Just days after saying ‘we’ll see’ about competing this month, Tiger Woods is in. He and his son, Charlie, will compete together at next week’s PNC Championship, the annual family team event held in Orlando.
Woods made that initial statement during the Sunday broadcast of his tournament, the Hero World Challenge, during which he was not playing. Woods admitted a week ago that he was “not tournament sharp yet,” which kept him from playing in the Bahamas.
“I’m still not there,” Woods said. “These are 20 of the best players in the world and I’m not sharp enough to compete against them at this level. So when I’m ready to compete and play at this level, then I will.”
For Woods, that’s the main difference: this level. Competing against elite professionals, some of which are half his age, on a Tour-level golf course is very different than a parent-child exhibition event in Florida. The event is technically a Champions Tour event, which allows Woods to ride in a golf cart, lessening the load on his body. It was just three months ago that Woods went under the knife yet again for a back surgery related to “nerve impingement” in his lower back.
That September surgery followed a frustrating 2024 campaign that Woods ultimately called a “lost year” during his pre-Hero press conference. “I had to toss [this year] away,” Woods said, alluding to significant back pain he battled during the summer. Woods has battled nerve pain running down his leg throughout parts of his career, much of which was swept away by his famous spinal fusion surgery that allowed him to get healthy, compete in more than a few events a year and, ultimately, win the 2019 Masters.
While much has changed in the five years since that moment, Woods isn’t going away. That much is clear by this PNC commitment, as well as his involvement in the forthcoming simulator golf league named TGL, which will have him playing on ESPN on Monday and Tuesday nights in January, February and March. The entire TGL schedule can be found here.
For Tiger and Charlie, it will be the fourth time they have competed together at the PNC, an event the elder Woods says they look forward to annually. “[This event] just deepens the bond between father and son,” Woods said in 2022. “It’s been incredible over the years to be able to share this stage and this atmosphere with him.”
It’s a very low-stakes return to playing golf in front of the public, but one that Woods often does with a bigger-than-normal smile on his face. The PNC is a two-day affair, where teams include a major (or Players) champion and a family member. Nelly Korda plays with her father, Petr. Lee Trevino plays with his son, Daniel. Last year’s tournament was won by Bernhard Langer and his son, Jason. Teams play a scramble format over 36 holes, with pros and amateurs often playing from different tee boxes, based on their ability. That said, as the 15-year-old Charlie has grown in his skillset over the years, he has shifted backward, playing the same set of tees in 2023 as Steve Stricker, Vijay Singh and plenty of his dad’s biggest rivals from decades ago.
The PNC begins next week with a pro-am on Friday, December 19th.
