Golf legend handed five-year driving ban after Florida crash plea deal

Tiger Woods has had his driver's licence suspended for five years after striking a plea agreement over a rollover car crash in Florida in March, SuperSport reports.

Judge Darren Steele warned the golfer at a livestreamed hearing at the Martin County Courthouse in Stuart that driving for any reason would send him straight back to jail.

The more serious charge of driving under the influence – which carried the possibility of jail time – was dropped as part of the deal, with Woods instead pleading no contest to lesser charges of careless and reckless driving.

The case stemmed from a 27 March accident near Woods' Jupiter Island home, when his SUV clipped a truck towing a trailer and rolled while he attempted to overtake on a residential road.

Authorities found that although he had not consumed alcohol he appeared impaired, and was carrying two pills containing the opioid painkiller hydrocodone at the time. He refused a urinalysis and was subsequently charged, jailed and released on bond.

Woods, 50, has endured multiple back operations and leg surgeries stemming from a 2021 car crash in California. He initially pleaded not guilty, telling authorities he had been looking at his phone and changing radio stations when the crash happened, before announcing days later that he was stepping away to focus on his health. He has since sought treatment at an inpatient facility reportedly in Switzerland.

Woods was accompanied to court by girlfriend Vanessa Trump, former wife of Donald Trump Jr. US President Donald Trump called Woods a “great guy” and described the outcome as fair, suggesting that in future the golfer hire a driver.

Woods made his first public appearance since the arrest at June's Travelers Championship, where he introduced new PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp and helped unveil a revamped two-tier competitive structure – featuring a Championship Series and a Challenger Series – due to launch in 2028. Woods, who chairs the tour's Future Competition Committee, has not played in an official PGA Tour event since July 2024.