Tiger Woods Ready to Play PNC Championship With Son


Last week, Tiger Woods stressed that he would never again be a full-time player on the PGA Tour due to serious leg injuries he received in a high-speed car accident in February. But Woods acknowledged that he “could play a round here and there,” which he called “a little hit and a giggle”.

Woods doesn’t wait long to return to an informal and public golf course. On Wednesday, he announced that he will play in a family team tournament with his son, Charlie, on December 18 and 19. The event, the PNC Championship, features a small limited space – once called the father/son tournament – and will be fought at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Fla.

“Although it’s been a long and difficult year,” Woods said his doctors considered amputating. his right leg He wrote on Twitter 10 months ago on Wednesday. “I’m so excited to finish this job by competing with my son Charlie at the @PNC Championship. I’m playing as a father and I couldn’t be more excited and proud than that.”

Woods, who turned 46 on December 30, has not played in any tournament since entering the 2020 PNC Championship with Charlie, who is now 12. one year ago. The duo finished seventh. Shortly after, Woods had a fifth back surgery that ruled him out for the next few months.

The 36-hole team format of the PNC Championship should make it easy for Woods to avoid putting too much pressure on his lower right leg, which was rebuilt by doctors using a bar, screws, and pins after emergency surgery. his accident Out of Los Angeles on February 23. Each player in a matchup will shoot a hole from the tee, and players will then choose which tee shot is most advantageous to play. Both players fire a second shot from that spot, this process is repeated until the hole is finished.

What matters to Woods will be just two 18-hole rounds instead of the usual four on the PGA Tour, and players can use golf carts driven within a few feet of a player’s ball. Golfers need to walk on the tour.

Players will also be playing from different sets of tees, meaning that Charlie Woods will be playing from striker tees, often making his father’s tee kicks unnecessary. While hitting golf balls on the practice course at the World Hero Challenge, a PGA Tour event he hosted in the Bahamas last week, Tiger Woods also made a few jokes about how his shots went about half the distance they once did because he lacked power. and the nerves in his right leg were reduced. From 2018 to 2020, Woods averaged 299 yards during touring events.

At last year’s PNC Championships, Woods would sometimes hit his son first—from tees that could be dozens of yards closer to the hole—and if Charlie’s tee shot was well positioned on or near the fairway, Woods didn’t bother hitting his tee shot. . The format, known as shuffling, can put Woods in a position to shoot bullets, wedges, and less physically demanding shots that are shot with a shooter. The format will also allow Woods to refuse to take any hits from a tough, uneven lie or daunting terrain that could put additional power to his right leg.

NBC will broadcast both rounds of the PNC Championship.

Woods’ take on a golf course next week will likely spark conversations about when he can return to the PGA Tour. NS Masters TournamentHe has won five times, just four months away. But last week, Woods warned against speculation about when or if he’ll return to elite competitive golf.

“I didn’t prove to myself I could,” said Woods, who has won 15 major golf championships. “I can play the par-3 course and shoot a few shots. I can chip in, but we’re talking about going out there and playing against the best in the world under the toughest conditions on the toughest golf courses.

“I’m a long way from that. I have a long way to go to get to that point. I haven’t decided if I want to get to that point. I have to get my leg to a point where that decision will be made.”

But over the past year, Woods has spoken repeatedly about how important it is to him to play with Charlie.

“We can do this together for a lifetime,” said Woods, whose game was taught by his father. Earl, who died in 2006, said. “I like the idea of ​​having the opportunity to play with him for as long as I live.”

Several of Woods’ colleagues from the previous 25 years on the PGA Tour will join him on the field next week, including close friend Justin Thomas and his father and coach Mike Thomas; Jim Furyk and his son Tanner; Henrik Stenson and his son Karl; and multiple great champions evolved into broadcaster Nick Faldo and his son Matthew. Nelly Korda, the world’s top female golfer, will also make her debut at the event, where she will play with her father Petr.



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