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Footage of Tiger Woods’ arrest in Florida last week, after ahair-raising smash with a slow-moving cleaning truck and trailer, depicts the champion golfer looking more like a confused elderly man than one of history’s wealthiest athletes.
Woods, 50, spent eight hours in jail last Friday after being charged with driving under the influence, causing damage to property and refusal to submit to a urine test after flipping his SUV.
But it is his tragic demeanour in that shocking bodycam footage from the arresting officer that has sent shockwaves around the world and through the highest echelons of international sport. Looking bewildered, he doesn’t seem to understand what’s happening and turns to a female officer to ask in disbelief: ‘I’m being arrested?’
For a man who has won 15 majors and is the sport’s highest earner with an estimated fortune of £1.5billion, it’s a pitiful sight.
Sadder still is the fact that this was not a descent into recreational drugs but a desperate attempt to return to the height of that sporting prowess. For although a breathalyser test showed no signs of alcohol, two opioid pills, used to treat severe or chronic pain, were found in his pocket.
Woods, say those who know him best, has been reliant on pain medication for years, after a series of sporting injuries and car crashes left him in agony. ‘He’s drugged up to the eyeballs before he can leave the house because of the pain he’s in,’ one friend told the Daily Mail this week.
Another agreed: ‘He needs his medication in order to function. It’s not about getting high or altering his perspective on life. It’s about pain management. He does not do recreational drugs.’
Certainly no one on Jupiter Island in Florida, where he lives, seems too surprised by the latest driving debacle—his fourth. One said:
‘_Tiger’s problems were there long before the arrest. People are acting like Tiger was doing well and was ready for a big comeback then suddenly he gets pulled over and arrested and his life has fallen apart.
_
‘The man has been broken by injuries. He’s taking so many drugs as part of rehab and pain medication. I know everyone thinks he’s a fool, but he’s had a tough few years.
Woods has endured seven operations on his back and 20 on his right leg, which was badly smashed up in another road accident in 2021 when his SUV came off the road after he lost control while speeding.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for a man whose entire life has been defined by golf – he was crowned the youngest Masters champion at 21 – Woods is singular in his desire to return to the top of his game. He trains constantly and has no hobbies or interests – aside from video games – to temper his obsessive focus.
You can see why he thinks he might pull off the impossible, as he has done it before. An extraordinary win at the Masters in 2019 came ten years after his previous major title, at the 2008 US Open.
He had missed the 2016 and 2017 Masters with back problems, and many had written off his chances. Tiger admitted that his children, Charlie and Sam, begged him to stop golfing. He said: ‘_They would say: “Dad, don’t try and play, don’t try and practise, because you’ll be in more pain.”’_
Put bluntly, nobody but Tiger thinks that he can make a comeback and people who know him say giving up that dream is the one thing that might save him.
The question though, is who or what can persuade Tiger to quit before it’s too late. Ironically for a man whose problems can be traced back to the sex scandal that caused the break-up of his marriage to Elin in 2009 – when he was found to have been unfaithful with multiple mistresses and was treated for sex addiction – salvation may yet come from his latest girlfriend, Vanessa Trump.
For it is Vanessa – his partner of 18 months and former wife of\ President Trump’s son Donald Jr – who has issued the golfer with an ultimatum. Contrary to reports the pair have already split, Vanessa has been pivotal in insisting he go to rehab and conquers his problems once and for all – something he revealed on social media this week he is committed to doing.
Yesterday Vanessa uploaded a photo of herself with the golfer to her Instagram account with the caption ‘Love You,’ and those close to Woods say that she – along with his long-time manager Mark Steinberg – holds the key to the golfer’s future.
A source said: ‘Tiger’s manager told him straight away that it would be a good idea if he went in to therapy when news of the crash broke but Tiger didn’t want to do it. But now he has agreed to go because of Vanessa.
‘She made him go into therapy, not as a PR stunt but because she’s been telling him for some time that he needs help – and this was the moment to force his hand.
‘_The two of them have a pretty decent relationship as far as I can see. She likes golf. It works. But she said privately that if the
relationship failed it would be because of his obsession with playing golf at the highest level again.’_
Certainly, Tiger appears to have as many cheerleaders now as he did in his glory days. Friends, golf pros, commentators and even President Trump have offered supportive words.
_Trump said_: _‘I have [spoken with him]. I think he’s doing great, he’s doing good. He tested negative for alcohol, as you know, and he is under a tremendous physical pressure from his various ailments, you know, the back and the leg. He lives a life of pain. He’s an amazing guy. He’s an amazing athlete.’_
Yet it is this very notoriety that keeps Woods trapped in a perpetual cycle of pushing his body beyond its limits. He won’t get a driver, because he thinks that they tip off the Press as to his whereabouts and he detests publicity.
Not only that but he is surrounded by people whose income depends on him trying to reach glory again. Naturally, their advice will be to keep on
striving. A spinal surgeon, speaking on condition of anonymity, said many believe that the multiple operations he has had have gone ‘_beyond’ _what would be considered sustainable.
The surgeon’s primary concern should be for the health of the individual. No one should be operating on a broken body to this extent. It’s exploitative. With elite athletes, if one doctor says stop, there’s always another opinion available.
‘This raises an uncomfortable question: at what point does treatment stop being about recovery and start becoming part of the very cycle that keeps an athlete going when, physically, they shouldn’t?’
