Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. Many people think he is one of the best golfers in history and one of the most well-known athletes today. He has the most wins on the PGA Tour, ranks second in men's major championships, holds many golf records, and is in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

After having a successful junior, college, and amateur career, Woods became a professional golfer in 1996 at age 20. By April 1997, he had won three PGA Tour events and his first major championship, the 1997 Masters. He won that tournament by 12 strokes, which was a record. He became the number one golfer in the world in June 1997, less than a year after becoming a professional. Woods was the top-ranked golfer in the world from August 1999 to September 2004 (264 weeks in a row) and again from June 2005 to October 2010 (281 weeks in a row). The next decade was difficult because he had to recover from personal problems and injuries. He took a break from professional golf from December 2009 to April 2010 to deal with marital issues. His world ranking dropped to 58th in November 2011, but he returned to number one between March 2013 and May 2014. Injuries caused him to have four back surgeries between 2014 and 2017. He played in only one tournament between August 2015 and January 2018 and was no longer in the world’s top 1,000 players. After returning to regular competition, he won the Tour Championship in September 2018—his first victory in five years—and the 2019 Masters, which was his first major championship in 11 years.

Woods holds many golf records. He has spent the most weeks and the most consecutive weeks as the world’s number one player. He has been named PGA Player of the Year 11 times, more than anyone else, and led the PGA Tour money list in 10 seasons. He has won 15 major championships (second only to Jack Nicklaus, who has 18) and 82 PGA Tour events (tied with Sam Snead for the all-time record). Woods is one of six men to complete the career Grand Slam, along with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Rory McIlroy. He is the youngest to achieve this, and one of only two golfers—along with Nicklaus—to complete the career Grand Slam three times. He was part of the winning United States team at the 1999 Ryder Cup and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May 2019.

On February 23, 2021, Woods was taken to the hospital after a car accident and had emergency surgery for serious fractures in his right leg and a broken ankle. In November 2021, he told Golf Digest that his full-time professional career was over, though he planned to play occasionally. He returned to the PGA Tour at the 2022 Masters. In 2026, Woods was involved in another car accident and was charged with driving under the influence and causing property damage. As of April 2026, his net worth was estimated at US$1.5 billion by Forbes.

Background and family

Tiger Woods was born on December 30, 1975, in Cypress, California, a city near Los Angeles. He is the only child of Earl and Kultida "Tida" Woods (born Punsawad). He also has two half-brothers and one half-sister from his father's first marriage. Earl was a retired U.S. Army officer and a Vietnam War veteran. He was born to African-American parents and had ancestry from European, Chinese, and Native American (Cherokee) backgrounds. Kultida was originally from Thailand, where she met Earl during his military service in 1968. She had mixed heritage from Thai, Chinese, and Dutch backgrounds. In 2002, ESPN reported that Woods was one-quarter Thai, one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter Caucasian, one-eighth African American, and one-eighth Native American. Woods described his ethnic background as "Cablinasian," a term he created by combining parts of the words Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian.

His mother chose his first name, Eldrick, because it started with the letter "E" (for Earl) and ended with "K" (for Kultida). His middle name, Tont, is a traditional Thai name. He was nicknamed "Tiger" after his father's friend, a South Vietnamese colonel named Vuong Dang Phong, who was also called "Tiger." His niece, Cheyenne Woods, played college golf at Wake Forest University and became a professional golfer in 2012. She made her first appearance at the LPGA Championship.

Earl died on May 3, 2006. Kultida died on February 4, 2025. After his mother's death, Woods said, "Without her, none of my personal achievements would have been possible."

Early life and amateur golf career

Eldrick Tont Woods was born on December 30, 1975, in Cypress, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. A child prodigy, he was introduced to golf before the age of two by his father, an accomplished athlete who was a single-digit-handicap amateur golfer and one of the earliest African American college baseball players at Kansas State University. Woods later said he had once hoped to become a baseball player like his father but abandoned that goal after tearing his rotator cuff. Because his father was a member of the military, he had playing privileges at the Navy Golf Course adjacent to the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, which allowed Woods to play there. Woods also played at the par-3 Heartwell Golf Course in Long Beach and at several Long Beach municipal courses.

