Tiger Woods was arrested Friday afternoon by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office in South Florida for driving while impaired, which resulted in a rollover car crash.
Woods, who was not seriously injured, has been charged with DUI, property damage, and refusal to submit to a lawful test. Those are all misdemeanors. Woods passed a breathalyzer test, but refused to do a urine test once taken to the Martin County jail.
The accident occurred around 2 p.m. ET Friday, according to Martin County Sheriff John M. Budensick, who briefed the media at 5 p.m. ET.
Woods, 50, was driving a Range Rover, and was attempting to overtake a pressure cleaner truck that was pulling a small trailer on the two-lane South Beach Road on Jupiter Island, just a few miles from Woods’s longtime residence, according to Budensick’s report. The speed limit on that road is 30 miles an hour; it’s unclear how fast Woods was driving.
As Woods’s Range Rover was attempting to pass the truck, Woods swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle and clipped the back end of the truck, and then rolled onto its driver’s side door.
After the crash, Woods was able to crawl out of the driver’s side door. The driver of the truck was not injured, either.
“Our DUI investigators came to the scene here, and Mr. Woods did exemplify signs of impairment,” Budensick said.
After “in-depth roadside tests,” Woods was arrested and taken to the Martin County jail. A Florida state statute requires authorities keep people incarcerated for at least eight hours following a DUI test.
“We really weren’t suspicious of alcohol being involved in this case, and that proved to be true at the jail,” Budensick said. “So, Mr. Woods did a breathalyzer test, blew triple zeros. But when it came time for us to ask for a urine analysis test, he refused.”
Because he did not submit to a urine test, Budensick said it’s unlikely they will be able to determine what Woods was under the influence of. “We had [drug recognition] experts evaluating him and they believe from on-scene that he was not impaired on alcohol,” he said.
“They believe it was some type of medication or drug.”
Woods has been recovering from his latest back surgery in October, and his torn Achilles last March.
In 2021, Woods nearly had to have his right leg amputated after surviving a single-car rollover crash in Southern California. During that incident, he was cited as driving as fast as 87 miles per hour in a 45 mph speed limit zone. Woods was not charged by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which investigated the incident.
In 2017, Woods was arrested near his South Florida home by the Jupiter Police Department for driving under the influence after he was found asleep in his car pulled over on the side of the road. He later said there were unintended effects of prescription drugs he was taking that led to his impairment.
In 2009, Woods sustained minor injuries after hitting a fire hydrant and tree in his former neighborhood just outside Orlando. The incident was the first domino in Woods’s infamous cheating scandal that led to his divorce from then-wife Elin Nordegren.
Golf Channel moved its second-round coverage of the PGA Tour’s Houston Open to instead stream on the network’s website so it could carry the police briefing on Woods live at 5 p.m. ET. Friday afternoon’s edition of SportsCenter on ESPN2 also carried the briefing, and Woods’s arrest was the lead topic for Pardon The Interruption at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Woods on Tuesday returned to competitive golf for the first time in over a year, playing in the TGL Finals for his Jupiter Links Golf Club. After the match, he said he was trying to play the Masters, which begins April 9, but would not commit to teeing it up at Augusta National.
