After crashing his SUV final week in Florida, Tiger Woods took out his cellphone and instructed a deputy, “I used to be simply speaking to the President,” in accordance with physique digicam footage launched on Thursday displaying Woods’ arrest on a DUI cost.
The cellphone dialog was not captured on video, however Woods may very well be heard saying, “Thanks a lot,” as he hung up and the deputy approached. It wasn’t clear if Woods was referring to President Donald Trump, whose former daughter-in-law, Vanessa Trump, is relationship Woods.
Shortly after the golfer’s March 27 arrest, Trump was requested about Woods and instructed reporters: “I really feel so badly. He’s received some issue. Very shut pal of mine. He’s an incredible particular person. Wonderful man. However, some issue.”
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon whether or not Trump spoke to Woods after the crash.
The footage additionally exhibits how Woods seemed to be astonished as he was handcuffed after failing a sobriety check, and a video from the again of the patrol automobile exhibits the handcuffed golfer hiccupping, yawning, and repeatedly showing to nod off throughout the 15-minute journey.
Woods instructed authorities he was his cellphone and altering the radio station when his rushing Land Rover clipped the again of a truck and rolled onto its aspect on a residential street on Jupiter Island. Nobody was injured.
“I appeared down at my cellphone, and unexpectedly—growth,” Woods instructed an officer as he knelt on a garden previous to his arrest.
READ: Tiger Woods turns down Ryder Cup captain’s job and seeks remedy out of nation
Physique digicam footage exhibits Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy Tatiana Levenar then conducting a roadside sobriety check and telling Woods: “I do imagine your regular schools are impaired, and also you’re beneath an unknown substance, so right now you’re beneath arrest for DUI.”
“I’m being arrested?” Woods responded.
“Sure, sir,” Levenar mentioned.
After handcuffing Woods, authorities searched his pockets and located two white drugs.
“That’s a Norco,” Woods mentioned after an officer pulled out the drugs, referring to a painkiller that accommodates acetaminophen and the opioid hydrocodone. Authorities would later verify that Woods was in possession of hydrocodone.
Within the physique digicam footage, Woods instructed Levenar that he had not drunk any alcohol and that he had taken “just a few” medicines earlier within the day, although Woods’ phrases are muted within the launched video as he describes a few of the medication.
On the sheriff’s workplace advanced, after Woods was escorted into the “DUI room” the place drivers are examined for being beneath the affect, Woods mentioned, “I’m not drunk. I’m on a prescription treatment,” in accordance with a supplemental sheriff’s workplace report launched Thursday.
Woods, 50, pleaded not responsible on Tuesday to suspicion of driving beneath the affect. He posted an announcement Tuesday night time saying that he was stepping away indefinitely “to hunt remedy and concentrate on my well being.”
Woods agreed to a Breathalyzer check that confirmed no indicators of alcohol, however he refused a urine check, authorities mentioned. Beneath a change to Florida regulation final 12 months, refusing an officer’s request to take a breath, blood, or urine check turned a misdemeanour, even for a primary offense.
In the course of the subject sobriety check, deputies observed Woods limping and that he had a compression sock over his proper knee. Woods defined he had undergone seven again surgical procedures and over 20 surgical procedures on his proper leg and that his ankle seizes up whereas strolling.
Woods, who was hiccupping throughout questioning, constantly moved his head throughout one of many sobriety assessments, and deputies needed to inform him a number of instances to maintain his head straight, in accordance with an arrest report.
“Primarily based on my observations of Woods and the way he carried out the workouts and based mostly on my coaching, data, and expertise, I believed that Woods’ regular schools have been impaired, and he was unable to soundly function the motorized vehicle,” Levenar wrote.
Woods is essentially the most influential determine in golf and has grow to be as recognizable as any athlete on this planet. The primary particular person of Black heritage to win the Masters in 1997, he has captivated golf followers with information probably by no means to be damaged.
His accidents have saved him from carrying out extra, together with from a 2021 Los Angeles automobile crash that broken his proper leg so badly he mentioned docs thought of amputation. He has not performed an official occasion because the 2024 British Open. He was recovering from a seventh again surgical procedure in October and was making an attempt to return to the Masters, the place he’s a five-time champion.
Revealed on Apr 03, 2026