In 1978, Woods putted against comedian Bob Hope during a television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show. At age three, he shot a 48 over nine holes at the Navy course. At age five, he appeared in Golf Digest and on ABC’s That’s Incredible!. Before turning seven, Woods won the Under-Age-10 division of the Drive, Pitch, and Putt competition at the Navy Golf Course in Cypress. In 1984, at age eight, he won the 9–10 boys’ event—the youngest available age group—at the Junior World Golf Championships. He first broke 80 at age eight. Woods went on to win the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive titles from 1988 to 1991. His father later wrote that Woods first defeated him at age 11, with Earl playing his best; Earl never beat Woods again. Woods first broke 70 on a regulation course at age 12.

At age 13, Woods played in the 1989 Big I, his first major national junior tournament. In the final round, he was paired with professional golfer John Daly, then relatively unknown. The event’s format placed one professional with each group of juniors. Daly birdied three of the last four holes to defeat Woods by a single stroke. As a young teenager, Woods met Jack Nicklaus at the Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, where Nicklaus was conducting a clinic. Woods participated in the exhibition and impressed Nicklaus and the audience with his skill and potential. His father had extensively studied Nicklaus’s records and set those achievements as goals for his son.

At age 15, while attending Western High School in Anaheim, Woods became the youngest U.S. Junior Amateur champion, a record that stood until Jim Liu broke it in 2010. Woods was named the 1991 Southern California Amateur Player of the Year (for the second consecutive year) and the Golf Digest Junior Amateur Player of the Year. In 1992, Woods successfully defended his U.S. Junior Amateur title, becoming the event’s first two-time winner. That year he also competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Nissan Los Angeles Open (he missed the 36-hole cut), and was named Golf Digest Amateur Player of the Year, Golf World Player of the Year, and Golfweek National Amateur of the Year.

Woods won his third consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur the following year, remaining the event’s only three-time champion. In 1994, at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, he became the youngest winner of the U.S. Amateur, a record that stood until 2008 when it was broken by Danny Lee. He represented the U.S. at the 1994 Eisenhower Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championships (winning) and the 1995 Walker Cup (losing).

Woods graduated from Western High School in 1994 at age 18 and was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by his classmates. He starred on the school’s golf team under coach Don Crosby. As a child, Woods learned to manage a stutter. This became publicly known when he wrote a letter to a boy who had contemplated suicide, telling him: "I know what it’s like to be different and to sometimes not fit in. I also stuttered as a child and I would talk to my dog and he would sit there and listen until he fell asleep. I also took a class for two years to help me, and I finally learned to stop."

College golf career

Woods was chosen by many top college golf programs and decided to attend Stanford University, the team that had just won the NCAA championship. He joined Stanford in the fall of 1994 with a golf scholarship and won his first college competition, the 40th Annual William H. Tucker Invitational, that same September. He studied economics and was given the nickname "Urkel" by his college teammate, Notah Begay III. In 1995, he successfully defended his U.S. Amateur title at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. He was named Pac-10 Player of the Year, NCAA First Team All-American, and Stanford's Male Freshman of the Year (an award that includes all sports).

At age 19, Woods played in his first PGA Tour major, the 1995 Masters, and finished tied for 41st, being the only amateur golfer to qualify for the tournament. At age 20 in 1996, he became the first golfer to win three U.S. Amateur titles in a row and won the NCAA individual golf championship. He earned the silver medal as the top amateur golfer at The Open Championship, tying the record for the best amateur score of 281. He left college after two years to become a professional golfer. In 1996, Woods moved out of California, saying in 2013 that high taxes in the state were the reason.