Perhaps for the forseeable future a quiet table at the back is exactly what this sporting giant needs to piece his life together again.
Woods, 50, spent eight hours in jail last Friday after being charged with driving under the influence, causing damage to property and refusal to submit to a urine test after flipping his SUV.
But it is his tragic demeanour in that shocking bodycam footage from the arresting officer that has sent shockwaves around the world and through the highest echelons of international sport. Looking bewildered, he doesn’t seem to understand what’s happening and turns to a female officer to ask in disbelief: ‘I’m being arrested?’
For a man who has won 15 majors and is the sport’s highest earner with an estimated fortune of £1.5billion, it’s a pitiful sight.
Sadder still is the fact that this was not a descent into recreational drugs but a desperate attempt to return to the height of that sporting prowess. For although a breathalyser test showed no signs of alcohol, two opioid pills, used to treat severe or chronic pain, were found in his pocket.
Woods, say those who know him best, has been reliant on pain medication for years, after a series of sporting injuries and car crashes left him in agony. ‘He’s drugged up to the eyeballs before he can leave the house because of the pain he’s in,’ one friend told the Daily Mail this week.
Another agreed: ‘He needs his medication in order to function. It’s not about getting high or altering his perspective on life. It’s about pain management. He does not do recreational drugs.’
Certainly no one on Jupiter Island in Florida, where he lives, seems too surprised by the latest driving debacle—his fourth. One said:
‘_Tiger’s problems were there long before the arrest. People are acting like Tiger was doing well and was ready for a big comeback then suddenly he gets pulled over and arrested and his life has fallen apart.
_
‘The man has been broken by injuries. He’s taking so many drugs as part of rehab and pain medication. I know everyone thinks he’s a fool, but he’s had a tough few years.
Woods has endured seven operations on his back and 20 on his right leg, which was badly smashed up in another road accident in 2021 when his SUV came off the road after he lost control while speeding.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for a man whose entire life has been defined by golf – he was crowned the youngest Masters champion at 21 – Woods is singular in his desire to return to the top of his game. He trains constantly and has no hobbies or interests – aside from video games – to temper his obsessive focus.
You can see why he thinks he might pull off the impossible, as he has done it before. An extraordinary win at the Masters in 2019 came ten years after his previous major title, at the 2008 US Open.
He had missed the 2016 and 2017 Masters with back problems, and many had written off his chances. Tiger admitted that his children, Charlie and Sam, begged him to stop golfing. He said: ‘_They would say: “Dad, don’t try and play, don’t try and practise, because you’ll be in more pain.”’_
Put bluntly, nobody but Tiger thinks that he can make a comeback and people who know him say giving up that dream is the one thing that might save him.
The question though, is who or what can persuade Tiger to quit before it’s too late. Ironically for a man whose problems can be traced back to the sex scandal that caused the break-up of his marriage to Elin in 2009 – when he was found to have been unfaithful with multiple mistresses and was treated for sex addiction – salvation may yet come from his latest girlfriend, Vanessa Trump.
For it is Vanessa – his partner of 18 months and former wife of\ President Trump’s son Donald Jr – who has issued the golfer with an ultimatum. Contrary to reports the pair have already split, Vanessa has been pivotal in insisting he go to rehab and conquers his problems once and for all – something he revealed on social media this week he is committed to doing.
Yesterday Vanessa uploaded a photo of herself with the golfer to her Instagram account with the caption ‘Love You,’ and those close to Woods say that she – along with his long-time manager Mark Steinberg – holds the key to the golfer’s future.
A source said: ‘Tiger’s manager told him straight away that it would be a good idea if he went in to therapy when news of the crash broke but Tiger didn’t want to do it. But now he has agreed to go because of Vanessa.
‘She made him go into therapy, not as a PR stunt but because she’s been telling him for some time that he needs help – and this was the moment to force his hand.
‘_The two of them have a pretty decent relationship as far as I can see. She likes golf. It works. But she said privately that if the
relationship failed it would be because of his obsession with playing golf at the highest level again.’_
Certainly, Tiger appears to have as many cheerleaders now as he did in his glory days. Friends, golf pros, commentators and even President Trump have offered supportive words.
_Trump said_: _‘I have [spoken with him]. I think he’s doing great, he’s doing good. He tested negative for alcohol, as you know, and he is under a tremendous physical pressure from his various ailments, you know, the back and the leg. He lives a life of pain. He’s an amazing guy. He’s an amazing athlete.’_
Yet it is this very notoriety that keeps Woods trapped in a perpetual cycle of pushing his body beyond its limits. He won’t get a driver, because he thinks that they tip off the Press as to his whereabouts and he detests publicity.
Not only that but he is surrounded by people whose income depends on him trying to reach glory again. Naturally, their advice will be to keep on
striving. A spinal surgeon, speaking on condition of anonymity, said many believe that the multiple operations he has had have gone ‘_beyond’ _what would be considered sustainable.
The surgeon’s primary concern should be for the health of the individual. No one should be operating on a broken body to this extent. It’s exploitative. With elite athletes, if one doctor says stop, there’s always another opinion available.
‘This raises an uncomfortable question: at what point does treatment stop being about recovery and start becoming part of the very cycle that keeps an athlete going when, physically, they shouldn’t?’
Perhaps for the forseeable future a quiet table at the back is exactly what this sporting giant needs to piece his life together again.