Tiger Woods pleads not guilty to DUI charge after car accident

The court proceedings have begun in the case against Tiger Woods.

On Tuesday afternoon, Woods pleaded not guilty on DUI charges stemming from a rollover crash in Jupiter, Fla. on Friday afternoon, according to court documents obtained by GOLF. The 15-time major champion has also retained the services of Douglas Duncan, an attorney who served on his 2017 DUI case after Woods was found asleep at the wheel of his car and tested positive for five different substances in a toxicology report. Ultimately, two of the three misdemeanor charges against Woods were dropped in that case, and the golfer pleaded guilty only to reckless driving.

Woods, 50, has been the story of the golf world in the week preceding the Masters after crashing his car on a one-lane road in Jupiter, Fla. on Friday afternoon. The crash, which came when Woods attempted to overtake a turning truck with a trailer attached, resulted in Woods’ Range Rover flipping onto its driver side. After police responded to the scene of the crash, officers observed Woods “sweating profusely” and appearing “lethargic and slow,” according to an affidavit. After administering a field sobriety test to the 15-time major champion, an officer from the Martin County Sheriff’s Department charged him with Driving Under the Influence.

After conducting a search at the scene of the accident, officers also found two hydrocodone pills in Woods’ pocket. The well-prescribed opioid was one of several substances that arrived in Woods’ toxicology report back in 2017. On Tuesday afternoon, Woods announced his intention to seek treatment for unspecified issues.

“I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today,” Woods said. “I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order form e to prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery.”

Friday’s incident was not Woods’ first serious accident behind the wheel. In 2021, he suffered serious injuries to his right leg after a single-car accident in Rolling Hills Estates, Calif. while on the way to a magazine shoot. At the time of that accident, the recorder in Woods’ car tracked him as driving at nearly two times the speed limit. The “jaws of life” were needed to extricate him from the crash, and Woods’ leg was badly mangled. In the report from Friday’s DUI, the Martin County Sheriff’s Department quotes Woods as mentioning he has had more than 20 surgeries to the leg since the injury in 2021.

Prior to Friday, the familiar swell of anticipatory energy had begun to swirl around Woods’ golf game. The 82-time PGA Tour winner had returned to competitive golf for the first time since rupturing his achilles in March of last year, competing in the finals of the TGL just two weeks out from the start of the Masters. Irrespective of his playing status, Woods was scheduled to be in attendance at Augusta for the official reopening of The Patch, a local municipal course renovated by Augusta National with help from Woods’ design firm.