Charlie Woods has some serious swagger, a sick golf game for a 15-year-old, and has to deal with living in the shadow of his father Tiger, who many believe to be the greatest golfer of all-time. Not the easiest footsteps to follow in, yet young Charlie has been extremely impressive at navigating the spotlight alongside his dad at the PNC Championship and in other cameo appearances.
I’m not here to bash on Charlie Woods with glee for shooting a 16-over par round of 86 in Thursday’s pre-qualifier for the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic (formerly Honda Classic). If anything, it’s just a reminder of how much golf can be such a cruel, unforgiving sport — no matter who you are.
The first player on the range for @The_Cognizant pre-qualifier.
Charlie Woods. pic.twitter.com/qr17wa1zvH
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 22, 2024
A twirl at the first.
Charlie Woods is off and running @The_Cognizant pre-qualifier. pic.twitter.com/bB2pbbfcko
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 22, 2024
As you can see from his scorecard, the par-4 seventh hole at Lost Lake Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida, was what spoiled Woods’ day.
Charlie Woods shot a 16 over 86 in pre qualifying for the Cognizant Classic on the PGA Tour, with a 12 on the par 4 7th hole. Time to chill with the hype and just let the lad enjoy playing a sport he clearly loves. pic.twitter.com/gt4CZAiLOu
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) February 22, 2024
It’d have been easy for that big, embarrassing number to overwhelm Woods. To his credit, he locked in for six consecutive pars before a bit of a stumble in the middle of his second nine.
For a little more context, too: There are still a lot of golfers who’ve yet to have their scores posted as of this writing, but it’s worth noting that only seven of 53 entrants have shot under par thus far. Lost Lake isn’t some super easy course by any means based on those scores. If you took out that 12 on the par 4, Woods managed to be eight over par on his other 17 holes. A 78 would’ve looked like a much more respectable round, if not one to be over the moon about.
So yeah, I get some of the cheeky comments on social media, and the headline above could be construed as negatively spirited as opposed to a mere statement of the facts of Woods’ round. Hopefully the young lad can tune out all that noise. He has a pretty good mentor to help him navigate that whole ordeal, as the media attention, expectations and pressure will only mount on Woods the older he gets.
See a lot of people posting Charlie Woods’ scorecard.
He put his game on the line, and that always is a great learning experience.
If you haven’t played true stroke play tournaments, hold your judgement.
It’s *way* harder than it looks!
— Jon Sherman (@practicalgolf) February 22, 2024
You can’t tell me that Charlie Woods doesn’t have some sort of future in this game with action like this:
The recoil 😳
Charlie Woods isn’t holding back @PNCChampionship. pic.twitter.com/J4nT8Jjmke
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 15, 2023
Tracing Charlie Woods' swing 🖌️ pic.twitter.com/q4wnicukue
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 16, 2022
Cool side note to Thursday’s action: There was another son of a famous golfer in the field for the pre-qualifier: Luke Leonard, son of Justin Leonard, the 1997 Champion Golfer of the Year. Luke is still an amateur teenager himself, and carded a round of 8-over 78 with his pops as his caddie.
Charlie Woods’ teammate, Luke Leonard also competed in @The_Cognizant’s pre-qualifier.
The 17-year-old had Dad (@JLeonardGolf) on the bag 😊 pic.twitter.com/srdF7V2iop
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) February 22, 2024