Professional career

In August 1996, Woods became a professional golfer at age 20. He quickly signed endorsement deals with Nike and Titleist, which were the most valuable contracts in golf history at that time. Woods was named Sports Illustrated's 1996 Sportsman of the Year and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. On April 13, 1997, he won his first major tournament, the Masters, in record-breaking fashion and became the youngest winner at age 21. Two months later, he set the record for the fastest rise to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. After a weak 1998, Woods finished the 1999 season with eight wins, including the PGA Championship, a feat not achieved since 1974.

Woods had very poor eyesight, with a rating of 11 diopters. To fix this, he had successful laser eye surgery in 1999 and soon began winning again. In 2007, his vision worsened, and he had laser eye surgery a second time. In 2000, Woods won six PGA Tour events in a row, the longest winning streak since 1948. One of these wins was the U.S. Open, where he broke or tied nine tournament records. Sports Illustrated called this performance "the greatest in golf history," and he won by a record 15-stroke margin, earning $800,000. With this victory, Woods became the only golfer to win the U.S. Junior Amateur, U.S. Amateur, and U.S. Open. At age 24, he became the youngest golfer to achieve the Career Grand Slam. By the end of 2000, Woods had won nine of the 20 PGA Tour events he entered and set the record for the lowest scoring average in tour history. He was named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year again, the only athlete to receive this honor twice, and was ranked the 12th-best golfer of all time by Golf Digest.

In 2001, Woods won the Masters, becoming the only player to win four major tournaments in a row, though not in the same year. This achievement became known as the "Tiger Slam." After strong performances in 2001 and 2002, Woods faced a slump. He did not win a major in 2003 or 2004. In September 2004, Vijay Singh passed Woods in the Official World Golf Rankings, ending Woods's 264-week streak at No. 1.

Woods bounced back in 2005, winning six PGA Tour events and reclaiming the top ranking in July after competing closely with Singh earlier in the year.

In 2006, Woods won his first two PGA tournaments but did not win the Masters. After his father's death in May, Woods took time off and returned to golf in June, performing poorly at the U.S. Open. He quickly regained his form and ended the year with six consecutive wins. By the end of 2006, Woods had 54 total wins, including 12 major championships, breaking records for both total wins and major wins over 11 seasons.

Woods continued to perform well in 2007 and early 2008. In April 2008, he had knee surgery and missed two months of competition. He returned for the 2008 U.S. Open, where he struggled on the first day but won in a dramatic sudden-death playoff against Rocco Mediate. Mediate said, "This guy does things that are just not normal," and Kenny Perry added, "He beat everybody on one leg." Two days later, Woods announced he would miss the rest of the season due to additional knee surgery, revealing his knee was more seriously injured than previously known. Woods called the U.S. Open his "greatest ever championship." During his absence, television ratings for golf events dropped significantly.

Woods returned to competition in 2009, performing well at the Presidents Cup but failing to win a major, the first year since 2004 he did not do so. After his personal issues became public in late 2009, Woods announced in December he would take an indefinite break from competitive golf. In February 2010, he gave a televised apology, saying, "I was wrong and I was foolish." During this time, several companies ended their endorsement deals with him.

Woods returned to competition in April 2010 at the Masters, finishing tied for fourth. He performed poorly at later tournaments, withdrew from the Players Championship due to injury, and his coach, Hank Haney, resigned. Woods hired Sean Foley as his new coach in August. Despite finishing the season ranked No. 2 in the world, he did not win any events for the first time since turning professional.

In 2011, Woods struggled further, falling to No. 7 in the rankings. He rebounded to No. 5 at the Masters but missed several tournaments due to leg injuries. In July, he fired his longtime caddie, Steve Williams, and replaced him with Bryon Bell before hiring Joe LaCava. Woods continued to perform poorly, falling to No. 58 in the rankings. He rose to No. 50 after a third-place finish at the Emirates Australian Open and ended his winless streak with a victory at the Chevron World Challenge.

