Tiger Woods Crashed His Car, Got Arrested for DUI, and Is Now Checking Into Rehab — The Full Timeline

Tiger Woods was arrested on suspicion of DUI after a crash in Jupiter Island, Florida. He is now stepping away for treatment. Here is everything we know and what it means for golf's greatest career.

The photograph that circulated within hours of the incident — Tiger Woods standing beside his overturned vehicle in Jupiter Island, Florida, on March 27, 2026 — had the specific quality of images that mark turning points in public careers: unmistakable, unsurprising to some, devastating to many, and instantly iconic in a way that only images of famous people in moments of visible crisis can be.

Woods, 50, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence following a single-vehicle crash on a Florida road near his home. No other vehicles or people were involved. He was taken to hospital as a precaution, assessed, and released. On April 1, four days after the crash, he posted on Instagram the statement that ended any remaining uncertainty about his immediate future: 'I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and to focus on my health.'

This is the second time Woods has sought treatment for substance use — the first, in 2017, followed a separate DUI arrest that was itself preceded by a prescribed medication incident. The specific substance involved in the March 2026 arrest has not been confirmed publicly. Woods's statement does not specify. Florida law enforcement has not detailed their toxicology results in publicly available communication.

For golf, the consequence is practical and immediate: Woods will miss the Masters for the second consecutive year, the tournament he has won five times and at which his presence — regardless of competitive condition — elevates the event in ways that no other player's presence does. The Masters without Tiger, in 2025 and again in 2026, is a different kind of week. Quieter in a specific register.

The longer question — whether we have seen Tiger Woods compete in a major tournament for the last time — is one that people around him are privately addressing and publicly avoiding. He has had injuries and recoveries before that seemed permanent and proved not to be. The specific circumstances of a substance-related treatment episode, at 50, following a vehicle crash, are different from injury rehabilitation. What comes after is genuinely unknown, which is unusual in a career where the trajectory has almost always been legible in advance.