ORLANDO, Fla. — Hello, friends, and happy Saturday! I write to you all from a very rainy day here at the PNC Championship. Tee times were moved up to account for the weather this morning, and it varied from a light drizzle to a heavy pour throughout Team Woods’ and Team Thomas’ round. That didn’t keep the fans from coming out, and it definitely didn’t stop me from having an awesome day on the course. Shout out to my new rain jacket for keeping me dry out there.
Sam Woods the caddie!
I got to the course nice and early this morning to watch Tiger Woods warm up before his tee time. Side note: It’s a whole lot easier to wake up at 5 a.m. when you’re going to watch a 15-time major champion in person.
I was very pleasantly surprised when I walked over to the putting green, and Rob McNamara joked that he had been fired. “New caddie today!” he said. That’s right, folks — Sam Woods, Tiger’s daughter, made her debut on the bag today and it was so, so much fun to watch. With son Charlie Woods as Tiger’s partner, I can’t imagine how much fun it was for him to be out there with both of his kids today.
The last time we saw Sam was when she gave an incredible introduction for her dad when he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2022.
Sam caught up with Justin Thomas on the range, who was asking her all about school and exams. Thomas reminisced on how waiting to get his high-school grades was “the worst.” Relatable!
Due to the rain, everyone in the field took carts. You might think that this would make Sam’s job easier, but I firmly disagree.
Sure, she may not have had to lug Tiger’s bag around for 18 holes, but she had to do something far more intimidating: drive a cart through a packed golf course on a wet, slippery day. As someone who gets nervous pulling into a parking spot when people are watching, I can’t imagine the pressure she felt weaving in and out of the ropes and on narrow pathways. Sam did a great job navigating the cart and pulling clubs for Tiger. I watched her crack a smile after Charlie reacted to a poor shot in the way only a big sister could. She looked down grinning when fans screamed, “We love you, Sam!” next to a tee box.
After their round, I asked Tiger how Sam was on the bag, and he gave a glowing review.
“Sam was fantastic,” he said. “This is the first time she’s ever done this, so it couldn’t have been any more special for all of us. For me to have both my kids inside the ropes like this and participating and playing and being part of the game of golf like this, it couldn’t have been more special for me, and I know that we do this a lot at home, needle each other and have a great time. But it was more special to do it in a tournament like this.”
We’ve also seen some videos of Tiger looping for Charlie over the past few months, so I was curious how the 82-time PGA Tour winner is as a looper. Charlie’s review was positive, but not as positive as the one Tiger gave Sam.
“For Dad as a caddie, his reads are hook-bias,” he said, “and I don’t hook as much as he does. So all of my putts, I miss right. So I have to account for that.”
I think my favorite Sam Woods moment of the day came when she couldn’t help but chuckle when Tiger missed a putt. She and Charlie might be the only people on earth who can get away with that. Overall, I hope she had an awesome day hanging with her dad at work. Being out on the course definitely beats the times I played with the copy machine at my dad’s office.
Tiger’s golf game might be anything but normal, but it was extremely refreshing to watch him be normal with his kids. They ate chicken fingers and fries, made jokes and made the most of their day together despite the weather. It turns out that watching a really famous guy do really normal stuff with his kids is pretty entertaining.
The Thomas family stars
The trash talk was kept to a minimum on the course today, which I was definitely surprised by. I think the horrible weather made the energy in the Woods/Thomas group a little low today, but two members of the Thomas family were able to change that.
First up we have JT’s dog, Franklin. He came out to hang on the 16th green, and everyone in the group flocked toward him.
Next up we have JT’s grandma, who carted along for the whole round — and even got to meet Tiger!
Look how happy she was to meet him! I imagine that’s exactly how I looked when I met Tiger on Friday morning.
Lee Trevino’s advice for Charlie
It’s not every day an 84-year-old and a high school freshman get to yuck it up on the golf course, but Lee Trevino and Charlie Woods did just that on Friday morning at the PNC Championship. And he had some advice for Charlie.
“You got to leave the cell phone at home. … And you know what, don’t go out on the driving range and just start hitting balls just to be hitting balls. Work on something. … You gotta hit a shot. It doesn’t have to be a good shot.”
So basically, practice with intention. Great advice! After seeing Charlie’s recoil today, that’s what I plan to work on next time I hit the range.
