Tiger Woods has formally turned down the U.S. captaincy for next year’s Ryder Cup matches in Ireland as he steps away from golf activities, and a Florida judge has approved his motion to leave the country to seek treatment.
Both developments came Wednesday, one day after Woods entered a not guilty plea to suspicion of driving under the influence when his SUV clipped the back of a trailer and flipped on its side Friday on a residential road near the 15-time major champion’s home on Jupiter Island, Florida.
Woods posted a statement Tuesday night saying he was stepping away indefinitely “to seek treatment and focus on my health.”
A motion filed Wednesday by his attorney, Douglas Duncan, asked a judge that Woods be allowed to travel outside the country to begin “comprehensive inpatient treatment.”
Duncan said the recommendation from Woods’ doctor was based on the PGA Tour star’s “complex clinical presentation and the urgent need for a level of care that cannot safely or effectively be done within the United States as his privacy has been repeatedly compromised.