Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LAST UPDATE | 28 Mar
GOLFER TIGER WOODS was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after a car crash in Florida near his home.
Woods, who was uninjured in the accident, was detained after the car he was driving clipped a truck and flipped over.
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said 50-year-old Woods – who was arrested for driving under the influence in 2017 – showed signs of “impairment”, although he passed a breathalyser test.
“When it came time for us to ask for a urinalysis test, he refused, and so he’s been charged with DUI, with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test in the crash,” Budensiek said.
In line with Florida DUI laws, Woods was detained at the county jail for eight hours and was photographed departing the facility in a car late Friday.
A booking photo showed a red-eyed, stubbly-chinned Woods when he arrived at the jail about two hours after the crash.
Budensiek said drug recognition experts who examined Woods at the scene found the golfer “lethargic” and believed he was impaired with “some kind of medication or drug.”
No drugs or medication were found in his vehicle and since Woods refused the urine test, his right under Florida law, authorities “will never get definitive results as to what he was impaired on at the time of the crash,” Budensiek said.
Budensiek said he didn’t know how fast Woods was driving in the moments before the crash.
He said the driver of the truck had slowed to make a turn, then tried to move to the side of the road when he saw Woods’s fast-moving vehicle attempting to overtake him.
“When I show you the photos, they kind of speak for themselves…you can see that [Woods] slid for a decent space before he came to a stop,” said the sheriff, who said that after the crash Woods climbed out of the passenger-side window of his Land Rover.
President Donald Trump expressed sympathy for Woods in remarks to reporters in Miami following the incident.
“He’s got some difficulty, there was an accident, and that’s all I know,” Trump said. “Very close friend of mine. He’s an amazing person, amazing man, but, uh, some difficulty.”
BREAKING: "Mr Woods did exemplify signs of impairment."
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 27, 2026
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek says Tiger Woods has been arrested and charged for driving under the influence after the golfer was involved in a car crash.https://t.co/QiOAtDccC1
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602 pic.twitter.com/sBjlQ3m8fi
Woods was arrested in Jupiter in 2017 after police found him asleep at the wheel of his damaged car. Woods eventually pleaded guilty to reckless driving and said he had taken a mix of painkillers.
Five years ago Woods was involved in a serious car crash in California that left him with severe right leg injuries that required pins inserted in his foot and ankle and a rod in his tibia as well as a follow-up surgery in 2023.
Woods returned from that crash at the 2022 Masters, where he struggled to walk all four rounds on the way to a 47th-place finish.
Woods, whose clean-cut image was left in tatters after a 2009 sex scandal that upended his career, has been working to return from an Achilles tendon rupture last March and back surgery last October.
He competed earlier this week in the TGL simulator indoor golf league finals and had not ruled out playing in next month’s Masters, where his five victories include his first major title in 1997 and his most recent in 2019.
“This body … it doesn’t recover like it did when it was 24, 25. It doesn’t mean I’m not trying,” said Woods, who last competed in a PGA Tour level event at the 2024 British Open. “I keep trying.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say