In 2012, Woods started the season with mixed results, struggling in the final rounds of tournaments. After a poor performance at the WGC-Accenture Match Play, he revised his putting technique and tied for second at The Honda Classic, setting a career-low final-round score. Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his first PGA Tour victory since 2009. He later won the Memorial Tournament, tying Jack Nicklaus for second in PGA Tour wins, and surpassed Nicklaus with a win at the AT&T National, trailing only Sam Snead.

In 2013, Woods returned to dominant form. He won the Farmers Insurance Open, his 75th PGA Tour victory, and the WGC-Cadillac Championship, giving him 17 WGC titles. He also won the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the eighth time, moving back to the top of the world rankings. Nike released an ad with the tagline "winning takes care of everything" to celebrate his success.

During the 2013 Masters, Woods faced a two-stroke penalty after accidentally taking an illegal drop on the 15th hole. He finished tied for fourth. Woods won The Players Championship later that year, marking a strong return to competitive golf.

Career achievements

Tiger Woods has won 82 official PGA Tour events, including 15 major championships. He has a 14–1 record when entering the final round of a major championship with at least a share of the lead. Many golf experts have praised Woods as "the greatest closer in history." He holds the lowest career scoring average and the highest career earnings of any player in PGA Tour history.

Woods’s victory at the 2013 Players Championship marked his 300th PGA Tour start. He also won tournaments during his 100th (in 2000) and 200th (in 2006) tour starts.

Woods has spent the most consecutive and total weeks at the top of the world rankings. He is one of six players (Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Rory McIlroy) to have won all four major championships in his career, known as the Career Grand Slam. Woods was the youngest to achieve this. He is the only player to win all four major championships consecutively, completing this feat during the 2000–2001 seasons.

• PGA Tour wins (82)
• European Tour wins (41)
• Japan Golf Tour wins (3)
• Asian PGA Tour wins (2)
• PGA Tour of Australasia wins (3)
• Other wins (17)
• Amateur wins (21)

Woods defeated May in a three-hole playoff by 1 stroke: Woods (3–4–5=12), May (4–4–5=13). He defeated DiMarco in a sudden-death playoff: Woods (3), DiMarco (4). He defeated Mediate with a par on the first sudden-death hole after an 18-hole playoff ended in a tie at even par. This was the final time an 18-hole playoff was used in competition.

The results are not listed in order of when they happened in 2020.

LA = low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = no tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic

• Most consecutive cuts made – 39 (1996 U.S. Open – 2006 Masters)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 8 (1999 U.S. Open – 2001 Masters)

WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

The results are not listed in order of when they happened before 2015.

Cancelled due to 9/11

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which the player lost in match play
WD = withdrew
NT = no tournament
"T" = tied
Note: The HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Playing style

When Tiger Woods joined the PGA Tour in 1996, his long drives changed how golf was played worldwide. However, he did not improve his equipment for many years. He preferred using True Temper Dynamic Gold steel-shafted clubs and smaller steel clubheads that helped him hit the ball more accurately than for distance. Many competitors caught up to him, and in 2003, Phil Mickelson joked that Woods used "lower-quality equipment," which upset Nike, Titleist, and Woods. In 2004, Woods finally updated his driver technology to include a larger clubhead and a graphite shaft. This change, combined with his strong clubhead speed, once again made him one of the longest players on the tour.

Although Woods had a power advantage, he focused on improving all parts of his game. In recent years, he has often ranked near the bottom of the Tour in driving accuracy. However, his iron play is usually accurate, his ability to recover from difficult shots and play from bunkers is strong, and his putting, especially during tough moments, is possibly his greatest strength. Woods has greatly influenced professional golf by raising the standard of athletic ability required. He is known for practicing more than most players.

