US golfer arrested in relation to rollover crash in Florida that did not cause any significant injuries.
Published On 28 Mar 2026
Tiger Woods was released on bail late on Friday, hours after his Land Rover clipped a truck, rolled onto its side and the golfer was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, officials said.
Woods had been travelling at “high speeds” on a residential road and, after the crash, showed “signs of impairment”, Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said, adding that investigators believe he had taken some kind of medication or drug.
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He described Woods as lethargic and said he agreed to a Breathalyser test that showed no signs of alcohol, but he refused a urine test and was arrested.
The crash occurred just before 2pm (18:00 GMT), not far from where Woods lives on Jupiter Island.
Woods was booked at the county jail in Stuart at about 3pm. He was released on bail eight hours later, the minimum allowed under state law, according to Budensiek.
Woods, who was not injured in the crash, had been held separate from others at the jail, Budensiek said.
He said Woods attempted to pass a pressure cleaner truck while driving on a two-lane road with a 48 kilometres per hour (30 miles per hour) speed limit. He said authorities could not determine how fast Woods was going.
The Land Rover swerved to avoid a collision as he was passing the truck, but clipped the back end of the truck’s trailer, Budensiek said. Woods’ car then rolled onto its driver’s side, and he crawled out.
The sheriff said Woods was “cooperative, but he’s not trying to incriminate himself”.
He said Woods has the right to refuse the urine test and that authorities “will never get definitive results with what he was impaired on”.
It was the second time the 50-year-old Woods had been arrested for a DUI, not as a result of the influence of alcohol. He said he took a bad mix of painkillers when authorities found him in 2017 asleep behind the wheel of his car, the engine still running and its driver’s side damaged. Woods pleaded guilty then to reckless driving.
This was also the fourth time Woods has been involved in a car crash, most recently in February 2021, when his SUV ran off a coastal road in Los Angeles at high speed, leading to multiple leg and ankle injuries. Woods said later that doctors considered amputation.
He also previously sustained multiple injuries to his left knee and his back during his golf career.
Woods returned from multiple back surgeries to win the 2019 Masters for his 15th major. His 82 titles on the PGA Tour are tied for the career record with Sam Snead. Since that LA crash, he has played 11 tournaments without being closer than 16 shots to the winner, the four times he was able to finish 72 holes.
Friday’s arrest comes as Woods was trying to decide if he was fit enough to play the Masters, which starts on April 9. He was also to be in Augusta, Georgia, on April 5 to unveil a golf course project with Masters chairman Fred Ridley.
Woods was days away from what was described as a “soft deadline” to decide whether to be the US Ryder Cup captain for the 2027 matches in Ireland.
He had been working his way back to golf from a seventh back surgery in September.
His last official tournament was the British Open in 2024. Woods ruptured his Achilles tendon in March 2025, which kept him off the course all season, even before the back surgery. He managed to play in his indoor TGL golf league on Tuesday night.
“I’m trying. Put it that way,” Woods said at last month’s Genesis Invitational near Los Angeles, when asked about playing again.
“The disc replacement has been one thing … I’ve had a fused back and now a disc replacement, so it’s challenging.”
