Tiger Woods pleads no contest to reckless driving charge over rollover crash in Florida

STUART, Florida (AP) — Tiger Woods pleaded no contest to a reckless driving charge and his driver's license was suspended for five years Wednesday following a rollover crash in March in Florida, where he initially was accused of driving under the influence.

Before the hearing in Marin County began, Woods, 50, sat at the defense table looking back at the mostly empty courtroom gallery. He said little as he agreed to the reduced charge.

He arrived at the courthouse with his girlfriend, Vanessa Trump, President Donald Trump’s former daughter-in-law, and she sat behind him during the proceedings.

Woods, still one of golf's most influential figures and as recognizable as any athlete in the world, has had a remarkable fall since winning the 2019 Masters for his 15th major. His career has been derailed by multiple back and knee surgeries, car crashes and dependence on pain medication.

He was arrested in March after his SUV clipped a truck and rolled over on its side on a beachside residential road near his home on Jupiter Island. A sheriff’s report said deputies found two pain pills in his pocket and he showed signs of impairment. He did a Breathalyzer test, which came out negative, but refused to take a urine test.

He pleaded not guilty to the original DUI charge.

The prosecutor in the case said two toxicologists found there was insufficient proof of his impairment and determined Woods had built up a “pharmacological” tolerance.

Thomas Bakkedahl, a state attorney, defended his decision to accept the plea, saying, “I did what I think is right.”

Woods left the courthouse without addressing reporters. He also pleaded no contest to refusing to submit to testing after the crash and was fined $1,500, according to court documents.

“If you were to drive for any reason at all, you would immediately go back to jail,” Judge Darren Steele told Woods.

Woods' attorney did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but means the accused will offer no defense. The plea is treated as a conviction in the criminal justice system.

Neither Woods nor the person in the other vehicle were injured in the crash, according to officials. But his Land Rover caused $5,000 in damage to the truck, according to a police report. Woods had told a deputy that he was looking down at his phone and changing the radio station when he hit the truck.

Woods has been involved in four crashes over the years. He took a leave from the golf tour after the 2009 crash and again after the latest crash and has yet to return to tournament play.

He left the United States to seek treatment at an inpatient treatment facility, according to court records.

Woods made his first public appearance since returning from treatment on June 23 when he introduced the PGA Tour’s plans to revamp its schedule for 2028. Woods remained as chairman of the tour’s Future Competition Committee after his arrest. He did not take questions during that appearance.

Golfer Tiger Woods, right, leaves with Vanessa Trump, left, after Woods' plea conference hearing in a DUI case stemming from a rollover crash in Florida in March, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, in Stuart, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Golfer Tiger Woods, right, leaves with Vanessa Trump, left, after Woods' plea conference hearing in a DUI case stemming from a rollover crash in Florida in March, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, in Stuart, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Golfer Tiger Woods, right, leaves with Vanessa Trump, left, after Woods' plea conference hearing in a DUI case stemming from a rollover crash in Florida in March, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, in Stuart, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Tiger Woods appears in County Judge Darren Steele's courtroom for a plea hearing from an arrest in March, at the Martin County Courthouse in Stuart, Fla., Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (Crystal Vander Weit/Treasure Coast Newspapers via AP, Pool)

Golfer Tiger Woods, right, arrives with Vanessa Trump, left, for Woods' plea conference hearing in a DUI case stemming from a rollover crash in Florida in March, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, in Stuart, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

LONDON (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in London on Wednesday to meet with new U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham and visit the Bayeux Tapestry at its temporary home in the British Museum.

The two leaders and their spouses will join King Charles III and Queen Camilla for a private viewing of the 230-foot (70-meter) tapestry, a 1,000-year-old symbol of Anglo-French relations that depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

France loaned the embroidery, insured for 960 million euros ($1.1 billion), for a 10-month exhibition that opens to the public on Sept. 10. It was spirited from Bayeux in northwest France to London by road and rail in a clandestine high-security operation in July, the first time since the 11th century that it has touched British soil.

Burnham said that the tapestry’s return “is a landmark moment in the history of our two nations.”

Macron and the king will deliver speeches at a reception in the museum’s Great Court for representatives from Britain and France involved in the loan and schoolchildren from both countries.

Stitched in wool thread on linen fabric, the artwork depicts events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in October 1066, when William, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold’s Anglo-Saxon army. The invasion ended Saxon rule, made William the Conqueror the first Norman king of England, and bound Britain and France together in a close and complicated relationship.

The year 1066 remains one of the most famous dates in British history, and the loan of the tapestry is being treated as a major cultural moment. Burnham's government said Wednesday that a digital exhibition will bring its story to venues across the U.K., and schoolchildren will take part in a “live national history lesson” on the subject on Oct. 14.

The loan was announced during Macron’s state visit to the U.K. in July 2025. In return, the British Museum is lending items, including Viking and Anglo-Saxon treasures to museums in Normandy.

Burnham, who took office six weeks ago, will host Macron for talks at 10 Downing St. on Thursday. Burnham’s office said that efforts to stop migrants crossing the Channel in small boats will top the agenda. The U.K. government says stepped-up law enforcement cooperation between Britain and France has helped reduce the number of people making the crossing this year by more than 40% compared to last year.

The Iran and the Russia-Ukraine wars are also likely to feature in the conversations. France and the U.K. have led efforts to bolster European support for Ukraine during its more than 4½-year war against Russia’s full-scale invasion, and Burnham has vowed to maintain British backing for Kyiv.

The prime minister also wants to forge closer ties with the European Union to end what he has called a “decade of low growth” caused by Brexit after a 2016 referendum.

A previous version of this story was corrected to show that the cost of insuring the tapestry on loan to the British Museum is 960 million euros, not 960 billion euros.

French President Emmanuel Macron visits the Chaptal High School on the first day of the new academic year, in Mende, southern France, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Guillaume Horcajuelo/Pool Photo via AP)