Three-time green jacket winner Sir Nick Faldo has slammed the PGA Tour for issuing a “predictably weak” following Tiger Woods’ latest car crash, while calling for “some accountability” for the 15-time major champion.
Woods was arrested in Florida last week after a rollover crash in a suburban street and on Friday morning Australian time, authorities released the bodycam footage from when officers arrested the 50-year-old.
FOX SPORTS, available on Kayo Sports, is streaming The 2026 PGA Tour LIVE & Exclusive | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
The harrowing vision showed an unharmed Woods take a knee on the side of the room and tell officers that he had caused the accident by looking at his phone.
Police are then shown arresting Woods for driving under the influence (DUI) after he took a sobriety test.
The officers found two hydrocodone painkiller pills on him, and Woods told them he had taken prescription medications earlier in the day as a result of undergoing seven back operations and more than 20 surgeries on his right leg.
In the aftermath, Woods has declared that he will not play in the upcoming Masters despite having been attempting to get himself fit enough to play his first major in more than a year.
Instead, a judge has granted him permission to leave the United States for treatment.
Meanwhile, The PGA of America announced that Woods will not captain the US Ryder Cup team in Ireland next year after being one of the favourites to take over the role from Keegan Bradley.
The PGA Tour, however, did not impose any sort of sanctions but issued a statement expressing their support for Woods.
“Tiger Woods is a legend of our sport whose impact extends far beyond his achievements on the course,” the statement read.
“But above all else, Tiger is a person, and our focus is on his health and wellbeing. Tiger continues to have our full support as takes this important step.”
Those three sentences irked Faldo.
The Englishman, best known in Australia for defeating Greg Norman when ‘The Shark’ collapses in the 1996 Masters, has demanded that action be taken after Woods’ latest indiscretion.
“I feel sorry for Tiger that he is living 24-7 in pain… but it has all been self-inflicted,” Faldo said.
“There are two sides to this right now. There’s one side that’s like… let’s care for Tiger. And then there has got to be a responsibility and an accountability side as well.
“This is a serious thing that he has done. I look at the PGA Tour statement, it was so predictably weak. The Tour will look after him, as they always have done. But then you’ve got Jack [Nicklaus] saying it has tarnished the entire sport.
“There has to be some accountability. Forget about golf. We are not meant to be on the streets with two pills in our pocket.”
READ MORE
‘Boom!’: Police release shock bodycam footage in fresh twist to Tiger car crash case
A mistake, then family disgrace: Why brutal snub could be final straw in Masters feud‘Limping and stumbling’: What police found on Tiger at scene of crash as cause revealed
Woods was also arrested for a DUI in Florida in 2017.
On that occasion, he was found asleep in his car and was found to have had five different drugs in his system at the time – a cocktail of painkillers, anxiety medication and sleep medication).
Four years later, Woods suffered severe injuries in a high speed single car crash in California.
He had multiple surgeries as a result of breaking his leg and ankle, but was fortunate to be alive given the nature of the accident.
Woods struck a tree, sending his car flying in the air and landed in nearby shrub.
Emergency responders had to use the ‘jaws of life’ to remove him from the vehicle.
While, his first car crash incident was back in 2009 when he hit a fire hydrant and tree outside of his home.
That accident came as Woods’ many affairs were exposed publicly, leading to his divorce from his wife at the time, Elin Nordegren.
As his rap sheet has grown longer, Faldo believes Woods must face “some accountability” just as an average person would.
“The bottom line is that I really think that this is a serious issue and something should be done that is a little bit more serious than waving him off to a tropical island and saying ‘welcome back’ in three or four months or whatever it might be,” Faldo said.
“You compare it to other sports or business. If you were done for DUI a couple of times in your business, what happens? I’ve got a feeling that if he disappears and comes back in a couple of months, everything will carry on as normal. I’m not sure if that is right. It’s not a good message to the kids of today.
“Our sport is based on discipline. You rule yourself, you police yourself. I would have thought the PGA Tour – behind closed doors – must be very disappointed that they pay Tiger tens of millions to be on the course and off the course with this business role he has got [as chairman of the player-driven Future Competitions Committee].
“He has only finished nine tournaments in the last five years, yet they feel he is the future on the golf course and the future in the decision-making and they must say… ‘oh boy, what do we get out of that?’ In the normal walk of life, there would be some accountability.”
Get all the latest golf news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!
Tiger steps away from golf indefinitely | 00:56
Faldo is not the only one whose patience is wearing thin with Woods.
Former European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley told reporters that he believes that has been shown by Woods being ridiculed more than ever before in this latest indiscretion.
“I think a lot of people are running out of patience now [with Tiger],” McGinley said.
“He [Woods] realises the seriousness of the situation, as he said [in his statement], and I think it’s a line in the sand.
“It’s quite clear he was just trying to accelerate things, trying to put in the reps, trying to put in the practice in order to get to Augusta National. Obviously, he’s flipped on the wrong side of it.
“I think he [Woods] has been more criticised in the last week than he has ever before in any kind of scandal that he’s been involved in. Everybody realises this is the end of the road and the last-chance saloon. He’s very fortunate that he’s not in bigger trouble.”
Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner agreed with McGinley, saying the golf world needs to get their heads out of the sand when it comes to Woods.
“We need to stop pretending. This is no longer about [Woods] winning. This is no longer about coming back to play The Masters,” Lerner told the Sky Sports Golf podcast.
“This is no longer about chairing a meeting to discuss the future of the PGA Tour – this is about life and death. I think we know how lucky he was in this most recent incident and how lucky he was in California [2021 car crash]. At some point, the luck will run out.”
Despite his lengthy history of run-ins with the law over his operation of a vehicle, Woods has remained arguably the most popular character in golf.
His Masters triumph in 2019 was one of the most widely celebrated in the sport’s history.
Woods’ fifth green jacket came 11 years after his previous major triumph – before his personal life unravelled once his womanising was exposed.
He took time away from the sport, but Woods was never banished.
Nor were there strong feelings of animosity towards him among golf fans.
McGinley believes the incredible heights Woods reached as a player simply have made the pull towards him too strong.
“When you have a superstar in any sport, they’re going to get a bit more leeway and going to be talked about,” he said.
“The thing that makes Tiger so relevant is the fact that his records are there and the bar is so high.
“So many of the players who are primed now at the very top of the game were teenagers and very impressionable when Tiger was at his best, so they reference him a lot. The guys are at the right age and very much influenced by him in terms of the golfers they became.
“You can look at Jack Nicklaus’ records, but modern players don’t really relate to that the way they do to Woods. That’s why his name comes up so often and that’s why the media talk so much about him, because he is the bar.”
As for his future in the sport, McGinley believes that a line can finally be ruled through Woods’ name as a contender if he does return to play in the majors.
“I don’t think it’s fair to write him off fully, but it’s highly improbable that he wins another tournament again, never mind a major,” he said.
“When he has played, he hasn’t been on the pace, so it’s quite clear that he’s not able to practise the way he used to.
“I think his future in terms of winning majors will probably be more focused on playing and maybe winning senior events, more so than on the main tour. You’re never going to say never with Woods, but it’s highly unlikely.”
Discussion about this post