Charlie and his dad really do have plenty of similar traits.
Tough start to the week for Charlie Woods, and it had nothing to do with his golf game.
While warming up for Friday’s pro-am at the 2022 PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Charlie rolled his ankle and is hurting a bit.
During his round, Charlie had a bit of a limp and looks uncomfortable after hitting some of his shots. Cameras showing Friday’s pro-am round captured Charlie and father Tiger Woods walking away from the 11th green, and they both had a noticeable limp.
Like father, like son.
Don’t expect Team Woods to withdraw, however. They finished runner-up to Team Daly last year and are one of the favorites to win the title this year.
Charlie Woods is so much like his dad, he’s mimicking his limp walking off the green pic.twitter.com/2T19RtrVDM
Can’t wait to watch these two swing their clubs in sync
Wherever Tiger Woods goes, all eyes are on him, naturally. He might be the best golfer of all time, after all.
The only person who can manage to capture the attention away from Woods might be his own son, Charlie. He’s done exactly that over the last couple of years at the PNC Championship.
Team Woods is looking to improve on its runner-up finish from last season.
They’re back.
For the third straight year Tiger Woods and his 13-year-old son, Charlie, are in action at the 2022 PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando. The course is playing as a par-72 layout measuring at 7,106 yards for Tiger and just a tad shorter for Charlie, coming in at 6,754 yards.
The two-day, 20-team competition began with pro-am rounds on Thursday and Friday and will conclude on Sunday.
“This is the first tournament I’ve ever played in that Tiger Woods is playing in that he’s not the star of the show.”
Gary Player, Lee Trevino and defending champion John Daly should thank Charlie Woods for saving their “major.”
This week marks the 25th playing of the PNC Championship, but this 36-hole team event, which pairs 20 winners of prestigious titles alongside a family member in a scramble competition, had just about run its course until Charlie got the golf itch.
Don’t believe me? This event wasn’t played from 2009-2011 due to a lack of sponsorship and wasn’t revived until IMG and Arnold Palmer convinced the good people at Pittsburgh-based PNC to breathe new life into it. The King played with grandson Will Wears in 2012, but then he passed the torch to Jack Nicklaus. Seeing The Golden Bear, who was usually paired with Lee Trevino, play 36 was worth the price of admission and carried TV ratings. But as Nicklaus neared his 80th birthday – he last played in 2018 with grandson G.T. – IMG’s Alastair Johnston sensed his “baby” had outgrown its britches. He’d seen the same thing happen to the Skins Game, another event he helped bring into prominence as the once-proud king of Silly Season events.
“Once Tiger’s appetite for doing that went away and the money became so big that people didn’t have to play in it to make money, it lost its appeal,” Johnston once explained of the demise of the Skins Game, which was last played in 2008.
Tiger Woods and Charlie Woods react on the third green during the first round of the PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando on December 19, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Johnston remembers when the idea for the PNC Championship struck him. This was several years ago in the pre-cellphone days and he was at TPC Michigan, site of the 1994 Ford Senior Players Championship. There in the locker room were three major champions lined up at a bank of phones: Raymond Floyd, Dave Stockton and Nicklaus.
“They were all talking to their kids,” Johnston said. “It was far more important how their kids were playing than how they were doing and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could create a tournament where the fathers and sons could play together?’ ”
His brainchild has exceeded his wildest expectations.
“It’s the one event where nobody asks me about the prize money,” Johnston said. “The waiting list is perpetual. I could easily have 40 (teams) – without a doubt.”
“The biggest bonus no one talks about of winning a major is getting to play in the father-son,” two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen said.
And yet the event was headed for a certain death as the tournament’s biggest draws began to age out. No offense, but Janzen and 2013 champ Stewart Cink and ageless wonder Bernhard Langer, a four-time champion, don’t make golf fans push off their holiday shopping for another week to crowd around the TV.
That’s when Johnston had his next bright idea. Over the years, he had stretched the rules so Palmer, whose four daughters didn’t play golf competitively, could play with grandsons Sam Saunders and then Wears, Fuzzy Zoeller could play with daughter Gretchen, and Aaron Stewart, whose father, Payne, died in a plane crash, could play with Janzen and Paul Azinger. In 2017, Johnston added a new wrinkle: sons playing with fathers as Justin Leonard, the 1997 British Open champion, broke new ground playing with his dad, Larry. Jim Furyk and Matt Kuchar did the same a year later, which gave way to Justin Thomas, who won with dad Mike in 2020, and this year’s rookie, Jordan Spieth, who is playing with dad, Shawn. (Someday soon, four-time major winner and current World No. 1 Rory McIlroy and his dad Gerry would make a fine pairing until daughter Poppy is old enough to play.)
But the real salvation was Tiger and Charlie, who finished second as a team a year ago and are scheduled to play together this weekend at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando for the third time. It completed the hand-off from Arnold to Jack to Tiger as the top draw of the event. Some, including Padraig Harrington, would argue that Charlie is the bigger draw. As much as golf fans are desperate to see Tiger, who played just nine competitive rounds this year, it is watching the development of young Charlie’s game that is endlessly fascinating.
“This is the first tournament I’ve ever played in that Tiger Woods is playing in that he’s not the star of the show,” Harrington said.
And other than the four majors, it seems to be the one tournament circled on Tiger’s schedule – and it’s not just the golf cart that he can use since the event is played under the rules of PGA Tour Champions. Even last year where Tiger’s injuries from his car accident weren’t yet healed, he wouldn’t deprive Charlie of playing in the PNC. Plantar fasciitis this year? It kept Tiger out of the Hero World Challenge, the unofficial event earlier this month he hosts, but it’s not going to prevent Tiger from enjoying what has become one of his favorite weeks of the year.
