Tiger Woods speaks with reporters in the course of the Hero World Problem.
Getty Photos
Simply days after saying ‘we’ll see’ about competing this month, Tiger Woods is in. He and his son, Charlie, will compete collectively at subsequent week’s PNC Championship, the annual household staff occasion held in Orlando.
Woods made that preliminary assertion in the course of the Sunday broadcast of his event, the Hero World Problem, throughout which he was not taking part in. Woods admitted every week in the past that he was “not event sharp but,” which stored him from taking part in within the Bahamas.
“I’m nonetheless not there,” Woods stated. “These are 20 of the most effective gamers on the earth and I’m not sharp sufficient to compete towards them at this stage. So once I’m able to compete and play at this stage, then I’ll.”
For Woods, that’s the primary distinction: this stage. Competing towards elite professionals, a few of that are half his age, on a Tour-level golf course may be very totally different than a parent-child exhibition occasion in Florida. The occasion is technically a Champions Tour occasion, which permits Woods to trip in a golf cart, lessening the load on his physique. It was simply three months in the past that Woods went beneath the knife but once more for a again surgical procedure associated to “nerve impingement” in his decrease again.
That September surgical procedure adopted a irritating 2024 marketing campaign that Woods finally known as a “misplaced 12 months” throughout his pre-Hero press convention. “I needed to toss [this year] away,” Woods stated, alluding to vital again ache he battled in the course of the summer time. Woods has battled nerve ache operating down his leg all through elements of his profession, a lot of which was swept away by his well-known spinal fusion surgical procedure that allowed him to get wholesome, compete in quite a lot of occasions a 12 months and, finally, win the 2019 Masters.
Whereas a lot has modified within the 5 years since that second, Woods isn’t going away. That a lot is evident by this PNC dedication, in addition to his involvement within the forthcoming simulator golf league named TGL, which may have him taking part in on ESPN on Monday and Tuesday nights in January, February and March. The total TGL schedule could be discovered right here.
For Tiger and Charlie, will probably be the fourth time they’ve competed collectively on the PNC, an occasion the elder Woods says they look ahead to yearly. “[This event] simply deepens the bond between father and son,” Woods stated in 2022. “It’s been unbelievable over time to have the ability to share this stage and this environment with him.”
It’s a really low-stakes return to taking part in golf in entrance of the general public, however one which Woods typically does with a bigger-than-normal smile on his face. The PNC is a two-day affair, the place groups embrace a significant (or Gamers) champion and a member of the family. Nelly Korda performs along with her father, Petr. Lee Trevino performs along with his son, Daniel. Final 12 months’s event was gained by Bernhard Langer and his son, Jason. Groups play a scramble format over 36 holes, with professionals and amateurs typically taking part in from totally different tee bins, primarily based on their means. That stated, because the 15-year-old Charlie has grown in his skillset over time, he has shifted backward, taking part in the identical set of tees in 2023 as Steve Stricker, Vijay Singh and loads of his dad’s largest rivals from a long time in the past.
