Tiger Woods said he was ‘talking to president,’ footage says

After crashing his SUV final week in Florida, Tiger Woods took out his telephone and informed a deputy, “I was just talking to the president,” in accordance to physique digital camera footage launched Thursday exhibiting the golfer’s arrest on a DUI cost.

The telephone dialog was not captured on video, however Woods may very well 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 courting Woods.

Shortly after the golfer’s March 27 arrest, Trump was requested about Woods and informed 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 didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon whether or not Trump spoke to Woods after the crash.

The footage additionally reveals how Woods appeared to be astonished as he was handcuffed after failing a area sobriety take a look at and reveals deputies eradicating two tablets from his pocket. Separate footage from the again seat of the patrol automobile reveals the handcuffed golfer hiccuping, yawning and repeatedly showing to nod off through the 15-minute journey.

Woods informed authorities that he was his telephone and altering the radio station when his rushing Land Rover clipped the again of a truck and rolled onto its facet on a residential street on Jupiter Island. No one was injured within the afternoon crash.

“I looked down at my phone, and all of a sudden — boom,” Woods informed an officer as he kneeled on a garden earlier than his arrest.

Bodycam footage reveals Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy Tatiana Levenar then conducting a roadside sobriety take a look at 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 located two white tablets.

“That’s a Norco,” Woods said after an officer pulled out the tablets, referring to a painkiller that incorporates acetaminophen and the opioid hydrocodone. Authorities later confirmed that Woods was in possession of hydrocodone.

In the bodycam footage, Woods informed Levenar that he had not had any alcohol and that he had taken “a few” medicines earlier within the day, though Woods’ phrases are muted within the launched video as he describes a few of the medicine.

At the sheriff’s workplace complicated, after Woods was escorted into the “DUI room” the place drivers are examined for being beneath the affect, Woods said, “I’m not drunk. I’m on a prescription medication,” in accordance to a supplemental sheriff’s workplace report launched Thursday.

Woods, 50, pleaded not responsible Tuesday to driving beneath the affect. I posted an announcement Tuesday night time saying that he was stepping away indefinitely “to seek treatment and focus on my health.”

During the sector sobriety take a look at, deputies seen Woods limping and carrying a compression sock over his proper knee. Woods defined that he had undergone seven again surgical procedures and over 20 surgical procedures on his proper leg, and that his ankle seizes up whereas he is strolling.

Woods, who was hiccuping throughout questioning, frequently moved his head throughout one of many sobriety checks, and deputies had to inform him a number of instances to preserve 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 cost of careless driving, which is a transferring violation beneath Florida legislation. Woods was fined $163.

The bodycam footage additionally confirmed Woods’ longtime supervisor and shut pal, Rob McNamara, and an unknown member of Woods’ safety staff arriving on the scene shortly after the crash. When a Jupiter Island police officer requested Woods if there was something he wanted out of his SUV, he responded: “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 earlier than Woods defined to the officer who had used the putter to win 14 majors.

The officer requested Woods if he was planning to play within the Masters.

“I’m hoping to,” Woods said.

“That’s up to y’all,” one among Woods’ safety officers informed the police officer.

Woods is essentially the most influential determine in golf and has grow to be as recognizable as any athlete on the earth. The first individual of Black heritage to win the Masters in 1997, he has captivated golf followers with data probably by no means to be damaged.

But he has been saved from undertaking extra due to his accidents, together with these suffered in a 2021 Los Angeles automobile crash that broken his proper leg so badly that he said medical doctors thought-about amputation. He has not performed an official occasion because the 2024 British Open. He was recovering from a seventh again surgical procedure in October and was making an attempt to return on the Masters, the place he is a five-time champion.

After final week’s crash, Woods agreed to a Breathalyzer take a look at that confirmed no indicators of alcohol, however he refused a urine take a look at, authorities said. He was arrested and launched on bail eight hours later.

Under a change to Florida legislation final 12 months, refusing an officer’s request to take a breath, blood or urine take a look at grew to become a misdemeanor, even for a primary offense.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and The Associated Press contributed to this report.