Tiger Woods deserves empathy, but needs to show responsibility, too

The other is his dispiriting and repetitive personal spiral, which has played out in less glamorous precincts, side streets in Florida and California, culminating in the latest incident on a two-lane road on Jupiter Island, where his car, like his life, was upended. Through all of his travails, Woods has been accorded a great deal of empathy, as befits anyone who has acknowledged addiction issues. Sure, there was no shortage of piling on after he struck a fire hydrant outside his then-home in Orlando in 2009 , setting in motion an avalanche of tabloid revelations that unraveled his public image and his marriage.

But the reaction was different eight years later, when he was arrested after being found asleep at the wheel of his car in South Florida, ultimately agreeing to enter a diversion program for first-time DUI offenders. And when he had a serious crash in Los Angeles in 2021. In that case, investigators said there was no evidence of impairment but were widely criticized for not seeking blood tests to determine whether prescription drugs were a factor.

Which is all to say that a troubling pattern existed before this latest episode that landed Woods — mercifully uninjured — in the Martin County jail, charged again with DUI after arresting officers determined he was impaired. He blew a clean breathalyzer at the jail but declined to take a urine test. “The urine he wanted no part of,” said Sheriff John Budensiek, who noted that Woods did not incriminate himself.

“He was careful in what he said. ” That’s a lesson he’s learned in the past. It’s sad to see what has become of a once transcendent athlete.