Another car accident suggests it's time for Tiger Woods to ask for help

Through our lives we have all known someone who needed help for some issue and just won’t ask for the it. Or perhaps everyone around that someone sees the person needs help, but the person doesn’t see it themselves.

We shake our heads when that person refuses help or refuses to acknowledge they need help at all despite mounting evidence. This is true of bankers and repairmen and school teachers and ditch diggers and certainly professional athletes.

Tiger Woods needs help. Maybe he doesn’t need the most help anyone has every needed, but his pattern of behavior and the details we know about his two-car accident Friday just a few miles from his home in Florida all point to a person who needs to take getting help seriously.

There is no shame in this. People have all kinds of problems, from mental to physical to emotional. Some people have addiction or substance abuse issues. If you don’t have these issues, count your blessings.

More: Xavier Prep team to beat in DEL golf after 10-shot win over Palm Desert

This isn’t about Woods getting back out on the golf course in a competitive setting or trying to chase a 16^th major or getting that one more win to break the tie at 82 wins with Sam Snead for the all-time PGA Tour victories mark. This is about 50-year-old Woods getting to 60. It’s about how close he came Friday to leaving Charlie and Sam, his children, without a father.

What we know is that Woods was not drunk when his SUV clipped the back of a trailer being towed by a truck, sending Woods’ vehicle onto its side. In fact, a sheriff’s spokesman from Martin County said Woods blew a zero on a breathalyzer test. But Woods seemed under the influence of something, and Woods refused a urine test at the station, leading to his arrest on two misdemeanor counts.

No one who knows anything about Woods or his history would be stunned to know that he could be taking pain medication for a laundry list of aches and pains and injuries through the years, including right ankle issues from a far-more-serious single-car rollover in 2021. Woods’ stellar career has been severely curtailed, if not completely shut down, by the injuries and surgeries, and he hasn’t played in an official PGA Tour event since July of 2024 at the British Open.

And no one who knows about pain medication would be surprised that anyone on the pills could become disoriented when taking the medication. Or that it was relatively easy to become addicted to these powerful drugs. Doctors work hard to limit a patient’s exposure to these drugs, but sometimes the drugs are needed and sometimes it is easy to fall prey to their side effects.

Tiger Woods of Jupiter Links GC warms up during match against Los Angeles Golf Club during the TGL finals at SoFi Center on March 24, 2026, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

We don’t know exactly what Woods takes for what must be a lot of pain from his ravaged body. We can’t know if Woods is addicted or if he was just having a bad day or a bad reaction.

But the pattern does seem clear. Too many DUI and auto accidents in his life. Too many times when excessive speed was pointed to as a contribution factor. Too many mug shots after arrests.

Now, at 50, with his playing career in serious question but the rest of his life still ahead of him, it is time for Woods to take some major steps to get his life in order. They may be only so much he can do for the limitations and the pains of his injuries, but he can take a hard look at his life and figure out what needs to change.

When you first heard Woods was in a car accident on Friday, you might have rolled your eyes a bit and muttered, “Again?” Or you might have made a small joke about getting a chauffeur. But it really isn’t that much of a joke. It’s about a sporting icon at midlife struggling with demons. And it’s time to set serious help.

Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for The Desert Sun. You can contact him at (760) 778-4633 or at larry.bohannan@desertsun.com. Follow him on Facebook or on X at @larry_bohannan.