Tiger Woods will be unable to drive for five years after reaching a plea deal over a rollover crash in Florida, resolving a case that initially included a driving-under-the-influence charge.
Court ruling and crash case
- Woods received the five-year licence suspension on Wednesday after entering a no-contest plea to reduced charges of careless and reckless driving. The hearing was streamed live from the Martin County Courthouse in Stuart, Florida.
- Judge Darren Steele warned the 50-year-old golfer that driving for any purpose during the suspension would result in an immediate return to jail.
- Prosecutors dropped the more serious DUI allegation as part of the agreement. A conviction on that charge could have sent Woods to prison.
- The 15-time major winner attended the hearing with his girlfriend, Vanessa Trump, who was previously married to Donald Trump Jr., the son of President Donald Trump.
- The case arose from a March 27 crash close to Woods’s home on Jupiter Island. His SUV struck a truck towing a trailer and rolled onto its side as he tried to overtake it on a residential street.
- Investigators concluded that Woods had not consumed alcohol, although they believed he showed signs of impairment.
- Woods, who has had several back surgeries as well as operations for serious leg injuries sustained in a 2021 crash in California, was carrying two hydrocodone tablets, an opioid pain medication.
- He declined to provide a urine sample and was arrested, held in jail and later freed on bond.
- Woods first denied the DUI with property-damage allegation and the charge related to refusing a lawful test. He told investigators that he had been looking at his phone and switching radio stations when the accident happened.
Health and return to public life
- Several days after the crash, Woods announced that he was stepping away from competition to receive treatment and concentrate on his health.
- He subsequently travelled outside the United States for inpatient care, with Switzerland reported as the location of the facility.
- Woods returned to the public eye at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship in June. He introduced tour chief executive Brian Rolapp, who unveiled plans for a new competitive format scheduled to begin in 2028.
- Serving as chairman of the Future Competition Committee, Woods was instrumental in developing the proposed two-level structure. It will consist of a PGA Tour Championship Series and a Challenger Series, with the latter offering players a route towards the top circuit.
Woods’s most recent appearance in an official PGA Tour tournament came in July 2024.