From mid-1993 (when he was still an amateur) until 2004, Woods worked mainly with top swing coach Butch Harmon. Starting in mid-1997, Harmon and Woods made major changes to Woods's full swing, leading to more consistent performance, better distance control, and improved body movement. These changes helped Woods succeed starting in 1999. Woods and Harmon eventually separated. From March 2004 to 2010, Woods was coached by Hank Haney, who focused on making his swing more level. Woods continued to win tournaments with Haney, but his driving accuracy decreased significantly. Haney left in May 2010 under unclear circumstances and was replaced by Sean Foley.

Fluff Cowan was Woods's caddie at the beginning of his professional career until Woods let him go in March 1999. He was replaced by Steve Williams, who became a close friend of Woods and is often credited with helping him make key shots and putts. In June 2011, Woods dismissed Williams after Williams caddied for Adam Scott during the U.S. Open. Woods then hired Bryon Bell as an interim caddie. Shortly after, Joe LaCava, a former caddie for Fred Couples and Dustin Johnson, was hired by Woods and has remained his caddie since that time.

Other ventures

The TGR Foundation was created in 1996 by Tiger Woods and his father, Earl, as the Tiger Woods Foundation. Its main purpose was to encourage inner-city children to play golf. The foundation has held junior golf clinics across the United States and supports the Tiger Woods Foundation National Junior Golf Team in the Junior World Golf Championships. As of December 2010, the foundation employed about 55 people.

The foundation runs the Tiger Woods Learning Center, a $50-million building in Anaheim, California, covering 35,000 square feet (3,300 square meters). The center, which opened in 2006, offers college programs for young people who need more support. It includes seven classrooms, many multimedia tools, and an outdoor golf area. The center later expanded to four more locations: two in Washington, D.C., one in Philadelphia, and one in Stuart, Florida.

The foundation receives support from annual golf events, including the Chevron World Challenge and AT&T National tournaments hosted by Woods. In October 2011, the foundation held the first Tiger Woods Invitational at Pebble Beach. Other fundraising events have included concerts like Block Party, last held in 2009 in Anaheim, and Tiger Jam, last held in 2011 in Las Vegas after a one-year break.

In November 2006, Woods announced plans to design golf courses worldwide through his company, Tiger Woods Design. A month later, he said the first course would be in Dubai as part of a 25.3-million-square-foot development called The Tiger Woods Dubai. The Al Ruwaya Golf Course was expected to be completed in 2009. However, by February 2010, only seven holes had been built. In April 2011, The New York Times reported the project was permanently stopped. In 2013, the partnership between Tiger Woods Design and Dubai Holding ended.

Tiger Woods Design also planned two other courses, but neither was completed. In August 2007, Woods announced The Cliffs at High Carolina, a private course near Asheville, North Carolina. After starting construction in November 2008, the project faced financial problems and stopped. In 2019, the 800-acre site was sold for $19.3 million, and in 2024, 550 acres were listed for a similar price. No evidence of Woods’s involvement was found, but development plans remain on file. A third course in Punta Brava, Mexico, was announced in October 2008 but faced delays due to permit and environmental issues. Construction on this course has not started.

These projects faced challenges linked to overestimating their value, economic downturns, especially the U.S. housing market crash, and reduced popularity of Woods after his 2009 scandal.

Woods wrote a golf instruction column for Golf Digest magazine from 1997 to February 2011. In 2001, he wrote a popular golf book, How I Play Golf, which had the largest first print run of any golf book, 1.5 million copies. In March 2017, he published a memoir, The 1997 Masters: My Story, co-written with Lorne Rubenstein, focusing on his first Masters win. In October 2019, Woods announced he would write a memoir titled Back.

Tiger Woods's "Iconic Fist Pumps Collection" is his first digital non-fungible token (NFT) collection. It launched on the DraftKings Marketplace on September 28, 2021, in partnership with Autograph.io. Autograph, an NFT platform co-founded by Tom Brady, has worked with other sports stars like Usain Bolt, Rafael Nadal, and Tony Hawk. The collection offered 10,000 digital images of Woods’s famous moments, priced from $12 to $1,500. Thirty of these NFTs included Woods’s digital signature. The NFTs grant fans access to exclusive content, early chances to buy collectibles, custom merchandise, and private events.

