How strong is Charlie Woods? A look into my young career as a junior golfer

ORLANDO — Charlie Woods burst onto the national golf scene three years ago, at age 11, participating in his PNC Championship with his father, Tiger. This will be the fourth consecutive time Woods’ team will play at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, we watch Charlie display many of the same mannerisms we’ve seen from his Hall of Fame father as he makes his first eagle, makes a two-way putt, makes a strong return with his driver, and sinks a long birdie putt. I have seen it though. This entire period. For the past 25 years. Charlie, who turned 14 this year, has taken a step back and is playing in the same range as John Daly, Jim Furyk, Nelly Korda, Vijay Singh and Steve Stricker.

“I think his speed has improved a lot from last year,” Tiger said of Charlie’s performance. “But I think the most important thing is that he grew up so quickly. The pain of being an adult, the pain of being still a teenager.

The high school freshman won one of the biggest awards in junior golf, breaking 32-year-old Tiger Woods’ record.

Charlie is big and strong. On Saturday, he hit a 320-yard drive in the first round that ended just behind the back of the green on the par-4 12th hole.

“I didn’t have the speed he had at that age,” Tiger said. “But I didn’t have any tools either.The equipment is too different.

Watching Charlie on TV every year, one of the things about him that is hard to quantify is how his skills compare to those of other junior golfers in the country. He’s been spotted performing spectacular golf swings alongside some of the most famous golfers on the planet, and each year on social media and in the gallery, he has a long and successful career on the PGA Tour and even a chance to win. Some people claim that there is. big tournament. Won championships just like his father.

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While this can happen, it’s also wise to stop and realize how far Charlie has come in a relatively short period of time. As it turned out, Charlie primarily played soccer while growing up in South Florida, but it wasn’t until COVID-19 that Charlie discovered a deep passion for golf and started taking it more seriously. It wasn’t until 2020 that the entire world went into lockdown. That was just three years ago. Golf Digest, which ranks him among America’s 50 best teachers, said, “People need to stop comparing him to other kids who have been playing competitive golf for many years.” “People have to wait and see what happens in five, 10 years.”

Of course, his last name is Woods, so that’s almost impossible. However, this view is correct.

This was Charlie’s first year in the junior program and he primarily played in national and regional tournaments. The Junior Golf Scorecard, which has ranked junior golfers since the late 1990s, ranked Charlie 1,326th out of a database of 10,616 juniors. He is ranked 86th in the class of 2027. In the 16 tournaments Charlie has played and logged into the JGS system, he has two wins, but his lowest score of 66 was at the Nota Begay III Florida Regional Qualifier held at the Mission Inn in Howie-in-Tee in September. Recorded during 2 rounds. -Hills, Fla., the same spot where he shot 78-76 last month to help his high school team win the non-JGS Class 1A Florida state championship.

Speaking of high school, Florida is a talented state that produces many Division I golfers each year. This season, Charlie was ranked 80th out of 4,088 Florida high school boys in the iWanamaker ranking system. He is a freshman at Florida State, and in Class 1A, where his school, Benjamin, competes, he placed 9th out of 657 players and 28th out of 1,420 players. “Charlie is incredibly talented and although he is new to competitive golf, he has the opportunity to excel in the long term with his wealth of experience and the opportunity to learn how to play and prepare from the GOAT. ” he said. Top 50 teachers mentioned above. “A lot of juniors have never experienced that. In fact, it turns out that young players who grow up around really good players have an advantage in learning the game.

What will be interesting going forward will be to see how Charlie fares against his colleagues should he face further competition domestically. To date, he has not competed in an AJGA tournament (he qualified at age 13) and has not competed in an AJGA tournament.