Tiger Woods plans to change his not guilty plea in the DUI case stemming from a rollover crash near his Florida home earlier this year, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.
The 50-year-old golf star is due to appear in Martin County circuit court at 8.30am on Wednesday for a change-of-plea hearing before judge Darren Steele. Woods had previously pleaded not guilty to charges of driving under the influence with property damage and refusing to submit to a lawful test.
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The filing did not disclose what plea Woods intends to enter or provide further details about the expected change.
Related: Tiger Woods’ latest brush with the law leaves questions why golf remains so beholden to him | Ewan Murray
The charges stem from a 27 March crash in Hobe Sound, near Woods’s residence on Jupiter Island. Martin County sheriff John Budensiek said Woods was driving a Land Rover that overturned after he attempted to overtake a truck on a narrow two-lane road shortly before 2pm.
The truck had been slowing to turn into a driveway when Woods approached at what Budensiek described as a “high rate of speed” on a road with a 30mph limit. Woods’s vehicle clipped a trailer, veered off and came to rest on its driver’s side after sliding along the roadway.
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Woods, who was alone in the vehicle, was able to exit through the passenger side and was not injured. Investigators said he showed signs of impairment and subjected him to roadside tests before taking him into custody.
A breath test showed no alcohol in his system, but Woods refused to provide a urine sample for drug testing. He told investigators he had taken several medications earlier that day, including drugs for high blood pressure and cholesterol as well as ibuprofen and the prescription painkiller Vicodin, according to court filings subsequently released by prosecutors.
The filings also detailed a series of unusual remarks Woods made to officers at the scene. About an hour after the crash, he spoke of “10 to 15 drones” equipped with GoPro cameras flying over his home and car. At another point, after stepping away while on the phone, Woods told an officer he had “just [been] talking to the president” before trailing off. The documents did not identify which president he meant, although Donald Trump said later that day that he had spoken with Woods following the crash.
Woods also told officers he had been looking down at his phone to change the radio station when the collision occurred.
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Prosecutors later sought access to Woods’s prescription records from the months leading up to the crash. His attorneys objected, arguing that the records were private, and asked a judge to determine whether they were relevant to the case and to restrict their disclosure.
Days after his arrest, Woods announced that he would step away from golf “to seek treatment and focus on my health”. A Florida judge subsequently granted him permission to travel abroad to enter an inpatient treatment facility, which his attorney said was necessary for an intensive, individualized program.
The crash marked another high-profile traffic incident for Woods. In February 2021, he was seriously injured when his SUV veered off a coastal road in Los Angeles at high speed, leaving him with leg and ankle injuries so severe that doctors considered amputation.
He was also arrested on a DUI charge in south Florida in 2017 after police found him asleep behind the wheel of a damaged vehicle. Woods later said he had taken a problematic combination of prescription medications and pleaded guilty to reckless driving.
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Another incident took place in 2009, when Woods crashed his SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree outside his home in Windermere, Florida.
Woods has played a limited schedule in recent years amid chronic pain, injuries and multiple surgeries, including a seventh back procedure and a ruptured achilles tendon. He has not competed in an official PGA Tour event since July 2024.
An 82-time winner on the PGA Tour, Woods is tied with Sam Snead for the most victories in tour history. The 15-time major champion last won one at the 2019 Masters, his fifth title at Augusta National.
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