Tiger Woods pleaded no contest Wednesday to reduced charges stemming from a March rollover crash, resolving a driving-under-the-influence case that could have sent the 15-time major champion to jail.
The 50-year-old golfer appeared at Martin County Courthouse with his girlfriend, Vanessa Trump, and attorney Douglas Duncan. He changed his earlier not-guilty plea and was adjudicated guilty of willful and wanton reckless driving (a second offense) and refusal to submit to a lawful test. A careless-driving citation was also resolved. The original DUI-with-property-damage charge was dropped.
County Judge Darren Steele imposed concurrent five-year suspensions of Woods’ driver’s license and $1,500 in fines ($1,000 on the reckless-driving count and $500 for the test refusal). Court records later showed additional costs bringing the total paid to more than $2,100. Steele issued a blunt warning: “There are no exceptions. If you were to drive for any reason at all, you would go immediately back to jail.” Woods agreed not to seek a hardship exemption.
The case began March 27, 2026, when Woods’ Land Rover struck a pickup truck towing a trailer on a two-lane road near his Jupiter Island home and rolled onto its side. No one was seriously injured. Woods told deputies he had been looking at his phone and changing the radio and did not notice the vehicle ahead had slowed. A breathalyzer registered 0.0, but he refused a urine test. Officers found two hydrocodone pills in his pocket and said he admitted taking “a few pills.” He was arrested on misdemeanor DUI and refusal charges.
State Attorney Thomas Bakkedahl said prosecutors accepted the deal after toxicologists hired by both sides concluded there was insufficient proof of impairment. Woods has a long history of injuries and had developed a pharmacological tolerance to the prescribed painkiller, they found.
Bakkedahl said he was confident that Woods would not be tempted to get behind the wheel.
“Of all the people in the world who should not get behind the wheel of a car, it’s one of the most recognizable people on the planet,” Bakkedahl said.
Woods, who had sought treatment after the crash, left court without speaking to reporters. Duncan said the resolution was intended “to bring closure to the case and to allow Tiger and his family to move on with their lives.” Woods has 30 days to appeal. Violation of the driving ban would send him to jail.
The plea ends the criminal case but leaves Woods without a license until 2031. It is at least his fourth high-profile vehicle incident since 2009.
