Tiger Woods speaks to reporters during the World Hero Challenge.
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Just a few days after he said “We’ll see” about the competition this month, Tiger Woods is in. He and his son, Charlie, will compete together in next week’s PNC Championships, the family’s annual team event held in Orlando.
Woods made that initial statement during Sunday’s broadcast of his tournament, the Hero World Challenge, during which he was not playing. Woods admitted a week ago that he was “Still not sharp tour,” which prevented him from playing in the Bahamas.
“I’m not there yet,” 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, this is the main difference: this level. Competing against elite pros, some of whom are half his age, on a Tour-level golf course is very different from a parent-child exhibition in Florida. The event is technically a Champions Tour event, which allows Woods to ride in a golf cart, lessening the strain on his body. It was just three months ago that Woods went under the knife again for back surgery related to “nerve impingement” in his lower back.
That September operation followed a frustrating 2024 campaign Woods ultimately called it a “lost year” during his press conference before Hero. “I had to throw (this year) away,” Woods said, alluding to significant back pain he battled over the summer. Woods has struggled with nerve pain running down his leg throughout parts of his career, much of which was erased by his famous spinal fusion surgery that allowed him to get healthy, compete in more than several events a year and, ultimately, to win the 2019 Masters.
While much has changed in the five years since then, Woods isn’t going away. That much is evident from this PNC commitment, as well as its involvement in an upcoming simulator golf league called TGL, which will see it play on ESPN on Monday and Tuesday nights in January, February and March. of the whole plan of TGL can be found here.
For Tiger and Charlie, it will be their fourth time competing together at the PNC, an event the elder Woods says they look forward to every year. “(This event) just deepens the bond between father and son,” Woods said in 2022. “It’s been incredible over the years to share this stage and this atmosphere with him.”
It’s a very low-key return to public golf, but one that Woods often makes with a bigger-than-normal smile on his face. The PNC is a two-day affair, where teams include a major champion (or players) and a family member. Nelly Korda plays with her father, Petr. Lee Trevino stars 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 boxes based on their ability. That said, as 15-year-old Charlie has grown in his abilities over the years, he has moved back, playing the same set of tees in 2023 like Steve Stricker, Vijay Singh and many of his father’s biggest rivals from decades ago.
