Tiger Woods pleads guilty to reckless driving, will enter program to avoid DUI charge

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida -- Superstar golfer Tiger Woods has pleaded guilty to reckless driving and agreed to enter a diversion program to settle a charge of driving under the influence.

In the diversion program, Woods will spend a year on probation and pay a $250 fine and court costs. Other requirements include attending DUI school, performing 20 hours of community service and attending a workshop where victims of impaired drivers detail how their lives were damaged.

Since he was intoxicated with prescription drugs and marijuana, Woods also must undergo regular drug tests.

Woods was arrested about 2 a.m. May 29 when officers found him unconscious in his Mercedes-Benz, which was parked awkwardly on the roadside and had damage to the driver's side. It's not clear how he damaged the car. Officers checked the area but didn't find that he had hit anything. He was about 15 miles from his home.

His arrest was recorded by an officer's dashcam video and released to the public.

Woods had the active ingredient for marijuana, two painkillers - Vicodin and Dilaudid - the sleep drug Ambien and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in his system but no alcohol, according to a toxicology report released in August. He completed a drug treatment program in July. Woods has said he had been self-medicating to relieve the pain from his fourth back surgery and insomnia.

The DUI arrest was the first time Woods had been in trouble since Thanksgiving weekend 2009, when he plowed his SUV into a tree and a fire hydrant outside his then-Windermere, Florida, home. That led to revelations that he had multiple extramarital affairs and a divorce from his wife Elin Nordegren, the mother of his two children. He spent 45 days in a Mississippi clinic where he was treated for an addiction.

Woods' 79 PGA Tour victories and 14 major titles both rank No. 2 all-time. He has not competed since February because of his back injury and is not expected to return this year. His last win was in August 2013.

Woods has said his back is improving. Even though he has been a non-factor on the PGA Tour, Forbes Magazine lists Woods as the 17th best-paid athlete in the world in 2017, making $37 million, almost exclusively from endorsements.

Report a typo to the ABC13 staff