Tiger Woods is a big topic again for the wrong reason as the Masters nears

Tiger Woods is taking up all the attention in golf with the Masters approaching. That's not always a good thing.

Woods has been the center of golf's universe his entire professional career, if not longer, as one of the few athletes who not only lived up to potential but surpassed it. That hasn't changed, even with him having not competed in a serious tournament in 20 months.

And it doesn't matter if he plays in the Masters.

Woods was planning to be at Augusta National, anyway. He was scheduled to appear with Masters chairman Fred Ridley on Sunday evening to celebrate the opening of “The Patch,” the refurbished municipal course where Woods' design firm was asked to build a short course ("The Loop").

Then there's the Masters Club dinner Tuesday night, held exclusively for Masters champions since 1952. No one wants to miss that.

Does he go? Should he go?

These are uncomfortable questions consuming the Masters, the tournament golf fans look forward to more than any other because of the familiarity of Augusta National and because it will have been 263 days since the last major. In golf, Georgia is always on the mind.

At stake for Woods is no longer a Masters green jacket or any other trophy.

Now it's about his legacy.

That probably won't change as a golfer. Even after returning following his sudden and shocking downfall in 2009 — sordid details of serial adultery that were exposed when his SUV crashed into a fire hydrant — fans flocked to watch him because he's Tiger Woods.

The other three car incidents — all in the last nine years — raised a different set of questions.

Toxicology reports indicated five medications in his system when he was found asleep behind the wheel of his running car in 2017. Woods didn't know where he was or how he got there. At one point, a police officer told Woods his shoe was untied. Woods fumbled with the laces when the officer said: “It's your other shoe that's untied. Now that one is, too.”

Four years later, Woods was going nearly twice the 45 mph speed limit on a coastal road outside Los Angeles when his SUV struck a median and tumbled down a hill. More than 20 surgeries were required on his right leg. Remarkably, he was never cited and authorities never sought a warrant for a blood test. The vehicle's black box indicated Woods never hit the brakes.

Why?

“All those answers have been answered in the investigation, so you can read about all that there in the police report," he curtly replied in his first public appearance nine months later. Woods was the master of “no comment” even when he commented.

More details emerged from his latest crash Friday in Florida, where Woods was going at a “high speed” when he clipped a trailer being pulled by a truck and his SUV flipped on its side. He was arrested for driving under the influence when officers determined he was impaired.

In the incident report released Tuesday, Woods told deputies he had been looking at his phone and fiddling with the radio. According to the report, Woods said he had taken his prescription medication that morning — the accident time was listed as 1:15 p.m. — and deputies found two hydrocodone pills in his pocket during a search.

So much remains unknown except that he spent eight hours in jail Friday for refusing a urine test and he faces an April 23 court date in Martin County. Save for a not guilty plea he entered Tuesday, there has not been a word from his camp, or from anyone else who has a stake in him.

That's a longer list now than when he was playing.

It starts with Augusta National, which has embraced its five-time Masters champion in recent years by asking his firm to help with The Patch. Woods also is opening a TGR Learning Lab in Augusta to serve educational needs.

The first order of business for Brian Rolapp when he took over as CEO of the PGA Tour last summer was to appoint Woods chairman of the Future Competition Committee to shake up how the tour has operated the last six decades.

The PGA of America was close to appointing a Ryder Cup captain. The job was Woods' if he wanted it, and he was days away from a soft deadline for his decision. Now it's a matter of whether to move on or have the latest police incident hang over Woods until the Ireland matches in September 2027.

He is eligible for the PGA Tour Champions and would have access to a cart on the 50-and-older circuit. The day before his latest crash, Woods applied to play in the U.S. Senior Open this summer, a formality more than a commitment. No one has ever won the U.S. Junior, U.S. Amateur, U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open. Woods loves a challenge.

The crash took place three days after Woods made his first appearance in the TGL final, the indoor league his TMRW Sports owns. Viewership spiked to nearly 1 million because he's Tiger Woods.

There is golf and there is life, and the latter is always more important. The pattern of behavior is startling, and for Woods it's embarrassing considering all the hats he wears — or could wear.

His daughter is at Stanford and his son recently committed to play golf at Florida State.

And there is his foundation.

Woods hosted a 30-year anniversary bash for his TGR Foundation on Jan. 14 with an A-list of celebrities (Jon Bon Jovi performed) to announce $50 million raised last year toward education. Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank ended the night by pledging $20 million for a TGR Learning Lab in Atlanta.

The foundation said it had reached more than 3 million kids and served over 217,000 students since the first learning center opened 20 years ago.

“Tonight was a reminder that the legacy I’m most proud of isn’t on the golf course. It's the work we’ve done to positively impact the lives of students through TGR Foundation,” Woods said. ”I am excited for what's next."

The Masters starts nine days from Tuesday. Even if Woods is not there, he will be a topic.

