Tiger Woods was spotted cheering on his 15-year-old son Charlie at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship after he missed the cut at the Open. He was also not allowed to caddie for his son.
The 48-year-old was in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, on Monday for the start of the tournament when he saw Charlie tee off. The teenager started the day with three straight pars, according to reports.
Tiger, who has won a major 15 times, walked around with large stands to keep an eye on his son, who is not allowed to caddie due to a specific rule of the US Golf Association (USGA).
The rule is as follows: ‘A player may not use a parent, step-parent or guardian as a caddie during qualifying or the championship itself.’
That’s why Charlie’s teammate Luke Wise will be taking care of the bags during the ticketless event.
Tiger Woods watched his 15-year-old son Charlie in action during the US Junior Amateur Championship on Monday.
The 48-year-old Woods chatted with a few spectators between holes, as seen on Instagram
Tiger, a nine-time USGA champion, won three consecutive U.S. Junior titles, from 1991-93, and reached the semifinals in his debut as a 14-year-old in 1990.
However, Charlie is making his USGA Championship debut this year, and it is the biggest tournament of his young career to date.
Charlie, a 2027 rookie, is ranked No. 817 in the Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings, meaning he will have a tough time qualifying for the 64-play match play portion of the tournament, which begins Wednesday after two rounds of stroke play.
Still, Charlie wants to prove himself on the track.
“Some of the things that happened to this poor kid are just unfair,” Charlie’s high school coach, Tony Harbeck of The Benjamin School in Palm Beach, Florida, told The Detroit Free Press last week.
Woods struggled last week at Royal Troon after missing the cut at the Open
The 15-time major winner and his son on the third hole during US Open practice in June
He added: ‘If you’ve seen Tiger play, you know how many crowds follow him. If you were standing on a high porch or terrace and you could see the whole golf course, you could always tell where Tiger was by the amount of people.
“Charlie is exactly the same. You can tell where Charlie is because there are 30 or 40 people following him.”
Jaxon Bandelier, one of Charlie’s competitors, expressed a similar sentiment to the teenager’s coach, who described the young Woods as a “normal kid” during a practice round on Saturday.
“He’s got a really nice swing, but he didn’t hit the ball very well today,” Bandelier added, referring to Charlie. “But, I mean, there’s obviously a lot of people watching him, even in the fall.”