, now twice arrested.
In 2017, he was found to have had five prescribed medications in his system after being found by the side of the road behind the wheel of his car — asleep — at 3 a.m.
Woods was later able to plea those charges down to reckless driving and has largely escaped scrutiny in the ensuing years, even after the horrific rollover car crash in 2021 in California that led to severe leg injuries. In that case, police at the scene saw no probable cause to run toxicology tests — even though his SUV was traveling at more than 80 mph when it rolled and crashed down an embankment.
When Woods was questioned by media months later, he shut it down by saying everything was in the police report. Of course, no details of his state of mind, why he was driving, what he was thinking — none of that was in the report.
And thus, Woods — who is not available to the media often — was able to dodge any tough questioning.
Expect the same now.
Woods, from a legal perspective, likely acted smartly by not consenting to a urine test. We’ll never know what was in his system. Yes, under Florida law, he faces losing his driver’s license for a year for failing to take the test. But because he passed a breathalyzer test, his attorneys can argue that the police were wrong in believing he was acting as if he were under the influence.
So far, there has yet to be a police report or bodycam footage released. Woods’ mug shot was certainly not flattering, but not nearly as bad as the one associated with his 2017 arrest. Neither Woods nor his team have also not released a statement and it’s possible that some legal wrangling will ensue.
According to Sheriff John Budensiek, the accident occurred shortly before 2 p.m. EDT. An unidentified male was driving a pressure-cleaning truck and pulling a smaller semi-trailer on a two-lane road and noticed in his rear-view mirror that a Land Rover was closing in on him “at a high rate of speed.”
As he was trying to pull to the side of the road, the Land Rover — driven by Woods — overtook him and clipped the back left side of the track, causing Woods’ car to turn over on its side. The driver of the truck was not injured.
“The individual was able to crawl out the passenger side,” Budensiek said of Woods. “He did exemplify signs of impairment.”
Woods, a 15-time major champion who was hopeful of a return to golf at the Masters next week, was charged with two misdemeanors — DUI with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test.
Tiger Woods leaving the Martin County (Fla.) Jail after his arrest on Friday night (MEGA/GC Images)
This is the fourth time Woods, 50, has been involved in a traffic issue that involved law enforcement.
In 2009, Woods crashed into a fire hydrant in his neighbor’s yard near his Isleworth home on Thanksgiving night. His then-wife, Elin, was reported to have pulled him from the car. No charges were filed.
In 2017, not long after a spinal fusion surgery, Woods was found passed out around 3 a.m. while driving in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., not far from his Jupiter home. He was arrested and found to have prescription drugs in his system. He later pleaded guilty to reckless driving and agreed to a plea deal. Police later dropped charges of driving under the influence, but footage of his arrest and jail mugshot went viral.
In February of 2021, Woods was involved in a serious one-car crash near Los Angeles while on his way to a publicity shoot. The SUV he was driving reportedly rolled several times and Woods suffered serious injuries leading to multiple surgeries on his lower right leg that make long walking difficult.
Crash investigators did not seek a warrant for a blood test because they said there was no evidence of impairment or intoxication. No charges were filed, and the crash was ruled an accident.
He returned to golf 14 months later but has played sparingly since, missing all of last year following an Achilles injury that required surgery.
Woods had disk replacement surgery in October and was trying to get ready to play in the Masters. He has not played an official event since the 2024 Open Championship.
Will he play the Masters next week? It remains possible, and perhaps Augusta National becomes a sanctuary from all the noise. He’s not going to talk about any of this, even though he needs to take ownership of a serious situation.
It’s also possible that some may distance themselves from him in the aftermath of this latest incident. Does the PGA of America still want Woods as its Ryder Cup captain in 2027? Does Brian Rolapp, the new PGA Tour CEO, want Woods having such a big say in reshaping the future of the tour as chairman of the future competition committee?
So far, there have been no public comments.
But Kevin Kisner, who played with Woods on their TGL team and is an analyst for NBC, called the incident “very disturbing” during his broadcast duties on Saturday.
“He was really working hard on his game, trying to practice and get back in shape,” Kisner said. “He signed up for the U.S. Senior Open yesterday (Woods registered for the July event). He was trying to do anything he could to come back and try and help our TGL team get ready, hopefully try and play the Masters.
“Just a really unfortunate incident. The only positive is that nobody was injured in the incident and we can all move forward and hopefully help him get better.”
Moving forward, at the very least, means Woods ought to find someone else to drive for him.
There are clearly other issues to resolve, with golf likely the least of them.