Tiger Woods will change his plea at a Martin County hearing on Wednesday, moving the March driving under the influence case into its next procedural stage.
Court records list the matter for Wednesday morning in Martin County, Florida, five months after a single-vehicle rollover in March. Authorities say Woods’s SUV clipped a truck and rolled. No one was injured. Officers’ reports and released body camera footage show Woods leaving the wreck by crawling through the passenger side door.
The video released in April captured Woods speaking calmly to officers, saying, "I looked down at my phone, and all of a sudden, boom." At the scene he submitted to a breathalyser and registered a pass, but he declined further drug testing, police said. Officers reported they suspected his "normal faculties" were impaired by an "unknown substance".
Investigators found two white pills in Woods’s pocket that were later identified as hydrocodone. When officers asked about prescription medication, he told them, "I take a few," and listed drugs in a portion of footage that was redacted from the public release. He told officers he had not consumed alcohol that day.
Woods, 50, initially entered a not guilty plea after his March arrest on misdemeanor counts related to driving under the influence and refusing to submit to testing. He later posted on social media that he "know[s] and understand the seriousness of the situation," and that he was "stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health." Those statements remain part of the public record.
It was not immediately clear which plea Woods will enter on Wednesday. The scheduled change of plea will determine whether the case advances toward resolution or proceeds to further litigation, and court officials will set the next procedural steps after Woods declares his position in Martin County court.
