ORLANDO, Fla. — Hello, friends, and welcome to my favorite golf weekend of the year: the PNC Championship! I’ll be on-site all weekend here at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club to tell you all about the best parent-child moments from this event. I drove from Palm Beach to Orlando on Friday morning and made it to the course in time to follow Tiger‘s second nine. This is the first year that Tiger and Charlie Woods played in separate pro-am groups, so while I didn’t see too many father-son interactions, I know there will be plenty over the weekend. Team Woods will be teeing it up alongside Team Leonard on Saturday morning, and Tiger and Justin Leonard aren’t the only ones in that group used to playing together. Charlie Woods and Leonard’s son, Luke, are high school golf teammates.
High school teammates are set to team up with their dads.
Justin Leonard's son Luke is excited to pair up with Tiger Woods' son Charlie in the first round of the PNC Championship. pic.twitter.com/C1Hb99IY6K
Moments like these remind me just how happy I am to have grown up in Rhode Island, because there is no chance I would have made a high school golf team in Florida. There’s so much talent! OK, let’s get into it.
The best spot at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club (in my humble opinion) is between the 9th green and the 10th tee box. There’s a small path for players, caddies and media to cut through, and there’s always a wait on the tee box. While a back-up on a tee box is often seen as a negative thing, it’s a great thing here at the PNC Championship. When groups overlap, players and their families get to interact. Today, Petr Korda, Tiger and Charlie Woods were all by the same tee for a few minutes. This is also the very spot where players are given lunch. The chicken tenders and fries are always a hot commodity here at the PNC Championship.
It was here that I met up with Tiger’s group, and I immediately noticed that he was the only person in his group not using a cart. And trust me, I know Tiger fans can be accused of overhyping when it comes to talking about him, but he looked spectacular out there and I mean it. He was walking with intention, and that intention was to get to the next shot. If you’ve seen Tiger tee it up over the past few years, he would sometimes start to limp toward the end of the round and look like he was avoiding stepping down incorrectly. Not today, folks.
Tiger at the Hero: I’m not tournament ready
Tiger today: walking the entire round, playing some realllly good golf
Tiger has driven a cart and let Charlie take the lead during pro-ams at the past two PNC Championships. Today, he was hitting every shot, chatting as he made his way around the course and lingering on greens to get a few more putts in after the rest of his group headed to the next tee.
And although I didn’t see Charlie hit any shots today, it looks like his game is in great shape. He played one group ahead of Tiger on the back nine, and Tiger was in full dad mode as he tried to catch a glimpse of how Charlie was playing from a hole behind.
The funniest part of the day came toward the end of the round, when a guy who was dressed up as a candy cane finally got Tiger’s attention. Tiger thought it was hilarious and walked right over to him to sign his costume.
It was the only autograph I saw Woods sign all afternoon, so there might be a lesson here about what it takes to get a signature from the 15-time major champion. I’ll let you decide if it’s worth it.
Tiger’s jokes
Tiger’s wit was on point on Friday at the PNC Championship. He was in great spirits, and my favorite moment of the day came when Tiger spotted John Daly and instantly cracked a joke. Woods told Daly he’d “meet him at the gym,” and after hugging, Daly explained that the two of them have different three-letter words: Tiger’s is “g-y-m,” Daly’s is “b-a-r.”
Whenever I see old pals reunite at the golf course, I like to take a look at Getty Images and find some throwback photos. I came across this one of Woods and Daly from the 1997 Memorial Tournament.
“I think 2000 I was good.” He won nine times that year, so I’d have to agree.
Tiger talks to the media
Tiger said a lot on Friday at the PNC Invitational, but there were two main themes. The first is just how happy he is to be teeing it up with his son this week, and the second is that he wants Charlie to be himself and have his own life.
When I think of the Masters, I usually think of springtime. However, it turns out that they do the holidays pretty well at Augusta National as well. Just when I thought the Masters theme song couldn’t get any better, I heard the bell choir version of it and was immediately proven wrong. The local Augusta Bell Choir practiced the Masters theme song for weeks ahead of this video, and their hard work definitely paid off.
Not only does this video have me excited for Christmas (which is quite the feat considering I’ve been in Florida two weeks and keep thinking its summertime!), it also has a handful of Easter eggs that I encourage you all to look for.
