NPR Blogs

Tiger Woods Attributes Medication Reaction For DUI Charge In Florida

By Colin Dwyer

Published May 29, 2017 at 3:46 PM EDT

Tiger Woods, shortly after his arrest early Monday in Jupiter, Fla.

Updated 1:10 a.m. ET Tuesday:

Tiger Woods released a statement Monday night blaming medications for his arrest on a DUI charge in Florida.

"I understand the severity of what I did and I take full responsibility for my actions.

"I want the public to know that alcohol was not involved. What happened was an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications. I didn't realize the mix of medications had affected me so strongly.

"I would like to apologize with all my heart to my family, friends and fans. I expect more from myself, too.

"I will do everything in my power to ensure this never happens again."

An arrest report might be available on Tuesday, Jupiter Police spokeswoman Kristin Rightler told The Associated Press.

Original post:

Early Monday morning in Jupiter, Fla., Tiger Woods was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Booked for DUI in a Palm Beach County jail at 7:18 a.m. ET, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, the golf legend was released on his own recognizance at 10:50 a.m.

Jupiter police spokesperson Kristin Rightler did not immediately offer further detail about the arrest.

The 41-year-old golfer has won 14 major tournaments and 79 PGA Tour events — which is enough to rank him second on the list of all-time winningest golfers, The Associated Press reports — but his most recent major win came nearly a decade ago, in 2008.

Since then, Woods has struggled with a raft of headline-grabbing off-the-course incidents, which Sports Illustrated details here.

More recently, health concerns have kept him off the links. Just last month, Woods underwent his fourth back surgery in about as many years.

"I could no longer live with the pain I had. We tried every possible non-surgical route and nothing worked. I had good days and bad days, but the pain was usually there, and I couldn't do much," he wrote in a blog post last week. "Even lying down hurt."

Still, Woods expressed optimism about the results of the surgery and his chances to get back to the game.

"All I can do is take it day by day. There's no hurry," Woods wrote last week. "But, I want to say unequivocally, I want to play professional golf again."