Garcia can be heard snapping back at the officials by saying, “You’re always right, we’re always wrong.”
After missing last year’s Open Championships, Sergio Garcia is attempting to get into this year’s event through local qualifying at West Lancashire Golf Club.
Since 1998, Garcia has made 24 starts at the Open, missing just four cuts and totaling 12 top-20 finishes, 10 of which were top 10s. His career-best finish came at Carnoustie in 2007 where he earned the silver medal. He finished T-68 in his most recent appearance, during the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews.
But on Tuesday, Garcia’s group was flagged by officials with a slow-play warning.
Garcia, through a Tweet from Bunkered’s Ben Parsons, can be heard snapping back at the officials by saying, “You’re always right, we’re always wrong.”
For context, Garcia not happy that he’s been put on the clock when it’s taking marshals “3-4 minutes” to move fans walking on his line on tee shots. https://t.co/doiWXY2UO6
To be fair, Garcia’s complaint was that his group repeatedly had to wait because officials were having an issue clearing people out of the way, and his contention appears true by various images and videos.
Also, his group was one of 10 to be put on the clock, according to Parsons.
Garcia not happy with this pull on 17 but he’s recovered brilliantly from the sand to save par. He’s level and four back.
Garcia had mentioned before his round that playing in qualifiers offers a “unique perspective,” and added that it “drives you to give even more when you qualify.”
Going through qualifiers gives a unique perspective. It’s tough but I enjoy the challenge. Direct qualification is ideal, but competing for limited spots makes you value it more. With so few spots, like The Open's 72 players competing for 5-6 spots, you realize how hard it is to…
Of course, Garcia has had issues with officials before, including one at the 2022 Wells Fargo Championship, when Garcia blew his tee shot way left of the 10th fairway into a hazard. After several minutes of searching, he finally found his ball.
A rules official said he took too long. The official said he started the timer once Garcia arrived at the general location of his golf ball, while the Spaniard argued it should have started once he crossed the river as he knew his ball was on the other side and he was just looking for a way to cross.
Despite his persistence, Garcia was forced to take a drop.
After waving his hand in disgust, he said under his breath, “I can’t wait to leave this tour.”
His rant would continue.
“Can’t wait to get outta here. … just a couple more weeks until I don’t have to deal with you anymore.”
There are now 11 LIV golfers qualified for Pinehurst No. 2.
Monday started with 83 golfers, including eight members of LIV Golf, already in the 156-man field at the 2024 U.S. Open.
Golf’s Longest Day, an annual rite of passage for those seeking to qualify for the national championship, was the final chance for those not in to punch their ticket to Pinehurst No. 2.
Among the 687 golfers who were spread across 10 qualifying sites on Monday were 19 LIV golfers, who normally play 54-hole events over three days but for this they had to navigate 36 holes in one day.
Of those 19, just two earned a golden ticket, which brings the LIV total for Pinehurst to 12.
Unlike those two events, however, there are rarely special exemptions for the U.S. Open so you either have to be a recent major winner, a recent PGA Tour winner, high enough in the Official World Golf Ranking or be one of those who managed to battle through qualifying.
David Puig had the best day, as he won the qualifier at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, California, at 12 under, after posting scores of 68 and 64.
Here’s the breakdown of the LIV golfers who are in, and who fell short, of making it.
Already in prior to June 3 (11)
Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Tyrrell Hatton, Martin Kaymer, Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra, Cameron Smith, Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson and Adrian Meronk.
Made it through June 3 qualifying (2)
David Puig and Dean Burmester.
Failed to make it through qualifying (17)
Sergio Garcia, Joaquin Niemann, Carlos Ortiz, Abraham Ancer, Matt Jones, Cameron Tringale, Graeme McDowell, Anirban Lahiri, Charl Schwartzel, Peter Uihlein, Branden Grace, Andy Ogletree, Lucas Herbert, Marc Leishman, Hudson Swafford, Wade Ormsby and Sebastian Munoz.
Indy 500 end of Pole Day recap with Ryan Hunter-Reay, Bobby Rahal, Ben Bretzman (Team Penske) and Marcus Ericsson after Penske made history for the second time with a 1-2-3 sweep of qualifying. Presented by RACER’s Indy 500 Trackside Report is …
Indy 500 end of Pole Day recap with Ryan Hunter-Reay, Bobby Rahal, Ben Bretzman (Team Penske) and Marcus Ericsson after Penske made history for the second time with a 1-2-3 sweep of qualifying.
