Tiger Woods and son Charlie share the PNC Championship lead as golf’s biggest star returns from sixth surgery

Tiger Woods and 15-year-old son Charlie scored five straight birdies on the back nine Saturday for a 13-under 59 in the scramble format, giving them a share of the lead in the PNC Championship in the first match of Woods since back surgery in September.

Woods said he scheduled that surgery — the sixth on his lower back in the past decade — to ensure he recovered in time to play with his son for the fifth straight year.

This is the first time they share the lead after the opening round, along with the last two champions: Bernhard Langer and son Jason, and Vijay Singh and son Qass.

Woods hit a series of good shots, including a wedge to inches on the short par-4 seventh, but otherwise downplayed his play by suggesting he still had a lot of rust. This was more about spending 36 holes on a lively day at the Ritz-Carlton Club Orlando with his son, a sophomore at the Benjamin School in North Palm Beach.

His daughter, Sam, caddied for her father for the second year in a row. Their mother, Elin, was among those in attendance in a tournament that is all about family.

“We try to make every shot for each other, and play ham-and-egg,” Woods said. “And I think we did a great job of that pretty much all day. We picked each other up, which was great. And Charlie made a lot of the putts today.”

Tiger and Charlie have competed in the family competition for the past five years

It helped playing in the same group with former British Open champion Justin Leonard and his son Luke, a senior and teammate with Charlie at Benjamin School.

Langer extended his astonishing record on the PGA Tour Champions this year by winning for an 18th consecutive season. He and his son made eight birdies in a nine-hole stretch in the middle of the round, and they had an eagle on the 14th hole.

Singh and his son, who won this event in 2022, shot 28 on the back nine.

“There are so many teams in the hunt,” Langer said. “It’s anyone’s game to be within three or four shots of the leaders, which is most of the field.”

Padraig Harrington and son Paddy, and Tom Lehman and son Sean, were at 12 under 60. The Lehmans appeared to have the lead when they rounded the green at the par-5 18th, but then needed four shots to get in come. the scramble format, where bogey is taken.

Just having Team Woods in the mix is ​​enough to draw attention.

“It’s great for the tournament and happy for them,” Langer said. “It should be fun for the crowd tomorrow to come out and see everyone play.”

Woods has not competed since the British Open in July.

Tiger scheduled his sixth back surgery earlier this year to return to competition in time

For Team Woods, it’s a matter of not looking too far ahead. The father knows this all too well with his record 82 titles on the PGA Tour. The son was taught this this summer.

Charlie Woods qualified for his first US Junior Amateur and made it to Oakland Hills, but didn’t stay long. He shot rounds of 82-80 and didn’t make it into match play. He also fell short in qualifying for the Cognizant Classic on the PGA Tour and US Open qualifying on Monday.

But he said the US Junior was his biggest learning moment.

“It’s just about focusing on my game,” Charlie said. “I was so focused on winning and how I played that it became a bit about how I’m going to win rather than how I’m going to play the shot. And it piled up and that caused two very, very bad rounds of golf. But live and learn.’

His father listened to the answer and nodded. “Learn,” Woods said.

On the eve of the tournament, Woods talked about how difficult his recovery from surgery has been, noting that he is there simply to compete alongside Charlie.

“That was one of the reasons I had the surgery done earlier, so I could hopefully give myself the best opportunity to be with Charlie and be able to play,” Woods said.

‘I’m not competitive at the moment, but I just want to be able to relive the experience. This has always been one of the bigger highlights of the year for us as a family, and now we can experience that moment together again.

‘I’m not going to feel what I’m used to feeling. The recovery has become the hardest part. But over the rounds, weeks, months, it becomes more and more difficult.”

The PNC Championship is for players who have won a Major or The Players Championship and a family member. Annika Sorenstam plays with her son, while Nelly Korda plays with her father. Steve Stricker — winner of seven senior majors — plays with daughter Izzy, a freshman at Wisconsin.