Tiger Woods had two white hydrocodone pills in his left pocket when Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested him following a rollover crash on Jupiter Island, according to a newly released arrest report. The 50-year-old golfer was charged with misdemeanor DUI with property damage and refusal to submit to testing after the incident that occurred near his home. The pills, marked “M365,” were identified as the opioid analgesic hydrocodone, which has a high risk of addiction and is used to treat pain.
“I take a few,” Woods told deputies when asked about prescription medications, according to the incident report. Woods explained to deputies that he has had seven back surgeries and over 20 operations on his leg. The longtime PGA Tour star told deputies he was driving a black Land Rover when “he looked down at his cell phone and did not realize that” a white Ford F-150 with an attached trailer “had slowed down,” according to the report.
“I believe that Woods’ normal faculties were impaired and he was unable to safely operate the motor vehicle,” a deputy wrote in the arrest report. Deputies reported Woods showed “several signs of impairment,” had “bloodshot and glassy” eyes, dilated pupils, was “sweating profusely,” was at times “lethargic and slow,” and was “limping and stumbling to the right.” Woods was also “extremely alert” and “talkative,” had hiccups, and admitted to taking prescription medications that day.
This marks Woods’ second DUI arrest since 2017, when he fell asleep at the wheel with five drugs in his system, according to records. The golfer was traveling at high speeds on a beachside, residential road on Jupiter Island when his Land Rover clipped the truck and rolled onto its side. The truck sustained $5,000 in damage, according to the sheriff’s report. The truck driver and another person helped Woods out of his vehicle, with the golfer needing to climb out from the passenger side.
During a field sobriety test, deputies noticed Woods limping and that he had a compression sock over his right knee. Woods explained his ankle seizes up while walking due to his extensive surgical history. Woods, who was hiccupping during the questioning, continuously moved his head during one of the sobriety tests and deputies had to instruct him several times to keep his head straight, the report said. After a breathalyzer test showed no signs of alcohol, Woods refused a urine test.
“Based on my observations of Woods, how he performed the exercises and based on my training, knowledge, and experience, I believed that Woods normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to safely operate the motor vehicle,” a deputy wrote in the report. Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said during a news conference that deputies “will never get definitive results with what he was impaired on” due to Woods’ refusal to submit to additional testing. Neither Woods nor the truck driver were injured in the crash.
The arrest report provides detailed documentation of Woods’ condition at the scene, describing his movements as slow and lethargic while he was sweating as he talked to deputies. Woods told them he had taken prescription medication earlier in the morning and had been looking at his phone and fiddling with the radio before he clipped the truck in front of him. The incident occurred on a Friday afternoon near Woods’ Jupiter Island residence, marking another legal challenge for the golf legend who has faced multiple personal and professional setbacks in recent years.
Woods faces court proceedings on the misdemeanor charges, though no specific hearing date has been announced in the arrest documentation.