Update: Tiger Woods was arrested for DUI after the Jupiter Island crash, plus a few thoughts on the ‘media’ response to the situation
Yesterday we reported that Tiger Woods was involved in a rollover crash on Jupiter Island with no injuries. That was the beginning of the story. Here is the rest of it.
Woods was arrested for DUI with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test. He spent the night in the Martin County Jail and was released around 11 PM Friday after the mandatory eight-hour hold required by Florida statute.
Here is what happened. Tiger Woods was driving his Range Rover on Beach Road near Jupiter Island just before 2 PM when he attempted to pass a work truck at high speed on a residential street with a 30 mph limit.
The pickup truck slowed to turn into a driveway. The driver saw the Range Rover closing fast, tried to get out of the way, and could not because the street was too narrow. Woods clipped the back of the trailer and the SUV flipped onto its side. Woods crawled out of the passenger door on his own before law enforcement arrived.
Officers on the scene described Tiger Woods as lethargic and said he exemplified signs of impairment. He explained the injuries and surgeries he has undergone in recent months. He took a breathalyzer that returned 0.00.
Tiger Woods was arrested at the scene:
Tiger Woods then refused a urinalysis at the jail. The sheriff noted he was cooperative but not trying to incriminate himself, which is a polite way of saying he knew exactly what he was doing when he declined the urine test.
No alcohol. The suspicion was medications or drugs. No medication was observed in the vehicle. Woods was not placed in general population at the jail.
Sheriff Budensiek made the point that had there been a car traveling in the opposite direction on that street, this press conference would have been about fatalities instead. That part is not dramatic. That part is just the truth.
Tiger Woods played TGL earlier this week for the first time since July 2024 and the golf world spent two days cautiously talking about what it meant for the Masters. The Masters is April 10th. Tiger had not confirmed or denied whether he planned to compete. He has now been arrested for DUI, charged with property damage, and spent a night in a Florida jail.
Yesterday we said Tiger Woods should get a driver. We meant a different kind. Apparently both apply.
Nobody is pretending this is not a brutal situation…
Like most golfers in their 30s and 40s, Tiger Woods is the reason the majority of us picked up a club in the first place. We grew up watching every shot he ever hit. Watching him continue to cycle through injuries, surgeries, accidents, and now another DUI arrest is genuinely hard to watch. That is real and worth saying.
What is not acceptable is how some people in the media chose to cover it.
Golf journalist Dan Rapaport posted a video on X that was so embarrassing it needs to be seen to be believed. That is supposed to be a professional covering the sport. That is what he decided to do with his platform when the biggest name in golf got arrested. Truly one of the more pathetic things you will see from someone with a press credential.
Dan Rapaport should probably check himself into therapy
And then there is Barstool Sports, who somehow outdid that.
Riggs and the Foreplay crew decided the right move was to not even write about the story at all in order to, in their words, protect Tiger. Protect him from what exactly? The news? The public arrest record? The sheriff’s press conference that was broadcast nationally?
Riggs, buddy. You are not Tiger’s PR team. You are a golf podcast. A bad one at that. The story exists whether you write about it or not and choosing to look away does not protect anyone. It just makes you look like an entitled fanboy who cannot handle the job when it gets uncomfortable.
Honesty is better than loyalty. Always has been. That is the job.
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