On Friday afternoon, Tiger Woods was arrested on suspicion of DUI after his Land Rover clipped a pressure cleaner truck on a 30 mph road in Jupiter Island, Florida, rolled onto its side, and came to a stop. Woods crawled out through the passenger door uninjured, blew triple zeros on a breathalyzer, and refused a urine test. Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek confirmed two misdemeanor charges: DUI with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test.

“Yeah, very disturbing. Obviously, he was really working hard on his game, trying to practice and get back in shape. He signed up for the US Open and Senior Open yesterday. He was trying to do anything he could to come back and help our TGL team get ready to hopefully try and play the Masters. And it was just a really unfortunate incident. I guess, Brad, the only positive is that nobody was injured in the incident. And we can all move forward and hopefully help him get better.”

Kevin Kisner, who played with Woods in the TGL Finals three days earlier, addressed the arrest on NBC within hours.

Brad Faxon also commented on the incident.

“He’s the biggest needle mover in our sport.”

Woods’ absence from the 2025 Masters led to a 28% drop in first-round viewership compared to the previous year.

Journalist Brendan Porath posted the clip on X, where it received 520,000 views.

The arrest lands eleven days before the Masters begins on April 9. Woods had not confirmed a start at Augusta but had not ruled one out. When asked directly whether a 2026 appearance was off the table, Woods told reporters simply, “No.”

His private jet had been spotted at Augusta Regional Airport 26 days before the first round, and the official Masters app listed him as an active participant for what would have been his 27th start. On April 5, he was also scheduled to appear alongside Masters chairman Fred Ridley at Augusta to unveil a redesign of The Patch, a local municipal course his design team rebuilt. That calendar is now uncertain.

No court date has been set. Woods has not commented publicly, and the PGA Tour has issued no official statement. His Ryder Cup captaincy decision, for which the PGA of America had set a soft deadline at the end of March, sits unresolved alongside everything else.

Tiger Woods’ 2026 DUI arrest and the shadow of 2017

This is the second time Woods has faced a DUI arrest without alcohol being involved. In 2017, Jupiter police found him asleep at the wheel of a parked car, engine running, no crash. Toxicology revealed multiple substances: Vicodin, Dilaudid, Xanax, Ambien, and THC. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving, paid a $250 fine, completed probation, and entered a first-offender program. The 2026 arrest is different. This time, there was a rollover crash on a public road at high speed, and another driver was involved.

Woods refused to submit to a urine test. This complicates the legal process. Florida law requires proof of impairment from a controlled substance for a DUI conviction. Without the test, the main charge may be reduced to refusal to submit, a second-degree misdemeanor with up to 60 days in jail. Sheriff Budensiek was clear about what this refusal means in practice.

“We will never get the definitive results as to what he was actually impaired on at the time of the crash.”

Woods is now 50. Since 2014, he has undergone seven back surgeries and ruptured his Achilles tendon in March 2025. Since his 2021 car crash in Los Angeles, he has played in 11 tournaments and finished only four. The charges from this latest incident are still pending. The questions remain.