Presented by
RACER’s Indy 500 Trackside Report is presented by The American Legion. 90 Minutes to Save a Life – Sign up for FREE Suicide Prevention Training from American Legion and Columbia University Lighthouse Project at BeTheOne.org.
Scott McLaughlin won his first Indianapolis 500 pole on Sunday and Kyle Larson won the hearts of IndyCar fans after becoming the fastest rookie qualifier in Speedway history on his way to securing fifth. But the biggest accomplishment this weekend …
Scott McLaughlin won his first Indianapolis 500 pole on Sunday and Kyle Larson won the hearts of IndyCar fans after becoming the fastest rookie qualifier in Speedway history on his way to securing fifth.
But the biggest accomplishment this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was reserved for the smallest team, which only competes at the Indy 500, as Ryan Hunter-Reay cracked the Fast 12 qualifying group with his No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports Chevy.
The combination of the 2014 Indy 500 winner and the team owned by Dennis Reinbold and run this year in partnership with Don Cusick was formidable in time trials as Hunter-Reay out-qualified the entire Chip Ganassi Racing team, plus three of the four cars from both Andretti Global and Rahal Letterman Lanigan.
There was one giant killer in qualifying, and it was RHR and DRR.
“I can’t tell you how much it means to everybody involved in this program, how much attention to detail they put into it, the effort that goes into it,” Hunter-Reay told RACER after posting a four-lap average of 230.567 mph.
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“They’re the last to get parts, they’re the last on the assembly line to get the development done and to get in the wind tunnel and things like that. It’s a huge deal for us to get into that Fast 12. It’s really fun to be a part of that. We made the right decisions at the right time and got it where we need to get it. I’m really, really thrilled for the team on that. They should be proud of it. You could definitely win from 12th.”
Through Reinbold and Cusick, Hunter-Reay’s No. 23 Chevy is loaded with an array of small sponsors, and thanks to the infectious enthusiasm from the owners, plus the entire DRR staff, Indy 500 fans have been gifted a true David to support as they take on the Goliaths.
“I think the foundation is that passion that Dennis Reinbold has for this race,” Hunter-Reay added. “His whole year revolves around it. A lot of the crew members I’ve worked with in the past, they get together and they get to focus on this one race, and it has its advantages. It’s great to have Don Cusick on board. He’s so passionate about this program as well. It’s a great atmosphere in the team. When you get to really pull it all together, and have a great effort like that, now we’re in the top 12.
“Really proud of that, honestly. I’ve been working with not only (race engineer) Todd Bowen, who I worked with last year as my engineer, but Peter Gibbons; way overqualified. It’s phenomenal to get these names together and everybody’s got one drive. We’re the only one-off team that made it into the Fast 12 so very proud of this group.”
Hunter-Reay’s teammate Conor Daly qualified 29th in the No. 24 DRR/Cusick Chevy.
“To have them as close as we have them, that’s impressive,” Josef Newgarden said after Team Penske blitzed the field on Pole Day at the Indianapolis 500 where the three-car operation went 1-2-3 to lock out the front row. After posting the fastest …
“To have them as close as we have them, that’s impressive,” Josef Newgarden said after Team Penske blitzed the field on Pole Day at the Indianapolis 500 where the three-car operation went 1-2-3 to lock out the front row.
After posting the fastest run in the Fast 12 earlier in the day, New Zealand’s Scott McLaughlin led the group to earn his first Indy 500 pole with the No. 3 Chevy at a remarkable 234.220mph average in the Fast Six ahead of Will Power in the No. 12 Chevy (233.917mph) and Newgarden in the No. 2 Chevy (233.808mph).
“I felt like there’s two runs today were some of the best runs of my career,” McLaughlin said. “I thought the potential was there, even yesterday. It was just about getting the right balance. I knew my engineer would nail it, and they did, and when the first number came up, I just had to hold on. Got a little bit loose at the end but the Pennzoil Chevy held on. Super proud to put the Yellow Submarine back on the pole and sweep for Team Penske. What a great spot for the 108th Running [of the Indianapolis 500]. I’m really proud. I think it’s the first Team Penske clean sweep of the front row since ’88. In this day and age, that’s a proud moment.”
