Commentary
Tiger Woods handed five-year driving ban
Tiger Woods was handed a five-year driving licence suspension on Wednesday after a plea agreement resolved charges over a rollover crash near his Florida home in March.
The 15-time major golf champion pleaded no contest to careless and reckless driving. A more serious charge of driving under the influence, which carried the possibility of jail time, was dropped under the deal.
Judge Darren Steele warned Woods at the Martin County Courthouse in Stuart, Florida, that any attempt to drive would send him straight back to jail.
“If you were to drive for any reason at all you would go immediately back to jail,” Steele said during the livestreamed hearing.
Woods, 50, was trying to pass a truck towing a trailer on a residential road near his Jupiter Island home on March 27 when his SUV clipped the vehicle and rolled onto its side.
Authorities found no evidence that he had been drinking alcohol, but said he appeared impaired. Two pills containing the opioid painkiller hydrocodone were found in his pocket.
Woods has had several back operations and surgery for serious leg injuries sustained in a car crash in California in 2021.
He refused a urine test after the Florida crash and was charged, jailed and later released on bond.
Woods initially pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence with property damage and refusing to submit to a lawful test. He told authorities he had been looking at his phone and changing radio channels when the crash happened.
Days later, Woods announced he was “stepping away” to seek treatment and concentrate on his health. He subsequently travelled outside the United States for inpatient treatment, reportedly in Switzerland.
His girlfriend Vanessa Trump, the former wife of US President Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., accompanied him to Wednesday’s hearing.
Trump described Woods as a “great guy” and called the outcome “very fair” when asked about the case at the White House.
With his licence suspended, Woods would have to arrange for someone else to drive, the president said.
“I told him that a long time ago. Why don’t you get somebody to drive you?”
Woods made his first public appearance following his arrest at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship in June, where he introduced tour chief executive Brian Rolapp.
Rolapp announced a new competition structure due to begin in 2028. Woods helped develop the changes as chair of the Future Competition Committee.
The format will feature a PGA Tour Championship Series and a Challenger Series, through which golfers can earn a route to the top tier.
Woods has not competed in an official PGA Tour event since July 2024.
