STUART, Fla. (Court TV) — Tiger Woods will have to limit his driving to the golf course after he pleaded no contest to charges following a crash in Florida.
Tiger Woods stands in court on Sept. 2, 2026. (Court TV)
Woods, 50, entered the plea to amended charges six months after he rolled his SUV on Jupiter Island. Investigators said the pro golfer was illegally trying to pass a truck hauling a trailer; when Woods passed the truck, his Land Rover left the road and flipped onto its side. Nobody was hurt.
Prosecutors initially charged Woods with driving under the influence and refusing to submit to testing; on Wednesday, he entered pleas to charges of reckless driving and careless driving.
“Since I initially filed on these charges, there’s been a very significant erosion of evidence,” Assistant State Attorney Nirlaine Smart said Wednesday morning at Woods’ change-of-plea hearing.
Outside the courtroom, State Attorney Thomas Bakkedahl held a news conference to explain why prosecutors agreed to amend the charges. “This case turned out to be a particularly difficult DUI to prove,” he said.
Neither side disputed the basic facts of the case: Woods had been driving the SUV when it crashed on March 27, 2026. At the scene, Woods denied drinking alcohol, but told deputies, “I took a few,” in reference to medications; deputies found two hydrocodone pills in his pocket.
Golfer Tiger Woods stands by his overturned vehicle in Jupiter Island, Fla., on Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Oteri)
Bakkedahl said that sobriety tests deputies administered at the crash scene were unreliable because of Woods’ documented history of back and leg surgeries, which have left his gait unsteady. The defendant also refused a drug screening, so “we don’t know exactly what was in his bloodstream at the time,” Bakkedahl said.
Prosecutors subpoenaed Woods’ medical and prescription records, which revealed that he had a valid prescription for the medication in his pocket. Woods also gave investigators access to the Land Rover without a warrant, but the manufacturer refused to cooperate further and provide access to the vehicle’s black box.
Ultimately, Bakkedahl said he decided to amend the charges after two toxicologists hired to review the case “were of the opinion that there was insufficient proof” to establish that Woods was under the influence at the time of the crash.
Under the plea agreement, Woods will not serve jail time but must pay a $1,000 fine. His driver’s license will also be suspended for five years.
“Sir, I want you to understand that five years of driving is for the safety of the public,” Judge Darren Steele warned. “There are no exceptions. If you were to drive for any reason at all, you would go immediately back to jail.”
Woods was previously cited in 2023 in California for a crash caused by excessive speed; he was also cited in 2009 for careless driving after hitting a fire hydrant and a tree in Florida.
