{"id":357930,"date":"2026-04-01T03:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T03:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/357930\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T03:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T03:47:10","slug":"tiger-woods-says-hell-seek-treatment-after-pleading-not-guilty-to-dui","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/357930\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiger Woods says he&#8217;ll seek treatment after pleading not guilty to DUI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  [&amp;_p]:tit-sub-xl tit-sub-xl md:[&amp;_p]:d-tit-sub-xl md:d-tit-sub-xl mb-[1.3rem]\">Tiger Woods said he\u2019ll step away and seek treatment, days after his vehicle crashed in Florida and he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">\u201cThis is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery,\u201d he said in a post on the social media platform X.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Woods pleaded not guilty in his driving under the influence case in Florida, hours after a sheriff\u2019s report said he had pain pills in his pocket and showed signs of impairment at a crash last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The online court docket for Martin County, Florida, showed Woods entered a written plea of not guilty and planned to waive his appearance during an arraignment hearing next month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Woods\u2019 eyes were bloodshot and glassy, his pupils dilated and he had hydrocodone pills in his pocket when interviewed at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/03\/28\/tiger-woods-arrested-on-suspicion-of-dui-after-rollover-car-crash\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">scene of his car crash<\/a> last week in Florida, according to a sheriff\u2019s office report.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Woods\u2019 movements were slow and lethargic, he was sweating as he talked to deputies and told them he had taken prescription medication earlier in the morning, according to the incident report released by the Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Office. Woods told deputies he had been looking at his phone and fiddling with the radio before he clipped a truck in front of him, the report said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Deputies found two white pills, which were identified as the opioid hydrocodone used to treat pain, in his pocket, the report said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">When asked by a deputy if he took any prescription medications, Woods said, \u201cI take a few&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">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, according to the sheriff&#8217;s office, which noted Woods showed signs of impairment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The truck had US$5000 (NZ$8600) in damage, according to the sheriff&#8217;s report.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/golfer-tiger-woods-stands-by-his-overturned-vehicle-in-jupit-PK7CMVXAERHMTB4C4NNKA2VNW4.jpg\" alt=\"Golfer Tiger Woods stands by his overturned vehicle in Jupiter Island\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-hi5x8q-0 cWTYyG image-metadata\">Golfer Tiger Woods stands by his overturned vehicle in Jupiter Island (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The truck driver and another person helped Woods out of his vehicle, with the golfer needing to climb out from the passenger side. Neither Woods nor the truck driver were injured.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">During a field sobriety test, deputies noticed Woods limping and that he had a compression sock over his right knee. The golfer explained he had undergone seven back surgeries and over 20 leg operations and that his ankle seizes up while walking. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">\u201cBased 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,\u201d the deputy wrote after the tests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Woods, 50, is the most influential figure in golf and has become as recognisable as any athlete in the world. The first person of Black heritage to win the Masters in 1997, he has captivated golf fans with records likely never to be broken.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">But his injuries kept him from accomplishing more, including those suffered in a 2021 car crash that damaged his right leg so badly he said doctors considered amputation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">At this latest crash, Woods agreed to a Breathalyser test that showed no signs of alcohol, but he refused a urine test, authorities said. He was arrested and released on bail eight hours later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Woods\u2019 agent at Excel Sports, Mark Steinberg, has not responded to multiple messages seeking comment. No one from Woods\u2019 camp or the PGA Tour &#8212; he is on the board and is chairman of the committee reshaping the competition model &#8212; have commented since his arrest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Woods, who has been involved in many crashes over the years, is charged with driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test. He is scheduled for arraignment April 23. Online court records do not list an attorney for him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Under a change to Florida law last year, refusing a law enforcement officer\u2019s request to take a breath, blood or urine test became a misdemeanor, even for a first offense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tiger Woods said he\u2019ll step away and seek treatment, days after his vehicle crashed in Florida and he&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,64,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-357930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}