Woods partnered with TaylorMade to launch his golf apparel line, called "Sun Day Red." The line was announced on February 12, 2024, and features Woods’s signature red shirt.

Personal life

In November 2003, Woods became engaged to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish former model. She is the daughter of Barbro Holmberg, a former minister of migration, and Thomas Nordegren, a radio journalist. Woods and Nordegren met in 2001 at The Open Championship, introduced by Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik. He had previously hired her as an au pair. They married on October 5, 2004, at the Sandy Lane resort in Barbados. They lived in Isleworth, a community in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida. In 2006, they bought a $39-million estate on Jupiter Island, Florida, and began building a 10,000-square-foot home. Woods moved there in 2010 after the couple divorced.

Woods and Nordegren’s first child, daughter Sam Alexis Woods, was born in 2007. Woods chose the name because his father had always called him "Sam." Their son, Charlie Axel Woods, was born in 2009.

In November 2009, the National Enquirer published a story claiming Woods had an affair with Rachel Uchitel, a New York City nightclub manager. She denied the claim. Two days later, around 2:30 a.m. on November 27, Woods crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant, a tree, and several hedges near his Florida home. He received minor facial injuries and a citation for careless driving. Woods released a statement taking full responsibility, calling the incident a "private matter" and thanking his wife for helping him from the vehicle. On November 30, he said he would not attend his charity event, the Chevron World Challenge, or other tournaments in 2009 due to his injuries.

On December 2, after Us Weekly reported on another alleged affair and shared a voicemail supposedly from Woods, he issued a second statement admitting to "transgressions" and apologizing to supporters. He also emphasized his family’s right to privacy. Over the next few days, more than a dozen women claimed in media outlets to have had affairs with Woods. On December 11, Woods released a third statement admitting to infidelity and announced he would take an "indefinite break" from professional golf.

After the scandal, several companies ended their sponsorship deals with Woods. These included Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade, and General Motors. Gillette paused advertising featuring Woods, and TAG Heuer removed him from ads in December 2009, ending their partnership in August 2011. Golf Digest stopped publishing Woods’s monthly column starting with the February 2010 issue. Nike and Electronic Arts, which was developing Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online, continued to support him. A study in December 2009 estimated that the scandal caused losses for companies ranging from $5 billion to $12 billion.

On February 19, 2010, Woods gave a televised statement saying he had completed a 45-day therapy program starting in late December. He apologized again, stating he had believed he could act without consequences and had made poor choices. He said he did not yet know when he would return to golf. On March 16, 2010, he announced he would play in the 2010 Masters.

Woods and Nordegren divorced on August 23, 2010, after nearly six years of marriage.

On March 18, 2013, Woods announced he was in a relationship with Olympic gold-medal skier Lindsey Vonn. They separated in May 2015. From November 2016 to August 2017, he was reported to be in a relationship with stylist Kristin Smith. Between late 2017 and late 2022, Woods dated restaurant manager Erica Herman. The couple later separated, and in early 2023, Herman filed a lawsuit seeking compensation. She later dropped the suit after a Florida judge ruled in Woods’s favor. On March 23, 2025, Woods confirmed he was in a relationship with Vanessa Trump.

Legal issues

On May 29, 2017, Woods was arrested near his home on Jupiter Island, Florida, by the Jupiter Police Department around 3:00 a.m. EDT for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He was found asleep in his car, which was stopped in a traffic lane with the engine running. Woods later said he had taken prescription medication and did not understand how they might affect him. On July 3, he tweeted that he had completed a program in another state to address an unspecified issue.

At his court hearing on August 9, Woods’s attorney, Douglas Duncan, said Woods was not guilty. Woods agreed to join a first-time driving under the influence program and return to court on October 25.

At a hearing on October 27, Woods admitted to reckless driving. He was given one year of probation, a $250 fine, and required to complete 50 hours of community service and undergo regular drug testing. He was not allowed to drink alcohol during his probation, and breaking this rule would have led to a 90-day jail sentence and an extra $500 fine.

