This Wednesday morning in Martin County, Florida, Tiger Woods stood before a judge and pleaded guilty to reckless driving and refusal to submit to a lawful test, stemming from a DUI arrest tied to a rollover crash earlier this year. As part of the deal, the 15-time major champion will have his driver’s license suspended for five years and must pay a $1,000 fine.
RELATED: Cops Reveal Tiger Woods Reportedly Had Pills In His Pocket During Arrest
As previously reported, back in March, Woods was flying down a beachside residential road on Jupiter Island with a 30 mph speed limit when his Land Rover clipped a truck and rolled onto its side. Authorities said Woods was able to climb out of the vehicle on his own and wasn’t injured.
According to an arrest affidavit, Woods failed a sobriety test on the scene, denied drinking alcohol, but admitted to deputies he’d taken “a few” prescription medications that day, and he was found carrying prescription opioids in his pocket.
A breath test actually showed Woods hadn’t been drinking, but he refused to give a urine sample, which is exactly what landed him that second charge. He initially came out swinging with a not guilty plea just days after the crash, but this week his team quietly signaled a change was coming when his attorney, Doug Duncan, filed a motion to switch things up.
Woods showed up to court this morning with his girlfriend, Vanessa Trump, by his side, as cameras rolled. Inside, the judge didn’t play around, warning Tiger that if he’s caught driving on that suspended license, he could land himself in jail.
This isn’t Tiger’s first rodeo with the law, and honestly, that’s part of what makes this story sting a little more. Back in 2017, he pleaded guilty to a similar reckless driving charge after police found him asleep behind the wheel on Jupiter Island. He entered a first-offender diversion program, got 12 months probation, a $250 fine, and 50 hours of community service, and eventually got that charge expunged after completing the program in 2018.
During that arrest, Woods reportedly slurred his words, couldn’t walk a straight line, and struggled to even blow into the breathalyzer at the station. A former prosecutor at the time made it clear there’d be no special treatment, stating plainly that Tiger Woods would be handled just like anybody else in Palm Beach County, with his fame carrying no weight in the case.
And let’s not forget the man’s been through it on the road before in ways that had nothing to do with alcohol. Back in November 2009, his driving troubles first hit headlines, and years later in February 2021 he survived a horrific rollover crash in Southern California that nearly cost him his leg to amputation. The man has quite literally walked away from wreckage more than once, this time it’s his license taking the hit instead of his body.
Hopefully this will be his latest and last learning lesson.