Tiger and Charlie Woods during the first round of the PNC Championship.
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The last time Tiger Woods shared the lead in the first round of a PGA Championship was more than five years ago. Background: At the 2019 Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan, Woods and Gary Woodland shot 64 after 18 holes to share the lead. Woods won by three shots that week for his 82nd PGA Tour victory, which tied him with Sam Snead for the top spot on the tour’s all-time wins list.
No one would or should mistake the PNC Championship (a PGA Tour Champions-sanctioned event featuring 20 family teams competing for 36 holes) for a full 72-hole PGA Tour event like Zozo, but, man , only the most grey-haired person would not be moved by the sight of woods He returned to the top of the leaderboard Saturday at PNC.
As the dust settled at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Tiger and his 15-year-old son Charlie had made 12 birdies and not had a bogey or worse. Their final score of 59 put them in pole position at the halfway point, tied with Langer and Singh, with Lehman and Harrington close behind.
There’s reason to believe the Woods boys, wearing matching Sunday red gear, won’t be competitive this week. First, Tiger is still recovering from his sixth back surgery in September and has “a long way to go,” he said Friday. He added, “I’m not going to feel the way I’m used to.” Recovery has been the hardest part. But over the course of rounds, weeks, and months, things get harder and harder. Playing 18 holes is one thing, walking 18 holes is another.
There are also doubts about Woods’ game status, which he described to Golf Channel on Friday as “very raw,” adding, “I don’t feel like I’m off track.”
But here’s the thing: There’s also reason to believe in the Woods Boys meeting Be competitive this week, not only because Tiger is one of the fiercest competitors to ever stalk the planet, but his game shape be damned. First off, Tiger and Charlie aren’t exactly staring at Scotty, Rory, and Bryson this week. Their opponents include the likes of 13-year-old Will McGee (son of Annika Sorenstam) and 89-year-old Gary Player; Tiger and Charlie also only have 19 teams to beat, and the competition format Allow Tiger to jump immediately if needed.
Team Woods has other advantages: Charlie, who will be competing at PNC for the fifth time this week, is a year older and wiser than he will be in December 2023. Charlie is a sophomore at Benjamin School in South Florida, where he plays on the golf team with Justin Leonard’s son, Luke. A year ago, the team won the state championship. This year, Charlie’s scoring average dropped four strokes to 70.75, his coach Toby Harbeck told me the other day. Haback said if there’s anything holding Charlie back, it’s his decision-making on the court, but the drive and intensity with which he plays is right out of his old man’s playbook. Charlie burn win.
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Charlie and his dad made it look easy on Saturday, although neither player seemed in awe of their performance. “It feels good,” Charlie said. “I didn’t hit it very well, but dad saved me a few balls and I rolled them in.”
Unsurprisingly, Tiger was also quick to praise his co-star. “We’re trying to make every shot for each other, and I thought we did a good job almost all day long,” Tiger said. “Charlie almost made most of the putts.”
Tiger reiterated that his own game was “rusty,” but there was at least one very encouraging sign: Tiger played all 18 holes, as he did in Friday’s practice round. He was allowed to use the cart at PNC, but chose not to. If you’re looking for a sign that his recovery is progressing, this development certainly qualifies, even if the Ritz-Carlton’s flat layout isn’t exactly Augusta National.
“Preparing for a competitive game is different,” Tiger said Friday. “It takes months, weeks. But it starts every day. You just do the little things right and they add up. From the moment you get up, do all the little things , the mundane things you know you have to do.
If there’s one thing we know about Tiger, he doesn’t take these little things lightly. The same goes for how he prepares for Sunday’s second and final round at PNC. Tiger has been saying all week that he’s just here to have fun, and Charlie echoed similar sentiments after Saturday’s game. But there’s no doubt that Team Woods is also heading to Orlando to win. Now that they are ready to do so, the competitive momentum is coming. The nerves are there too. Tiger said he felt nervous on the first tee Saturday.
Toward the end of his and Charlie’s postgame press conference, Tiger was asked if his competitiveness would come into play now that he and his son are deep into the hunt.
Anyone who even remotely knows the way Tiger plays knows how he’s going to react, but, man, after all these years of struggling off the field and on it, it feels good to hear him say that anyway.
“It’s always there,” Tiger said.
Alan Bastable
Golf Network Editor
As executive editor of GOLF.com, Bastable is responsible for the editorial direction and voice of one of the sport’s most respected and visited news and service websites. He wears many hats—editing, writing, conceptualizing, developing, dreaming of one day breaking 80—and is honored to work with such a talented and hard-working group of writers, editors, and producers. Prior to taking the helm at GOLF.com, he was the features editor for GOLF magazine. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Columbia Journalism School, he lives in New Jersey with his wife and four children.
