ORLANDO – As Charlie and Tiger Woods banged balls on the range at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club on Friday, Charlie turned to his famous dad, the 15-time major winner, and said in a concerned voice, “Dad, you were hitting it so good the other day.”
To which Tiger responded, “That was yesterday.”
Tiger hit his first balls in public since the British Open in July, and will play his first round – albeit just a scramble – since undergoing his sixth back surgery on Sept. 13. On Friday, he participated in the PNC Championship pro-am. He walked the entire round, eschewing a golf cart, and there was little sign of limp. Golf Channel’s John Wood followed Tiger for much of the round and described it as the best he’s seen Tiger look.
“You’re looking good,” a writer said to him.
“Trying to, right,” Tiger answered with a wide smile.
But his latest comeback remains a work in progress. Asked about his back, he said, “it’s a lot better, but I still have a long way to go,” and added, “The recovery has gotten to be the hardest part.”
Just a few weeks ago, Woods elected not to compete at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. He neither showed up at the back of the range to practice nor participated in a hit and giggle competition to hit 80-yard wedge shots at a target in a lake. To some it was a bad sign that he wouldn’t tee it up alongside Charlie and to others it just indicated that he was saving himself for this week. Asked how close he came to not playing this week, Tiger said, “There were moments.”
As proof of just how much he cherishes the chance to play with Charlie for the fifth time in the 36-hole two-man best-ball team event this weekend, Tiger noted that the timing of his surgery was dictated with the PNC date in mind.
“That was one of the reasons why I had the surgery done earlier, so that hopefully I could give myself the best chance to be with Charlie and be able to play,” he said. “I’m not competitive right now, but I just want to be able to have the experience again. This has always been one of the bigger highlights of the year for us as a family, and now we get to have that moment together again.”
Charlie, a 15-year-old high school sophomore, is 3-4 inches taller and he’s stronger and faster. Asked what part of his game had progressed the most in the last year, Tiger replied, “His maturity.”
Earlier in his development as a golfer, Charlie counted on Mike Thomas, Justin Thomas’s father and a PGA professional by trade, as his teacher but Charlie has realized that his dear, old dad knows a thing or two about the golf swing and is a pretty good set of eyes. “I’m here to help,” Tiger said, “but I want him to discover things on his own.”
Charlie’s game has progressed enough that he recently beat Tiger for nine holes. Luke Leonard, son of Justin Leonard, witnessed the victory. Tiger confirmed that he had lost but added, “He has yet to beat me for 18 holes. That day is coming. I’m just prolonging it as long as I possibly can.”
This was the first year that Charlie played without his dad in the pro-am. After the round, he reported back on his play. “A few squirrelly drives but overall solid,” he said. His eyes lit up as he recounted murdering one drive just the way he wanted to. “I nuked it 320 into the wind,” he bragged.
Charlie has played in AJGA events and qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship this summer, but failed to make match play. He loves the game, reportedly has the golfer IQ of a Tour pro but comparisons to Tiger are inevitable but unfair.
“I’m always reminding him, just be you. Charlie is Charlie. Yes, he’s my son. He’s going to have my last name and it’s going to be part of his core. But I just want him to be just himself and be his own person,” Tiger said. “I always encourage it, for him to carve his own name, carve his own path and have his own journey.”
Team Woods, who finished T-5 last year at the PNC, tee off on Saturday at 10:44 a.m. ET. But for one of the few times in his career, Tiger didn’t list winning as his priority.
“Yes, we want to win, but it’s about the bond. It’s about having the family. It’s about us having a father-son moment together,” he said. “This is what this tournament is about. It’s about family.”
Charlie isn’t the only one who has matured.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: PNC Championship pro-am: Charlie Woods recently beat Tiger Woods
