After crashing his SUV last week in Florida, Tiger Woods took out his phone and told a deputy, “I was just talking to the president,” according to body camera footage released Thursday showing the golfer’s arrest on a DUI charge.
The phone conversation was not captured on video, but Woods could be heard saying, “Thank you so much,” as he hung up and the deputy approached. It wasn’t clear if Woods was referring to President Donald Trump, whose former daughter-in-law, Vanessa Trump, is dating Woods.
Shortly after the golfer’s March 27 arrest, Trump was asked about Woods and told reporters: “I feel so badly. He’s got some difficulty. Very close friend of mine. He’s an amazing person. Amazing man. But some difficulty.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Trump spoke to Woods after the crash.
The footage also shows how Woods appeared to be astonished as he was handcuffed after failing a field sobriety test and shows deputies removing two pills from his pocket. Separate footage from the back seat of the patrol car shows the handcuffed golfer hiccuping, yawning and repeatedly appearing to nod off during the 15-minute ride.
Woods told authorities that he was looking at his phone and changing the radio station when his speeding Land Rover clipped the back of a truck and rolled onto its side on a residential road on Jupiter Island. No one was injured in the afternoon crash.
“I looked down at my phone, and all of a sudden — boom,” Woods told an officer as he kneeled on a lawn before his arrest.
Bodycam footage shows Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy Tatiana Levenar conducting a roadside sobriety test and telling Woods: “I do believe your normal faculties are impaired and you’re under an unknown substance, so at this time, you’re under arrest for DUI.”
“I’m being arrested?” Woods responded.
“Yes, sir,” Levenar said.
After handcuffing Woods, authorities searched his pockets and found two white pills.
“That’s a Norco,” Woods said after an officer pulled out the pills, referring to a painkiller that contains acetaminophen and the opioid hydrocodone. Authorities later confirmed that Woods was in possession of hydrocodone.
In the bodycam footage, Woods told Levenar that he had not had any alcohol and that he had taken “a few” medications earlier in the day, though Woods’ words are muted in the released video as he describes some of the drugs.
At the sheriff’s office complex, after Woods was escorted into the “DUI room” where drivers are tested for being under the influence, Woods said, “I’m not drunk. I’m on a prescription medication,” according to a supplemental sheriff’s office report released Thursday.
Woods, 50, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to driving under the influence. He posted a statement Tuesday night saying he was stepping away indefinitely “to seek treatment and focus on my health.”
During the field sobriety test, deputies noticed Woods limping and wearing a compression sock over his right knee. Woods explained that he had undergone seven back surgeries and over 20 surgeries on his right leg and that his ankle seizes up while he is walking.
Woods, who was hiccuping during questioning, continuously moved his head during one of the sobriety tests, and deputies had to tell him several times to keep it straight, an arrest report said.
“Based on my observations of Woods, how he performed the exercises and based on my training, knowledge, and experience, I believed that Woods normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to safely operate the motor vehicle,” Levenar wrote.
On Thursday, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office added a charge of careless driving, which is a moving violation under Florida law. Woods was fined $163.
The bodycam footage showed Rob McNamara, Woods’ longtime manager and close friend, and an unknown member of Woods’ security team arriving at the scene shortly after the crash. When a Jupiter Island police officer asked Woods if there was anything he needed out of his SUV, he answered: “My sticks.”
“I understand,” the officer said. “They’re worth more than my house.”
“Right, the putter is worth more than all of our houses,” McNamara said jokingly before Woods explained to the officer that he had used the putter to win 14 majors.
The officer asked Woods if he was planning to play in the Masters.
“I’m hoping to,” Woods said.
“That’s up to y’all,” one of Woods’ security officers told the police officer.
Woods is the most influential figure in golf and has become as recognizable as any athlete in the world. The first person of Black heritage to win the Masters in 1997, he has captivated golf fans with records likely never to be broken.
But he has been kept from accomplishing more because of his injuries, including those suffered in a 2021 Los Angeles car crash that damaged his right leg so badly that he said doctors considered amputation. He has not played an official event since the 2024 Open Championship. He was recovering from a seventh back surgery in October and was trying to return at the Masters, where he is a five-time champion.
After last week’s crash, Woods agreed to a Breathalyzer test that showed no signs of alcohol, but he refused a urine test, authorities said. He was arrested and released on bail eight hours later.
Under a change to Florida law last year, refusing an officer’s request to take 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.