ORLANDO — Charlie Woods heard his famous father say it enough that the real reason father and son play in the PNC each year has finally resonated.
After Tiger and Charlie finished their opening round Saturday tied for the lead at 13-under, Charlie, the Benjamin School sophomore, was asked about his growth on the course year-to-year. This is fifth year he’s played with Tiger in this event at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.
“As I get older, I learn how to deal with different things,” said Charlie, who finished the high school season ranked No. 11 in the state. “Like last year, I focused so much on winning and playing, instead of everything else and having fun out there.”
Tiger has made it clear this week is not about assessing or working on his game, which by the way looks to be very good despite him downplaying any progress, but more about family.
This is the second straight year Tiger and Charlie have been joined by Tiger’s daughter Sam, a senior at Benjamin, who caddied for her dad.
“I’m just trying to have fun out here,” Tiger said. “I’m very rusty and as I said it’s a scramble, and so we’re just trying to have fun out there. Ham-and-egg each other. Push each other in great spots, and just root for each other to pull off the shot that we want.”
Still, for the second straight day Tiger walked 18 holes without a grimace or sign of a limp. And this three months after undergoing micro decompression surgery on his back and a few weeks after he didn’t even pick up a club at his event in the Bahamas saying he has “a long way to go.”
Yet, Team Woods birdied seven of the last nine holes and now will start the final day of this 36-hole event tied with defending champion Bernhard Langer of Boca Raton and his son, Jason; and Vijay Singh and his son, Qass.
“I didn’t hit it great but Dad saved me on a couple of them and I rolled them in,” Charlie said.
Tiger was hoping to lean on Charlie off the tee considering Dad is hitting from the tips and son is hitting from the member tees.
But this didn’t go so well at the start when Charlie hooked his first tee shot, yelled “heads up,” and raised his club to the left warning the spectators.
“Oh, don’t kill anyone,” he pleaded with the ball.
Team Woods leaned on Tiger for that hole while getting off to a hot start with three consecutive birdies before cooling off.
But they got into the groove with complementary golf, and Charlie’s hot putter, for most of the round.
“I did a lot better today,” Charlie said.
Tiger likes the way Charlie’s game is progressing. Charlie’s had a whirlwind year playing on the Benjamin team after attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open — he shot a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club — and entering the pre-qualifying for the Cognizant Classic where he shot an 86.
But Charlie said his biggest learning lesson of the year came a the U.S. Junior Amateur at Oakland Hills in Michigan were he opened with an 82 and followed that with an 80.
That lesson: Focus on the right things.
“I was so focused on winning and how I played that it kind of crept into … how am I going to win, instead of how I’m going to play the shot,” he said. “And it kind of built up and that caused two very, very bad rounds of golf.”
Now, with one very good round with Dad, Team Woods is honing on on their first PNC title.
What will it take?
“Just got to have fun,” Charlie said. “That’s what we’ve got to go back to.”
Lesson learned.
Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Tiger Woods and son, Charlie, tied for lead at PNC Championship
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