It was yet another statement for Kiwis after countryman Scott Dixon earned Indy 500 poles in 2021 and 2022, giving Antipodeans three of the last four top starting spots at the Speedway.
Teammate Power was rather dejected to lose out on earning his first Indy 500 pole, but went into the Fast Six with full knowledge that he was capable of going P1.
“I was going to be shocked if we weren’t on pole or fighting for it,” he said.
The story wasn’t over for Team Chevy as it captured the second row and two of the next three spots on the third row to give the oddsmakers a clear understanding of which engine supplier has the most horsepower.
Elsewhere in the top 12, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay put in a stellar performance to lay claim to seventh after crashing on Saturday.
“Seventh for the Indianapolis 500 after yesterday’s morning… sick!” said the Dutchman. “We were so close and were able to beat some fast cars today.”
The other big star of qualifying was found with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Ryan Hunter-Reay who played the role of giant killer with the No. 23 Chevy to earn 12th ahead of much bigger and wealthier teams.
At the unfortunate end of Pole Day, there was also one driver who was sent home as Bump Day carved Dale Coyne Racing’s No. 18 Honda driven by rookie Nolan Siegel from the starting field. A crash on his final run in the Last Chance Qualifying session sealed his fate and saved Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal, who was on the bubble from being knocked out of consecutive Indy 500s in P33.
Siegel was unharmed in the crash and was frank in his assessment after falling short in the final minute of the session.
“I’m OK,” he said over the radio. “It was [way loose]. We tried.”
Katherine Legge (P31), Marcus Ericsson (P32), and Rahal weathered the gut-wrenching LCQ and will get to take part in the race.
Once the fast 12 activities commenced as the heat migrated over 80 degrees F, Hunter-Reay went first and recorded a 230.567mph average. VeeKay was next and shot to first with 232.620mph. Pato O’Ward was next and delivered a 232.584mph to go P2.
Takuma Sato motored to a 232.171mph to claim P3, and Santino Ferrucci was up next, but lost the cloud cover that cooled the track for O’Ward and Sato. It didn’t matter, though, as Ferrucci shot to P1 with an average of 232.723mph.
Rosenqvist was up sixth and had great cloud cover to use over his four laps to produce a 232.305mph run which moved him into P4. Kyle Larson also had good cloud cover for his blast and put up a 232.788 average to take P1 to the applause and delight of the fans.
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Kyle Kirkwood followed with the sun beating down on the track and delivered a 230.993 to go P7. Alexander Rossi had the same absence of cooler conditions for his run and, like Ferrucci, it made no difference as he registered the fastest run with a 233.071mph to take P1 from his teammate Larson.
Newgarden liberated P1 from Rossi with a stellar run of 233.286mph, and it was his teammate McLaughlin’s turn to make the penultimate attempt to transfer into the Fast Six and go for pole.
McLaughlin knocked Newgarden off P1 with a 233.492mph and then it was time for teammate Power to make the last run. Cloud cover emerged for Power’s last lap and held for his entire outing to miss P1 by a tiny margin at 233.483mph to take P2.
With McLaughlin, Power, Newgarden, Rossi, Larson and Ferrucci primed to go for pole, it was time for the LCQ group to run, led off by Nolan Siegel, who posted a 229.568mph.
Ericsson had a 230.653mph average through three laps but appeared to lift at start/finish at the start of the fourth lap —did he think the run was over?—to close the run with a 195.411mph lap that dropped his average to 220.702mph.
Legge dealt with more oversteer but held onto it to take P31 and lead the LCQ with a 230.092mph run. Rahal was the last to run before second attempts could be made and went 229.974mph to take P32 in front of Siegel in P33 and Ericsson in P34.
The Andretti team sat and waited to let Ericsson’s engine cool before sending him to try and bump Siegel out. With approximately 32 minutes left in the 60-minute LCQ session, Ericsson headed out and ran four slow laps averaging 168.986mph before pulling into the pits, putting on four new tires, and getting prepared to make a proper attempt to get into the show.
Ericsson rolled out with about eight minutes to go and went 230.027mph to grab P32, bumping Siegel out. Ericsson and Legge were in, Rahal was on the bubble, and Siegel’s car was pushed to the line and sent with two minutes left on the clock.
He wound the car up to 229.288mph on the first lap, nudged the wall on the exit of Turn 1, spun, and crashed. He was unhurt and, sadly, not going to participate in his first Indy 500.
