Tiger Woods’ golf future is still very much TBD, but as long as he can have days like he did Sunday, he’ll be around the game for a good long time.
Team Woods, which included son Charlie as playing partner and daughter Sam as caddy, lost a sudden playoff to Bernhard Langer and his son Jason for the PNC Championship, a no-stakes champion-family tournament that’s nonetheless become one of Woods’ most favorite events.
The 36-hole tournament, which pairs past major champions with family members, marks Woods’ first outing since his September back surgery. He last played tournament-level golf in July at the Open Championship. Woods played in only five tournaments this whole year, and made the cut in only one of them, the Masters. He missed the cut in the season’s other three majors, and withdrew early from the Genesis Invitational in February.
Woods indicated earlier this week that he timed his September surgery on his back so that he could play in the PNC Championship with Charlie.
“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,” Woods 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.”
And what a moment it was, particularly on the par-3 4th hole, where Charlie Woods carded his first-ever ace:
Woods’ joy at his son’s triumph was evident, even when he was telling 15-year-old Charlie that he would be buying drinks for everybody around, as is standard for any hole-in-one. “I’m broke,” Charlie responded.
Team Woods dueled the defending champions, Team Langer, made up of two-time Masters winner Bernhard Langer and his son Jason. The two pairs dueled all the way through the back nine, with both fathers and sons matching one another, hole after hole.
Woods has offered few hints about his future at the professional level. “The recovery has gotten to be the hardest part,” he said earlier in the week. “But over the course of rounds, weeks, months, it gets harder.”
Early next year, Woods will likely participate in the TGL indoor golf league, but hasn’t indicated when he’ll return to competitive tournament golf. For now, his primary interest is making sure Charlie doesn’t beat him straight up just yet.
“He beat me for nine holes,” Woods said. “He has yet to beat me for 18 holes. That day is coming. I’m just prolonging it as long as I possibly can.”