“Charlie will just hit all the shots and I’ll just get the putts out of the hole,” Tiger said at the Hero World Challenge.
Suddenly, the PNC has turned into must-see TV each December. Who could’ve seen this rebirth coming? Johnston, for one, always knew this day would come.
“You know what was the first thing I said to Tiger Woods when I saw him the week after he won the Masters in 1997?” Johnston said. “I told him, ‘The good news is you’ve now qualified for the Father-Son.’ ”
Everything you need to know for the first round of the 2022 PNC Championship.
With professional tours on their holiday hiatus, golf’s silly season rolls on this week with one of the most unique events of the year.
The 2022 PNC Championship tees off this weekend and features a field full of major champions and their family members. The inaugural PNC Championship began in 1995 and featured 10 men’s major winners with their sons. Since then, the field has grown to include 20 professional golfers playing with a family member in a 36-hole scramble at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Florida.
John Daly and John Daly II are back to defend their title against a field that includes Tiger Woods and son, Charlie, as well as LPGA legend Annika Sorenstam and her son, Will, and world No. 2 Nelly Korda and her father, Petr.
Check out the tee times and pairings for Saturday’s first round below.
The 2022 edition of the event features golfers who have claimed 73 major titles.
It seems like it’s getting bigger every year.
The PNC Championship started in 1995 with ten major championship winners teaming up with their sons.
Now, the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando, Grande Lakes will host 20 teams. Eligibility qualifications are steep: Players must have a major championship or a Players Championship title on their resume, while their partner must not hold a PGA or LPGA Tour card.
The 2022 edition of the event has golfers who have won a major dating back to 1959. In all, the field has golfers who claimed 73 major titles.
How to watch
All times listed are ET.
TV
Friday, Dec. 16
PNC Championship Pro-Am, noon, Golf Channel
Saturday, Dec. 17
First round, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., Peacock
First round, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., NBC
Sunday, Dec. 18
Final round, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Peacock
Final round, 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., Golf Channel
It’s time for one of the most unique events on the golf calendar.
The full field for the 2022 PNC Championship was set Friday, and it’s loaded with big names from the past and current men’s and women’s stars.
The inaugural PNC Championship began in 1995, and it featured 10 men’s major winners with their sons. Since then, the field has grown to include 20 professional golfers playing with a family member in a 36-hole scramble at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Florida.
To qualify for the PNC Championship, players must have won a major championship or The Players. Their partner must not hold a PGA or LPGA card.
Here’s a look at the field for the 2022 PNC Championship.
The field of 20 major and Players champions and their family members will compete in a two-day, 36-hole scramble.
The field for the 2022 PNC Championship keeps getting better and better.
Nelly Korda, who won the Pelican LPGA Championship and regained the No. 1 ranking on Sunday, and 2022 PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas highlight the second wave of commitments for the family hit-and-giggle event at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando, Dec. 17-18. Korda will play with her father, former tennis champion Petr Korda, while Thomas will play with his father, Mike. Justin and Mike Thomas won the event in 2020.
“We absolutely loved our experience last year and are delighted to have been invited again this year. It was such a fun week for the whole family,” said Korda via a release. “It truly was special for my dad and me to compete inside the ropes together. We are definitely looking to improve on our 12th place finish last year and I can’t wait to share this amazing experience with him again.”
Also announced were David and Brayden Duval, Jim and Tanner Furyk, Padraig and Paddy Harrington and Matt and Carson Kuchar. Previously confirmed teams in the field include 2021 winners John Daly and John Daly II, Bernhard and Jason Langer, Jordan and Shawn Spieth, Annika Sorenstam and her son Will, Justin and Luke Leonard, as well as Nick and Greg Price.
The only player to compete in every edition of the PNC Championship, 82-year-old Lee Trevino will once again tee it up with his son, Daniel.
The field of 20 major and Players Championship winners and their family members will compete in a two-day, 36-hole scramble for a total purse of $1,085,000.
This would mark the first time Spieth plays in the PNC.
Jordan Spieth is winding down for the year. He had a great week at Quail Hollow Club for the Presidents Cup, going 5-0-0 including a Sunday singles win over Cam Davis.
Now, with no big events for the next few months, time will tell how often we see Spieth on the course before 2023. However, he did reveal part of his plan to Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio Tuesday.
The 29-year-old said he’s planning on playing in the PNC Championship in December with his dad, Shawn. It would be his first appearance in the family affair.
The PNC is scheduled for December 17-18 at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Florida.
The full field has yet to be announced, but it’s expected to include Justin Thomas and his dad, Mike; John Daly and his son, John II; and Tiger Woods and his son, Charlie. The Dalys won last year.
For a player to be eligible for the field, they have to be a major champion.
Look out, world. Charlie Woods is pretty good at this whole golf thing.
While the Presidents Cup was going on in Charlotte, North Carolina, the son of Tiger Woods shot a 4-under round of 68 on Sunday during the final round of the Notah Begay III Junior National Golf Championship at Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida. And his dad was on the bag to see Charlie’s career-low round.
Charlie went out in 1 over, but he played well on his back nine, recording two birdies and an eagle on the par-5 14th hole to come home in 3-under 34 and shoot 68. His approach shot lipped out for albatross on the 14th.
“When I hit (the approach), I knew it was good,” Charlie said. “When it started trickling down, I knew it was going to be close, but not that close.”
At the PNC Championship, Charlie has shown his playing capabilities alongside Tiger. But it seems as if he’s making a name for himself, too.