The Fast Six started with Ferrucci up first and he held onto a sliding car to go 232.692mph before Larson registered a 232.846mph to move into P1. Rossi went third and dropped the fastest lap so far with a 234.062mph which generated cheers as he held onto a wiggling machine. His average of 233.090mph was enough to take P1 before the three Penske drivers went out to settle the pole.
Newgarden made a statement with his first lap—a 234.188mph—which led to more cheers. His second lap was almost as good—a 234.004mph—and his third was also good at 233.640mph and he closed it with a 233.400mph to shoot to P1 with a 233.808mph average.
Power was the penultimate pole runner and crossed the line with a 234.128mph and fell to a 233.955mph which looked like he’d stay behind Newgarden. The next lap was a 233.767mph, and on his final, a 233.819mph was enough to go P1 with an average of 233.917mph. It was up to McLaughlin to try and spoil Power’s party.
Lap one was the best of the day — a 234.526mph — and the battle was on. Lap two was another monster at 234.371mph and it was the Kiwi’s to take. Two more strong laps did the job; pole for McLaughlin and an explosion of cheers from fans on the front straight.
Either Marcus Ericsson, Katherine Legge, Graham Rahal, or Nolan Siegel will fail to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. For two of the at-risk drivers, it’s hard to fathom how they’ve ended up among the four slowest drivers vying for the …
Either Marcus Ericsson, Katherine Legge, Graham Rahal, or Nolan Siegel will fail to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
For two of the at-risk drivers, it’s hard to fathom how they’ve ended up among the four slowest drivers vying for the three available starting spots that are up for grabs as Rahal, who was bumped from the field one year ago, is once again relegated to the Last Chance Qualifying session with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. The biggest shock of all came with 2022 Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, whose backup Andretti Global car just hasn’t been able to muster the same speed as his quicker teammates.
Dale Coyne Racing, the smallest team in the IndyCar Series, is also represented in the LCQ with Legge and Siegel, whose crash on Friday forced him into a spare car that has none of the aerodynamic or mechanical drag reduction techniques applied that would allow the car to post more competitive speeds.
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The quartet, all using Honda power, were between 0.497mph and 4.479mph shy of being safe in the top 30.
“For us, it’s flipped,” Rahal, who was 0.868mph from avoiding the LCQ, told RACER. “To start the week I was the quickest [RLL] car by what I thought was a little bit of a margin. All of a sudden, it’s not only swapped, but now I’m a mile an hour off, which makes zero sense at all. So we have to go back and look, and for sure when you look at and go, ‘RLL is in the same place,’ well, we’re not in the same place because the same place was five miles an hour off of Ganassi last year; we’re not five. But for sure, the Chevys are fast. It’s just a shock.”
For Ericsson, the crash on Thursday set his current situation in motion. If there’s a saving grace, it’s the fact that he was the fastest of the four slowest drivers heading into the LCQ.
“It’s strange that what we see out on track doesn’t match up with what it should be,” the Swede said. “It’s a backup car. For sure, [it’s] not ideal, but it shouldn’t be so far off. Our primary cars, our teammates are up there. We have fast cars and the team has been really, really doing a good job, so we don’t really understand how we can be struggling so much, but we have tonight to try and find out and then go out tomorrow and try and deliver.”
Honda threw the first punch in qualifying for the 108th Indianapolis 500 but it wasn’t good enough to drop Chevrolet, which went on to post the three fastest speeds on Saturday and nine of the best in the Fast 12 which will go on to vie for pole …
Honda threw the first punch in qualifying for the 108th Indianapolis 500 but it wasn’t good enough to drop Chevrolet, which went on to post the three fastest speeds on Saturday and nine of the best in the Fast 12 which will go on to vie for pole position on Sunday.
It was Team Penske owning the day for Chevrolet with Will Power (233.758mph), Scott McLaughlin (233.332mph) and Josef Newgarden (233.293mph) blitzing the field with Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi taking fourth (233.069mph) ahead of Honda’s leading representative in Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood (232.764mph).
