It’s December in Orlando, and that means another season of the Tiger and Charlie show. Another edition of the exciting golf reality program starring Tiger Woods, arguably the most impactful golfer ever to walk the planet, and his 14-year-old son, Charlie, competing at the PNC Championship.
Weather permitting (heavy rain is expected to arrive mid-day Saturday, and fall through the night into Sunday), the event begins Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m., with players going off two tees to hopefully get the round in. Tiger Woods and his son will tee off last off No. 1 at 8:22 a.m ET. alongside Mike and Justin Thomas.
Once a championship designed to gather major-winning fathers and their sons during a sleepy time of the golf season, the PNC has expanded to include golfers and their daughters, golfers with their dads, even daughters with their dads. Steve Stricker, winner of three majors on the PGA TOUR Champions this season, is here for the first time with his high school daughter, Izzi; LPGA great Annika Sorenstam is at the Ritz-Carlton Club playing alongside her 12-year-old son, Will, a spitfire left-hander with plenty of spunk. LPGA standout Nelly Korda is here with her tennis pro father, Petr.
Back to Tiger, whose co-star is getting quite tall these days. When Charlie first played here as an 11-year-old, he was a peanut, barely as tall as his driver. Now he is a young man, broad shoulders, filling out. He turns 15 in February, and it won’t be long until he is driving a car. There is almost 6 feet of him now, nearly as tall as his famous dad, and his game continues to grow exponentially along with his frame.
To watch Team Woods play on Friday, was to realize that father and son have big expectations this week.
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Charlie Woods secures back-to-back birdies on No. 14 at PNC Championship
“He’s still growing,” Tiger said Friday after the two completed a practice round. (Woods declined to meet with the assembled media, instead delivering his words to a tournament official; Charlie was not made available.)
“You can see how much he’s grown from last year,” Tiger said. “It’s amazing how much has grown, has changed, and it’s a moving target with him, right? He’s grown somewhere near 4 inches this year, so his swing has changed, it’s evolved, clubs have evolved.”
Mike Thomas, the PGA of America teaching pro, and his son and lead pupil, Justin Thomas, a two-time PGA champion, have developed a special bond with the Woodses, their South Florida neighbors, and have enjoyed their special window into watching Charlie grow up.
“He’s not a little tyke anymore,” said Mike Thomas, smiling. Adds Justin, “I’m just glad he (Charlie) keeps moving back tee markers. He’s leading the tournament in inches grown.”