Tiger Woods Pleads Guilty After Arriving at Court With Girlfriend Vanessa

Golf icon Tiger Woods has admitted guilt to reckless driving and refusing to submit to a lawful test, reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors following his DUI arrest.

Dressed formally for the hearing, Woods arrived at Martin County Court shortly after 8am on Wednesday with girlfriend Vanessa Trump by his side, maintaining a serious expression as he moved past a crowd of photographers outside.

Inside the courtroom soon after, Woods stood before a judge and formally changed his plea. Though he was initially charged with driving under the influence, he pleaded guilty instead to the reduced charge of reckless driving.

Under the terms of the agreement, Woods will lose his driving license for five years.

The 15-time major winner was discovered at the scene of the March 27 crash in Jupiter, Florida, where authorities found two opioid tablets in his pocket.

Woods later spent time in rehab in Switzerland and had not been seen publicly after returning to the United States until last month.

According to police, Woods was driving at a high speed along a beachside road in Jupiter Island, Florida when his Land Rover clipped a tractor trailer truck and rolled onto its side, causing about $5,000 worth of damage to the other vehicle. 

He was able to crawl out of the vehicle without any injuries before later admitting to officers he was looking at his phone and changing the radio at the time of the collision. 

A Breathalyzer test did not reveal any alcohol in Woods’ system, but he refused a urine test, according to police.

The Sheriff’s report obtained by Our News Outlet said deputies found opioids in his pocket and he showed signs of impairment.

A previous hearing was held on August 4, following a July ruling that allowed prosecutors to obtain Woods’ hospital records that were connected to the crash. 

Martin County circuit court judge Darren Steele approved an agreement between the State Attorney’s Office and Woods’ legal team that allowed prosecutors to request records from the hospital that treated the PGA legend following his crash.

Back in May, Steele approved a similar agreement granting prosecutors access to Woods’ prescription medication records from his Palm Beach pharmacy between January 1 and his March crash.

Prosecutors and Woods’ attorney have agreed to a protective order that limits the release of any hospital or prescription records to the State Attorney’s Office, law enforcement, state experts and the defense.

Woods was closing in on a return to golf and was widely expected to compete at The Masters in the days before the crash.

He hasn’t competed since the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland and has since undergone surgery to repair a torn Achilles as well as a seventh back procedure.

Woods’ legal problems have since been put into perspective by his girlfriend Vanessa Trump’s cancer diagnosis. She revealed her bout with an unspecified form of breast cancer back in May. 

Tiger’s March crash marked the fourth major driving-related incident of Woods’ adult life. 

Five years earlier, when Woods rolled another SUV down a steep embankment in California, he did not face any accusations of driving under the influence. Instead, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department claimed Woods was driving at around 80mph, nearly twice the legal limit, at the time of the crash. 

What’s more, eyewitnesses told TMZ that Woods appeared agitated and impatient while leaving a golf tournament parking lot in the moments before the crash.

Woods was never charged in 2021, but he wasn’t so lucky in 2017, when he was found by Jupiter police about 15 miles from his home. Officers said they found him unconscious in his Mercedes-Benz, which was parked awkwardly on the roadside at around 3am.

Upon closer inspection, they noticed damage to his vehicle.

The good news was that Woods didn’t have any alcohol in his system, but later tests found the active ingredient for marijuana, two painkillers – Vicodin and Dilaudid – the sleep drug Ambien and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.

He later claimed he’d been self-medicating for pain caused by his fourth back surgery and insomnia. Woods did not specifically address the marijuana issue and he wasn’t found with any of the drug in his possession.

Woods pleaded guilty to reckless driving and received a year of probation, a $250 fine and was ordered to undergo 50 hours of community service. He was also banned from drinking alcohol during the probation.

Perhaps one silver lining came in July of 2017, when Woods completed a private program to address his dependency on pain killers.

‘I will continue to tackle this going forward with my doctors, family and friends,’ he tweeted at the time. ‘I am so very thankful for all of the support I’ve received.’

Woods’ most notorious car crash took place in November of 2009, when he rammed his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant, tree and several hedges near his home.

He was treated for minor injuries and received a ticket for careless driving, but while he thanked his then-wife Elin Nordegren for getting him out of the car, there were lingering doubts about the story. After all, it was only days earlier that the National Enquirer claimed he’d had an affair with Rachel Uchitel, a 9/11 widow and New York nightclub manager.

The alleged details of November 27, 2009 were ultimately included in the best-selling biography from Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian, titled: Tiger Woods.