Tiger Woods explains why his son Charlie faces ‘a totally different world’

If you’ve been near the internet since Thursday morning, you’ve likely seen at least one video of Tiger Woods and his son, Charlie, in the middle of some sort of synchronized range session in advance of this week’s PNC Championship. The comparisons are inevitable, and our Michael Bamberger described from on the ground at the PNC the little mannerisms Charlie has picked up from his father: with the putter, with the water bottle, with the glove in the pocket.

“I think, just like all kids, we mimic,” Tiger said after their pro-am round on Thursday. He famously learned the golf swing from his father at an extraordinarily young age. “I don’t know if his swing is any different than mine, but his feels are very similar.”

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It’s understandable to compare a son to his father, as long as you recognize how unfair it is to compare any golfer of any age to Tiger Woods. But Tiger himself acknowledged the things that he and Charlie have in common: a fiercely competitive nature, an ability to see shots and a desire to beat Justin Thomas.

But it was more striking to hear Tiger talk about the biggest differences Charlie faces in 2020 versus 11-year-old Tiger in 1987, differences that include social media, cameraphones and digital media. Why is his son ready for this week’s televised golf tournament? Because compared to the rest of the world, the PNC represents a relatively controlled environment.

“He’s been playing junior golf tournaments, and he’s been out and had people video him,” Woods said. He’s right — we’ve seen Charlie on national TV in post-round embraces with his father, and we’ve seen him in far less official capacity in iPhone videos shot at junior tournaments. Tiger is well aware of both.

“This is a different world that we live in now,” he said. “Everyone has a phone and everyone has an opportunity to video, and he’s been out there and he’s enjoying it, so that’s the whole idea.”

Tiger himself was well-acquainted with the media from a young age, doing big-time TV interviews at age 2, 5, 14 and every year since. But those were largely one-offs rather than satisfying the 24/7, content-filled world in which we now exist. Woods has repeatedly expressed his dismay for the ubiquity of cell phone cameras and the human instinct to document his every move.

“Well, when I was 11, it was a totally different world,” Tiger said. “I was playing a lot of tournaments, but I wasn’t in front of the media like this — it was so different.”

In his 10-minute session with the press, Woods was asked almost exclusively about his son. He chose his words even more carefully than usual and even pushed back at one question he thought probed too far. He stressed that all that mattered was that Charlie enjoy himself and pursue something he’s passionate about, golf-related or not. This was a father protecting his son.

There’s one other main difference, of course, between Tiger’s upbringing and Charlie’s: Tiger Woods’ father wasn’t Tiger Woods. That’s understandably challenging material for Tiger to take on, so he deferred to what he knows far better: the game of golf.

“The game has changed,” Tiger said. “Some of the shots that he’s hitting, he’s hitting a 3-iron. When I was growing up we were all hitting 1-irons and 2-irons. The ball spun a lot more.

“The game has totally changed.”