Arrow McLaren’s Kyle Larson was an impressive sixth (232.563mph) and had Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist in seventh with his Honda-powered car (232.547mph) and Chevy’s Santino Ferrucci in eighth with his A.J. Foyt Racing entry (232.496mph). Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Takuma Sato was a major outlier for the Honda-powered team in ninth (232.473mph), and the Fast 12 was finished with Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward (232.434mph), a hard-charging Rinus VeeKay who overcame a morning crash to leap into the pole group with the last run of the day in the Chevy-powered car (232.419mph), and another pleasant surprise with Chevy’s Ryan Hunter-Reay at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (232.385mph).
“I wouldn’t have trimmed any more than that,” Power said after using a low-downforce package to clear the rest of the field by a decent margin. “It’s tough in [Turns] 3 and 4. I thought we were spot on for that run. It was pretty comfortable, but loose. We wanted to get a time on the board so we didn’t have to run again.”
With the start of qualifying beginning at 11 a.m. ET, three qualifying attempts were completed with Kirkwood, McLaughlin, and Kyffin Simpson before the first adversity of the day arose when VeeKay became the fourth driver to crash this week. The team leapt into action to prepare a backup car for VeeKay, who was seen and cleared by IndyCar Medical.
Romain Grosjean was next to run and was frustrated to post the slowest speed so far at 231.5mph, well off of McLaughlin’s 233.3mph. Larson was next and had to abandon his run when an unexpected cut in power from a turbo plenum fire curtailed his outing.
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The next big movement took place with Power who fired to P1 with an average of 233.758mph and he was immediately followed by teammate Newgarden who went to P3 with a 233.293 to give Penske a 1-2-3 after eight qualifying attempts had been completed.
Nolan Siegel, using a backup Dale Coyne car after suffering a big crash on Friday, ventured out and was slow as expected, lapping between 226-227mph, which was well below Grosjean’s 231.5mph.
Echoes of RLL’s slow cars from 2023 resurfaced when Christian Lundgaard made the team’s first run and was only faster than Siegel, averaging 231.465mph. Marcus Ericsson, who crashed on Thursday and was forced to use a spare car, was even slower than Lundgaard with a 230.603mph performance.
The slow runs continued as Coyne’s Katherine Legge, the 17th driver to complete a run, clipped the Turn 4 wall on her final lap, kept her foot buried in the throttle, and recorded a 230.244mph average, giving Coyne the bottom two speeds.
RLL’s fortunes didn’t improve with their second runner, Pietro Fittipaldi, whose average of 231.100mph, was the fourth slowest of the 19 who’d completed their outings.
Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist, with the ambient temperature close to 80 degrees F, was quick with a 232.547mph average to place fifth—second among Hondas behind Kirkwood, who went first in optimal conditions.
IndyCar then announced Callum Ilott’s qualifying run was voided after the left-rear wheel offset was found to be illegal during the post-run technical inspection. Rule 14.14.6 was violated.
Alex Palou, the 2023 Indy 500 polesitter, produced a 232.306mph in his Ganassi car, which was good enough for seventh at that point in time. RLL’s Sato, the quickest Honda on the no-tow list from Friday, was fast again and went to ninth at 232.140mph.
Ganassi’s Scott Dixon went straight into qualifying after an engine change was performed on his No. 9 Honda and he registered the 17th-fastest speed in the heat of the day. Foyt’s Sting Ray Robb found himself on the ninth of 11 rows in the No. 41 Chevy, and after the run, the team found an incorrect setting on the car that would lead them to apply a correction and send him out later in the day, netting him 20th. Colton Herta did well to move into the fourth row.
Sato tried to improve his speed just after 3:20pm. and he was successful, motoring forward three positions to ninth. VeeKay got out in his repaired No. 21 Chevy, and with no break in the action to turn practice laps, the ECR team decided to use a qualifying attempt to have him circulate at a slower speed to confirm the car’s handling and repaired items were ready to go hard in a third attempt.
VeeKay went back out and secured an uncomfortable 29th. Rahal, who was bumped out of the top 30, made a second attempt but wasn’t able to break out of the Last Chance Qualifying group for the 31st and slower cars. Legge did the same with her No. 51 Coyne car and, like Rahal, wasn’t fast enough to claim one of the locked-in spots inside the top 30.
Into the qualifying line again and again for Graham Rahal, shades of the events one year ago repeating. Josh Tons/Lumen
RLL’s Lundgaard, in 27th, was next to try to improve his speed but went 0.3mph slower and kept his faster average. O’Ward was back to better his 19th-place position and rocketed to 10th. DRR’s Hunter-Reay was the driver to knock Ganassi’s entire team out of the fast 12, dropping Palou from the mix, and Dixon—like many in the bottom half of the runners—tried to go faster but his car didn’t have the performance to offer.
