Body camera video released Thursday shows Tiger Woods telling a deputy after his March 27 SUV crash in Florida that he had “been talking to the president.” The actual call is not on the footage; Woods can be heard saying “Thank you so much” as he ended the call and the deputy approached. It was not clear whether he was referring to President Donald Trump. After the incident, Trump told reporters he felt badly for Woods and called him “an amazing person.”
The footage captures Woods appearing surprised as deputies handcuffed him following a failed field sobriety test and as officers removed two pills from his pocket. Separate patrol-car video shows him hiccuping, yawning and repeatedly nodding off during the roughly 15-minute ride to the station.
Woods told authorities he had been looking at his phone and changing the radio when his Land Rover, traveling at speed, clipped the rear of a truck and rolled onto its side on a residential road on Jupiter Island. No one was injured. “I looked down at my phone, and all of a sudden — boom,” he told an officer while kneeling on a lawn.
Martin County Deputy Tatiana Levenar conducted roadside sobriety testing and told Woods she believed his faculties were impaired by an unknown substance and placed him under arrest for DUI. Woods asked, “I’m being arrested?” and was told, “Yes, sir.” After he was handcuffed, deputies found two white pills that Woods identified as Norco, a painkiller that contains acetaminophen and the opioid hydrocodone; authorities later confirmed he had hydrocodone in his possession.
In the bodycam material, Woods says he had not consumed alcohol and had taken “a few” medications earlier that day; parts of his remarks are muted in the released video. At the sheriff’s office, in the DUI testing room, he said, “I’m not drunk. I’m on a prescription medication,” according to a supplemental report.
Woods, 50, pleaded not guilty to the DUI charge and issued a statement saying he will step away indefinitely “to seek treatment and focus on my health.” Deputies noted he was limping and wearing a compression sock on his right knee; Woods has told officers he has had seven back surgeries and more than 20 procedures on his right leg, and that his ankle can seize up. During field testing he repeatedly moved his head and was instructed several times to keep it straight.
Based on Levenar’s observations and training, she concluded his normal faculties were impaired and that he could not safely operate the vehicle. The sheriff’s office later added a careless driving citation, a Florida moving violation for which Woods was fined $163.
Footage also shows longtime manager Rob McNamara and a member of Woods’s security team arriving after the crash. When asked if he needed anything from the SUV, Woods said, “My sticks.” McNamara joked about the value of his clubs while Woods noted he had used his putter to win 14 major championships. Asked about playing in the Masters, Woods replied, “I’m hoping to.”
Woods is one of golf’s most prominent figures and in 1997 became the first person of Black heritage to win the Masters. Ongoing injuries — including severe damage to his right leg in a 2021 crash that nearly led surgeons to consider amputation — have limited his play. He had not played an official event since the 2024 British Open and was recovering from a seventh back surgery in October.
After the March crash, Woods agreed to a breath test that showed no alcohol but declined a urine test; he was arrested and released on bail about eight hours later. Under a change to Florida law last year, refusing an officer’s request for a breath, blood or urine test is a misdemeanor, even for a first offense.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and The Associated Press contributed to this report.