On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Tiger Woods of the Jupiter Links Golf Club plays his shot from the second tee the TGL finals golf tournament in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Reinhold Matay)

This handout photo provided by the Martin County Sheriff's Office shows Tiger Woods, in Stuart, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Golfer Tiger Woods stands by his overturned vehicle in Jupiter Island, Fla., on Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Oteri)

Tiger Woods leaves the Martin County Sheriff's Office jail facility following his involvement in a car crash where he was arrested on a DUI charge on Friday, March 27, 2026 (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three fired FBI agents sued on Tuesday to try to get their jobs back, saying in a class action lawsuit that they were illegally punished for their participation in an investigation into President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

The federal lawsuit adds to the mounting list of court challenges to a personnel purge by FBI Director Kash Patel that over the last year has resulted in the ousters of dozens of agents, either because of their involvement in investigations related to Trump or because they were perceived as insufficiently loyal to the Republican president's agenda.

The lawsuit in federal court in Washington was technically filed on behalf of just three agents but may have much broader implications given that its request for class action status could open the door for agents fired since the start of the Trump administration to get their jobs back.

The three agents — Michelle Ball, Jamie Garman and Blaire Toleman — were fired last October and November in what they say was a “retribution campaign” targeting them for their work on the investigation into Trump. The agents had between roughly eight and 14 years of “exemplary and unblemished” service in the FBI and expected to spend the remainder of their careers at the bureau but were abruptly fired without cause and without being given a chance to respond, the lawsuit says.

“Serving the American people as FBI agents was the highest honor of our lives,” they said in a statement. “We took an oath to uphold the Constitution, followed the facts wherever they led, and never compromised our integrity. Our removal from federal service — without due process and based on a false perception of political bias — is a profound injustice that raises serious concerns about political interference in federal law enforcement.”

The investigation the agents worked on culminated in a 2023 indictment from special counsel Jack Smith that accused Trump of illegally scheming to undo the results of the presidential election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.

Smith ultimately abandoned that case, along with a separate one accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after Trump won back the White House in 2024, citing Justice Department legal opinions that prohibit the federal indictments of sitting presidents.

The lawsuit notes that the firings followed the release by Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, of documents about the election investigation — known as Arctic Frost — that he said had come from within the FBI. Those records i ncluded files showing that Smith's team had subpoenaed several days of phone records of some Republican lawmakers, an investigative step that angered Trump allies inside Congress.

The complaint names as defendants Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, accusing them of having orchestrated the firings despite being “personally embroiled” either as witnesses or attorneys in some of the legal troubles Trump has faced.

Patel, for instance, was subpoenaed in 2022 to appear before a federal grand jury investigating Trump's retention of classified documents and had his phone records subpoenaed, while Bondi was part of the legal team that represented Trump at his first impeachment trial, which resulted in his acquittal.

“And now, by virtue of presidential appointment to the pinnacle of federal law enforcement, Defendants are abusing their positions to claim victories that eluded them on the merits,” the lawsuit states.

Spokespeople for the FBI and the Justice Department declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. Patel and Bondi have said the fired agents and prosecutors who worked on Smith's team were responsible for weaponizing federal law enforcement, a claim that was also asserted in their termination letters but that the plaintiffs call defamatory and baseless.

Dan Eisenberg, a lawyer for the agents, said in a statement that his clients were fired without any investigation, notice of charges or chance to be heard.

“This lawsuit seeks to reaffirm fundamental constitutional protections for FBI employees, ensuring they can perform their duties without fear or favor. We all benefit when law enforcement officers' only loyalty is to facts and the truth,” said Eisenberg, who's with the firm of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP. “We all benefit when law enforcement officers' only loyalty is to facts and the truth.”

The lawsuit asks for the agents to be reinstated to their positions and for a court declaration affirming that their rights had been violated. It also seeks to represent the dozens of agents and employees who have been fired since Jan. 20, 2025, or will be. Those agents also stand to recover their jobs in the event the case is successful and the class is certified.

Other fired employees who have sued include agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in 2020; an agent trainee who displayed an LGBTQ+ flag at his workspace; and a group of senior officials, including the former acting director of the FBI, who were terminated last summer.

The firings have continued, with Patel last month pushing out a group of agents in the Washington field office who had been involved in investigating Trump’s hoarding of classified documents. Trump has insisted he was entitled to keep the documents when he left the White House and has claimed without evidence he had declassified them.

Follow the AP's coverage of the FBI at https://apnews.com/hub/us-federal-bureau-of-investigation.

FBI Director Kash Patel testifies during a Senate Committee on Intelligence hearing to examine worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Attorney General Pam Bondi listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FBI Director Kash Patel, listens during a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing to examine worldwide threats, Thursday, March 19, 2026, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi talk before President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable discussion on public safety at a Tennessee Air National Guard Base, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

FILE - The FBI seal is pictured in Omaha, Neb., Aug. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)