Juncos Hollinger’s Agustin Canapino was on the verge of cracking the Fast 12 but had a plenum fire in the Chevy-powered car and remained on the eighth row. Rahal, Legge, Siegel, and Ericsson all gave it their best to avoid the LCQ, but they’re set to return—along with those in the Fast 12—to settle their business on Pole Day/Bump Day where one of the four slowest will be done for the event.
Chip Ganassi entered more cars than any other team owner for the 108th Indianapolis 500. Although there were no expectations for the winner of the last three Indy 500 poles to place all five Ganassi cars in the Fast 12 group that will run for pole …
Chip Ganassi entered more cars than any other team owner for the 108th Indianapolis 500.
Although there were no expectations for the winner of the last three Indy 500 poles to place all five Ganassi cars in the Fast 12 group that will run for pole on Sunday, nobody predicted the Honda-powered team would miss the Fast 12 altogether.
The last time it happened was 2019, and before that, it was 2013 and 1990. In light of Scott Dixon’s poles in 2021 and 2022 and Alex Palou’s in 2023, having at least one of them in the Fast 12 seemed like a foregone conclusion, but Palou was bumped out late on Saturday by Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Ryan Hunter-Reay.
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When day one of qualifying was over, Palou was the top Ganassi representative in 14th, followed by rookie Marcus Armstrong in 16th, rookie Kyffin Simpson in 18th, Dixon in 21st, and rookie Linus Lundqvist in 27th. Among the quintet, the 21st-place starting position for Dixon represents his worst in the New Zealander’s 22-year career at the Speedway. His previous 21 starts were all inside the top 20.
“It’s been tough, as everybody…was expecting us to be up front; we always also wanted to be up front,” Palou told RACER. “The team is coming from three poles in a row here at the 500. We wanted to be there; we wanted to fight. Unfortunately, we’re missing speed — still don’t know where, but that’s the truth. Today, it’s just a hard day.”
Would anyone say these things about your child if he or she had been on a state championship team?
The swing and follow-through happened around 8 a.m. ET Thursday morning at a pre-qualifying event in Florida. The PGA Tour quickly captured it.
It was a nice swing, one we have seen before. How could we miss it?
It was Charlie Woods’ first attempt at qualifying for a tour event. Users on social media sensed the moment, too, but they weren’t nearly as nostalgic.
“You know you guys have an actual event starting today,” came the first comment on X, formerly Twitter.
“Leave the kid alone,” said pro tennis star and golf aficionado Mardy Fish.
Some wondered why Woods wasn’t in school. Others wanted to know where they could watch him on television. Some even used profanity, stated or implied, in an effort to tamp down the expectations, or even to take a cheap shot at Woods.
Back the efff off
Garbage ass swing and score …
Kid is trash!!
Would anyone say that about your child if he or she had won the high school golf state championship?
Tiger Woods’ son is 15. He wound up shooting a 16-over-86, finishing 64th in the field. He won’t advance to Monday’s open qualifier and, mercifully for now, his first event on the PGA Tour will have to wait.
If you are a parent, and you have attached expectations to your kid’s sporting achievements, you can exhale. Your son or daughter, perhaps no one’s son or daughter, is facing the pressure to succeed — or to fail — the way Charlie Woods is.
He has shown us he is a strong player, playing on the winning state championship team in Florida and putting up highlight-reel shots playing alongside his father in the PNC Championship.
And yet, it may not ever be good enough for us.
Forget unrealistic expectations. These expectations are impossible.
They can serve as a reminder for all sports parents of how lucky we are. We have the opportunity to see our kids play every week, sometimes every day, without the world watching his or her every move.
If Charlie Woods was your kid, and you knew the pressure he was facing, would you be critical of him? Would you tell him the things he might do differently in all those games you watch? Or would you cherish every moment you had to watch him proudly following in your enormous shadow?
The best example we can set for our kids isn’t necessarily in doing what we’re best at. It’s how we act and behave and carry ourselves on a daily basis. It’s in letting our kids be kids as long as they can, no matter how far their careers take them. And it’s laying off of them when they don’t play up to our expectations.
Yes, this is Tiger Woods, winner of 15 major championships and 82 PGA Tour events. But as far as being a dad, he seems a lot like any of us in looking out for his son.