On February 23, 2021, Woods survived a crash in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. He was the only person in the car, which was traveling north on Hawthorne Boulevard. Emergency workers took him to Harbor–UCLA Medical Center by ambulance.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the car had "major damage" and that Woods was driving over 80 miles per hour—nearly twice the speed limit—before the crash. No charges were filed. Woods’s agent later said he had multiple leg injuries and had surgery for non-life-threatening injuries.

On March 27, 2026, Woods was involved in a two-vehicle rollover crash near his home on Jupiter Island, Florida. Local authorities said he showed "signs of impairment." No drugs or medication were found in his car. A breathalyzer test found no alcohol in his system, but Woods refused a urine test. Investigators said he tried to overtake a pressure-cleaner truck at high speed before his car rolled onto its side. He was arrested for DUI after failing sobriety tests. Woods was charged with two misdemeanors: DUI with property damage and refusal to take a legal test. He had his mug shot taken the same day and was later released. Florida law required him to spend at least eight hours in jail before posting bail. Woods told officers he was looking at his phone and changing the radio in his SUV and did not notice the truck slowing down before the crash. His arrest report stated he had actually been charged with three separate misdemeanors: DUI, property damage, and refusal to take a test. On March 31, it was confirmed Woods had not drunk alcohol before the crash, as a breath test showed, but police found two hydrocodone pills in his pocket. Officers said Woods had bloodshot eyes at the time of his arrest.

On March 31, Woods’s lawyer, Douglas Duncan, said Woods was not guilty in Marin County Court. Woods also asked for a jury trial and skipped his scheduled arraignment hearing on April 23, 2026. That same day, Fred Ridley, Chairman of Augusta National, said Woods would not attend the 2026 Masters Tournament. In a public statement, Woods said he was "stepping away" to "seek treatment." Woods will leave his role as chair of the PGA Tour’s Future Competition Committee. Footage from body cameras showed Woods saying, "I was talking to the president" during his arrest, which was released on April 2, 2026.

On April 1, Woods was approved to leave the U.S. to receive "comprehensive inpatient treatment."

Other pursuits

Tiger Woods was raised as a Buddhist. He practiced his faith regularly from childhood through much of his adult life as a professional golfer. In a 2000 article, Woods said he "believes in Buddhism… not every aspect, but most of it." He explained that his straying from Buddhism and his personal mistakes were because he stopped following its teachings. He stated, "Buddhism teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously I lost track of what I was taught."

Woods is registered as an independent voter. In January 2009, he gave a speech honoring the military at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. In April 2009, he visited the White House while promoting the golf tournament he hosts, the AT&T National. In December 2016 and again in November 2017, Woods played golf with President Donald Trump at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.

In popular culture

In January 2021, HBO released a two-part documentary series called Tiger, created by filmmakers Matthew Hamachek and Matthew Heineman. The film features interviews with Tiger Woods's high school girlfriend, Dina Parr; his former caddy, Steve Williams; a friend named Amber Lauria; and Nick Faldo, among others. The soundtrack includes a 1980 poem titled "Evidently Chickentown" by English punk poet John Cooper Clarke. This same poem was also used for its mysterious sound in an episode of The Sopranos in 2007.

In March 2025, Amazon MGM Studios bought the rights to make a film based on the book The Tiger Slam: The Inside Story of the Greatest Golf Ever Played by Kevin Cook. Reinaldo Marcus Green was chosen to direct the film, which will tell the story of Tiger Woods's journey from a young talent to a leading figure in professional golf. Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground Productions was discussing a partnership with experienced producer Irwin Winkler to help make the film. The movie will focus on Woods's accomplishment of winning four major golf championships in a row, known as the "Tiger Slam." The book shares the story through the perspectives of Woods's caddie, coach, role models, and competitors, providing details about his career and how he plays the game.