NBC Faces Fury Over Tiger Woods Footage Blunder
NBC has been heavily criticised by its audience after broadcasting footage from a previous Tiger Woods car crash while reporting on the golf legend's recent arrest. The error occurred during the network's coverage of the PGA Tour's Houston Open on Saturday afternoon.
Confused Coverage Sparks Outrage
As NBC temporarily diverted from golf action to update viewers about Woods' Friday arrest in Florida, producers mistakenly displayed visuals from the athlete's 2021 California crash instead of the current incident. The 50-year-old icon was arrested after attempting to overtake a truck and trailer at high speed on a residential Jupiter Island road, clipping the vehicle and causing his SUV to tip onto its side.
However, as the anchor began discussing this Florida incident, footage played showing Woods' devastating 2021 crash that left him with a shattered right leg requiring multiple surgeries. This visual mismatch triggered immediate backlash across social media platforms.
Viewers Voice Their Displeasure
One angry viewer declared: 'NBC you're terrible. I just watched an update about Tiger Woods' car wreck yesterday. All you did was show damage from his wreck six years ago. Nothing about the minor wreck yesterday. Despicable.'
Another commented: 'NBC just did a sports break talking about Tiger Woods' rollover yesterday and while talking about it showed a video of a previous rollover where the car was totally destroyed... not once did it say it was not the one from yesterday... shame on NBC for lying again!'
A third added criticism about advertising priorities, while a fourth simply called it a 'stupid mistake' and another described NBC's handling as 'amateurville'. One social media user noted wryly: 'Tiger Woods has now been in enough car accidents that NBC had difficulty selecting the correct photo to show earlier today.'
Network Issues On-Air Correction
When coverage returned to the Houston Open, commentator Dan Hicks addressed the error directly: 'We want to take this time to make a correction. Before we came on the air today with our regular PGA Tour coverage of this Texas Children's Houston Open our studio show inadvertently showed the incorrect picture of a car crash Tiger Woods was in. It was another previous car crash. It was not the correct one, the latest one that was yesterday. So we apologize for that and wanted to straighten that out before we go any further.'
Teammate Comments on Woods' Situation
Later in the broadcast, Woods' TGL teammate and friend Kevin Kisner shared his perspective when asked about the crash by Hicks. 'Very disturbing,' Kisner stated. 'He was really working hard on his game, trying to practice and get back in shape. He signed up for the U.S. Senior Open yesterday. He was trying to do anything he could to come back and try and help our TGL team, get ready, hopefully try and play the Masters. Just a really unfortunate incident. I guess the only positive is that nobody was injured in the incident and we can all move forward and hopefully help him get better.'
Arrest Details Emerge
After managing to climb out of the passenger side window of his vehicle, Woods refused to provide a urine sample to police officers and was consequently arrested for DUI, property damage, and refusal to submit to a lawful test. Authorities released Woods' mugshot to the public shortly after 10pm, showing the golfer with puffy, bloodshot eyes. He was bonded out approximately an hour later and driven away from Martin County Jail as fans and reporters gathered.
At the accident scene, Woods passed a breathalyzer test with 'triple zeros' but declined the urine test twice—once roadside and again at the jail. Sheriff John Budensiek explained: 'He is cooperative, but he was not trying to incriminate himself, so he was careful in what he said and didn't say. When it came time again for the test, the urine test at the jail, he stopped that. On scene, we had experts evaluating him and they believed from on scene that he was not impaired with alcohol, but they believe it was some type of medication or drug. And again, at the jail he cooperated with the breathalyzer, and then the urine test he wanted no part in. He has a right to refuse that test. There is a statute that he will be charged with for refusing to take that test, but we will never get definitive results as to what he was impaired on at the time of the crash.'
