Charlie Woods isn’t going to win this week’s Junior Players Championship. But he won the internet on Sunday.
With an ace.
It happened on the 3rd hole at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Fla., during the third and final round of the event. Having started his round on the 10th hole, the 16-year-old son of Tiger Woods was even par on the day through 11 holes when he came to the 177-yard par-3.
Showing his father’s flair for the dramatic, Woods flushed his tee shot and held his pose.
“That’s really good,” one of his playing partners could be heard saying. An instant later, fans around the green confirmed the result.
“Is it in?” Woods said before his playing partner affirmed that he had made an ace. Woods sounded excited, but his physical reaction was more restrained than his dad’s signature fist pump. Charlie opted for high fives instead.
Ho-hum. After all, he’s been there, done that. The younger Woods’ first hole-in-one came at the PNC Championship in December.
Now he has his second. Eighteen more and he’ll catch his old man, who has 20 career aces.
There’s time for that. It’s too late, though, for Woods to catch the leaders at the Junior Players Championship. On Sunday, he wound up with an even-par 72 to finish at 7-over par for the event, well behind the pace set by another 16-year-old, Miles Russell of Jacksonville, Fla.
As of this typing, Russell was in first place at 8-under for the week.
