Of all the weekends in the calendar year, this may be the greatest. Our clocks go forward, days get longer, summer is on the horizon and the Masters golf tournament is around the corner. There was a story the other day about the 2026 gnome which will be the best-selling item in Augusta National’s much loved merchandise shops. Heaven help me, I read that story.
I read, too, my colleague Rick Broadbent’s story about the release of the Amazon Prime documentary, Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait. There are indeed new insights. McIlroy and his Sunday playing partner Bryson DeChambeau had a contretemps on the 9th green over who should putt first. This was important as the player putting first had the chance to put pressure on the other. Each thought his ball was further from the hole and therefore had the right to play first.
DeChambeau suggested flipping a tee. McIlroy said no, saying instead that they should call a rules official. It was then that the American backed down. McIlroy putted first and made it. Under pressure, DeChambeau missed. A three-shot deficit became four. DeChambeau was done. His tournament over. I remember two young American fans standing alongside as that little drama played out. They rooted for Rory.
And then, late on Friday, to remind us that there’s no escape from bad news, another police mugshot of Tiger Woods appeared on our news feeds. The latest trouble follows on from a road accident not far from his home in Jupiter Island, Florida. It was early afternoon on Friday, driving his black Land Rover, that Woods tried to overtake a truck pulling a wide trailer. The Land Rover clipped the back end of the trailer and rolled on to its side, skidding quite a distance before coming to a stop. He’d been travelling at high speed in a 30mph zone.
Skidmarks near Woods’s overturned vehicleMartin County Sheriff’s Office/AP
Woods was able to climb out through the passenger’s door. Neither he nor the lorry driver was injured. Arriving at the scene, police found Woods to be “lethargic” and showing signs of “impairment.” They were satisfied he’d not been drinking, something confirmed by a breathalyser test. Woods refused to provide a urine sample and was charged with driving under the influence (DUI), property damage and the refusal to provide urine.
A friend remarked on the sadness of a sporting icon dragged so low. It isn’t just sad. It is also bad. Nine years ago, police found Woods asleep at the wheel of his still-running Mercedes on Military Trail in Jupiter. The car had two flat tyres and a damaged front bumper. Woods had five prescription drugs in his system. After being arrested, he was given 20 hours of community service and ordered to attend a workshop at which victims of impaired drivers talked about how their lives were damaged.
Woods’s mugshot from 2017, after he was found asleep at the wheel intoxicated by prescription drugsPalm Beach County Sheriff’s Office/AFP/getty
The police dropped the DUI charge and Woods pleaded guilty to reckless driving. He later attributed his mistake to “an unexpected reaction to prescription medications”. That didn’t sound like contrition, neither did it seem that Woods had accepted responsibility. This was the second road accident in a list that would eventually rise to four.
Woods is driven from Martin County jail after he was released on Friday nightJoe Raedle/Getty
The first happened in November 2009. A minor incident in the driveway of his home after an argument with his wife at the time, Elin. Tom Callahan, the sports writer, perfectly described the fallout from that. “Golf never needed a shower more than it did after Tiger Woods careered off a fire hydrant into a tree, shaking loose a multitude of cocktail waitresses, lingerie models and porn actresses, none of whom accused him of gentleness,” Callahan wrote. “Forgetting morality, Tiger had done the absolute last thing anyone ever expected him to do. He made himself ridiculous.” Damning, but perhaps not wrong.
Three months later, Woods apologised at a televised event at the PGA’s headquarters in Ponte Vedra, Florida. “The issue involved here was my repeated irresponsible behaviour,” he began. “I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did is not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame. I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in. I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn’t apply. I was wrong. I was foolish. I don’t get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me. I brought this shame on myself.”
I don’t know who wrote that apology, but it sure as hell wasn’t Woods.
He knew us far better than we knew him. He understood time would pass and memories dim. Back on the golf course, he would do things to win back many of those he’d lost. Of all the victories, his 2019 Masters was the most loved, the most celebrated. Golf fans were eager to forgive him.
Woods’s miraculous win at Augusta in 2019 is among his most celebratedAndrew Redington/Getty
Two months later, at the US Open at Pebble Beach, Woods wasn’t in contention but his gallery dwarfed everyone else’s. I fell in with Robert Drlicka, a Texan, who said he’d travelled 1,700 miles from Austin to support Woods. Robert wore a straw hat with a tiger on top, the words “Never Give Up” printed on the side. I asked what drew him to Woods.
“Sometimes you hit your lows,” he said, “you struggle for a little while. And then you just have to get up. He’s telling his body to do things it doesn’t want to do and that is fantastic. That’s a lesson for all of us.”
Drlicka said we could all learn from Woods’s resilienceDavid Cannon/Getty
Woods last played the Masters in 2024. Because of a rain delay on the first day, he had to play 23 holes on the second day. It was windy and cold. For a 48-year-old who’d had multiple knee and back surgeries, who has lived with a lot of pain through his adult life, that day was a tough walk. If you looked, you could see he was limping.
At the par-three 6th hole, I stood high on the bank behind the green. Alongside me was a young man, mid-thirties, with his hands on his girlfriend’s shoulders. He talked a lot faster than Woods walked. “You see where Tiger’s ball is?” he said to his girlfriend. “Yeah,” she replied. “I’m telling you, he could chip this in.” “Really?” she said.
Woods made the cut at the Masters for the 24th time in a row in 2024Mike Blake/Reuters
Woods reached the green, pulled a wedge from his bag and holed the chip. Good pace, it was going nowhere but into the cup. My neighbour on the bank was beside himself. “I said he would chip it in, didn’t I? F***ing great shot, awesome shot.” His girlfriend approved. Maybe golf wasn’t boring after all.
Through 23 holes on that Friday, Woods chipped and putted beautifully, easily making the cut. His 24th consecutive time to do so. Another record. Afterwards, he wasn’t exactly flattered by our mentioning this. “Well, you can’t win the golf tournament unless you’re here for the weekend,” he said, more to appease us than anything.
Playing at the TGL indoor simulator championship on Tuesday, Woods said he wanted to be in the Masters field next monthReinhold Matay/AP
I’ve gone through different phases, at first sitting somewhere near the back but in the hall with those unenthused by his dominance. For almost a decade he was too clinical, too machine-like. Like a poker-faced card player, he laid his hand on the table and swept up the winnings. Things changed over the past 15 years as Woods relaxed a little, offered us more of himself and became easier to like.
Appreciative of what he gave us on the golf course, now we can only wonder why he never employed a full-time driver and how he got himself into this latest situation.