“I just don’t like the fact that he stares at his phone all the time,’’ Tiger Woods said in December, according to Sports Illustrated. “Put your phone away and just look around. That’s one of the things that I think all parents struggle with is most kids don’t look up anymore. Everyone is looking down.
Charlie Woods hits a shot from behind the green during pre-qualifying for the 2024 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches at Lost Lake Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida. (Photo: Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via via AP Images)
“Look around you, the world is so beautiful around you, just look up. But everyone is staring into a screen, and that’s how people view life. It drives me nuts at times because he’s always looking down and there’s so many things around you that are so beautiful at the same time.”
When you observe the relationship, even in the snippets of it we get to see in public, you see that they are two exceptional golfers but a father and a son first.
Woods kept his son away from interviews at the PNC Championship, but Charlie stopped at the turn to answer questions from Will McGee, the 12-year-old son of two other golfers, Mike McGee and Annika Sorenstam.
“My mom was wondering, because she gives me advice on my swing but I don’t listen often. … Do you listen to your dad on swing tips?” Will asked.
“It doesn’t happen very often,” Charlie responded. “I mean, when I get desperate, yeah.”
One thing that Charlie Woods and Will McGee have in common … reluctantly taking advice from @TigerWoods & @ANNIKA59 😂
Woods hasn’t put any external pressure on Charlie or his older sister, Sam, who plays soccer. Sam also caddied for her dad and brother at the PNC Championship.
“It couldn’t have been any more special for all of us,” Tiger said. “For me to have both my kids inside the ropes like this and participating and playing, and being part of the game of golf like this, it couldn’t have been more special for me.”
“I drove the ball really good today. I didn’t miss a fairway,” Charlie said at the same event. “I didn’t miss a fairway and we still managed to shoot eight under. We just suck at putting.”
His father, listening thoughtfully, cracked a smile.
“That summed it up right there,” he said.
There could be a moment in Charlie Woods’ future when he plays and even succeeds on the PGA Tour. There will be a day when his career playing the sport ends. Your child will have that moment someday, too.
The end came in 1972 for Yogi Berra’s oldest son, Larry, who had a dream of playing major league baseball. It was a dream that was independent of his father’s decorated career until he approached Whitey Herzog, the director of minor league development for the New York Mets.
Larry Berra told Herzog if he wasn’t meeting the team’s standards, he needed to let him go. His request was granted. Everyone thought he got released anyway.
He was dealing with injuries in the minor leagues but, like with Charlie Woods, he has always dealt with that shadow.
“When I was playing in the Appalachian League, we went to one town, and I was in the on-deck circle,” Larry Berra told author Mark Braff for the book “Sons of Baseball.” “Some guy kept yelling at me, saying, ‘You’re not as good as your old man.’ And I turned around and I said, ‘Listen, if I was as good as my father, I wouldn’t have to listen to you and I wouldn’t be in this little town of yours.’ And I got yelled at by my coach.”
Yogi Berra, like many former major league baseball players, didn’t put pressure on his son to follow in his footsteps. Those expectations came by themselves.
We have to resist, no matter how alike the swings of Tiger and his son are, to put them on Charlie Woods.
We wouldn’t do it to our own kid, would we?
Ask yourself that question the next time you drop your son or daughter off at a tryout for a travel team, and no one is watching.
Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now loving life as sports parents for a high schooler and middle schooler.
Check out the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open qualifying sites below.
The USGA has announced qualifying sites for the 79th U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club. The championship will be held May 30-June 2. In Gee Chun won the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open in front of a record 135,000 spectators over the course of the week.
The 36-hole qualifiers will be held April 15-May 20 at 23 sites across the U.S. in addition to Canada, Japan and Germany. Online entry applications open Feb. 14 and continue through April 3 at 5 p.m. EDT.
Earlier this month, the USGA announced a new presenting sponsor for the championship in Ally, a financial services company with a strong connection to women’s sports. The purse for the 2024 USWO will be a record $12 million,
In Gee Chun, the winner of the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Penn. on Sunday, July 12, 2015. (Copyright USGA/Hunter Martin)
Birdie Kim was the last player to win a U.S. Women’s Open after advancing through qualifying. Eighteen players who advanced through qualifying made the cut last year at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.
Check out the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open qualifying sites below.
