Charlie Woods had to deal with a nagging injury during the PNC Championship — just like his father — so he gave his dad some credit for anchoring the team during their opening-round 59 on Saturday.
“He played great today,” Charlie said. “He had to carry me all day.”
But the duo didn’t play as well on Sunday, and Team Woods fell from a tie for second to an eighth-place finish.
Still, Charlie — all of 13 years old — couldn’t escape the thought of how well his dad played the previous day. On Sunday, GOLF’s Claire Rogers asked Team Woods what they learned about each other’s game this week.
“I feel like I already knew what he was capable of,” Charlie said. “And then [Saturday], that’s the best he’s ever played in a while, and that kind of shocked me a little bit. That’s really it.”
Charlie’s innocent-yet-blunt assessment drew roars of laughter from the media. It made the 15-time major champ smile, too.
“I used to be good,” Tiger said, laughing. “Again, it was neat to be able to roll back the clock for him to see what I used to be capable of. … Anyone that knows what I used to be able to do was Bones. Bones got a big kick out of that [Saturday].”
Bones, as in Jim “Bones” Mackay, was caddying for Justin Thomas, and Bones, as many know, was Phil Mickelson’s longtime looper. Bones saw peak Woods up close as much as anybody. Charlie got to see his dad win the 2019 Masters, but he was inside Augusta National’s facilities and watching on TV, and that was 3 1/2 years ago. Seeing it up close in person, in a tournament atmosphere and not at their home course, is different.
“It was an incredible week just to be able to play with Charlie and to be able to experience it,” Tiger said. “… Charlie and I, we played great [Saturday]. And today we were both like walking penguins out there. It was all good, though.”