ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods turns 49 at the end of the month and he has a pressing goal related to his golf. He wants to prolong this inevitable day when his son beats him over 18 holes.
They will play against each other this week for the fifth straight year at the PNC Championship, a 36-hole tournament so important to them and everyone else in the field that Woods was determined to play for the first time since sixth heart surgery. back in September.
However, word spread that 15-year-old Charlie finally beat his father, a 15-time major champion.
“He beat me for nine holes,” Woods said, an important clarification for him. “He hasn’t beaten me through 18 holes yet. This day is coming. I just extend it as long as possible.
As for the details, Woods talked about the typical banter between them and how much fun they have. It was clear that he was not going to share the defeat hole by hole.
Winning is a goal, but not the priority, at the PNC Championship. It’s a good end to the year for the 20 teams at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando, an event that pairs the winners of major tournaments or the Players Championship with a family member.
Woods has played five tournaments this year and only completed one, qualifying for the Masters for a record 24th consecutive year. He had to play 23 holes Friday at Augusta National in a furious wind, posting a score of 72 for his best round of the year. He followed that with an 82, an example of the ups and downs of a player whose body has been ravaged by injury.
“I’m not going to feel what I’m used to feeling,” Woods said. “The recovery became the hardest part. But as the tours, the weeks, the months go by, it becomes more and more difficult.
He missed the cut at the next three major tournaments, then had lower back surgery in September to relieve some spasms he had felt. The timing of the operation was linked to the PNC championship.
Woods opted out of the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas two weeks ago, saying he wasn’t competitive enough to face Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas among a field of 20 players from the world’s top 40 .
This might as well be his fifth major since he’s playing with his son.
“That’s one of the reasons I had the surgery early, to hopefully give myself the best chance to be with Charlie and be able to play,” Woods said. “I’m not competitive right now, but I just want to be able to relive that experience. This has always been one of the biggest highlights of the year for us as a family, and now we can experience this time together again.
The surgery took place on his back, but Woods said his right leg, which was mangled in a February 2021 car crash outside Los Angeles, remains the biggest physical obstacle.
Even so, he chose to play in the pro-am on Friday instead of riding in the cart, which is allowed for players because the tournament is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour champions.
Team Woods has yet to win since it began play in 2020. It finished second the following year by two strokes behind John Daly and his varsity son, when Charlie was 12 years old. golf ball. Woods plans to rely on his son’s tee shots in the scramble format.
They will play the first round Saturday with Justin Leonard and his son Luke, who goes to Benjamin School in North Palm Beach with Charlie and will go to Villanova next year.
Charlie Woods competed in US Open qualifying for the first time this year and failed to make it out of the first stage. He qualified for the US Junior Amateur at Oakland Hills, but failed to qualify for match play..
Woods enjoyed having his son in the spotlight with a few other faces his age.
“I always reminded him, ‘Just be you.’ Charlie is Charlie. Yes, he’s my son. He will have my last name and that will be part of his identity. But I just want him to just be himself and be his own person. This is what we can do,” Woods said.
“I always encourage him to make his own name, carve his own path and take his own journey,” he said. “I think he’s doing a great job. In this day and age where everyone is essentially media, with all the phones, constantly being filmed and constantly being watched by people, that’s just a part of his generation, and that’s a part of the world he has to navigate.
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