Sunday’s final round of the PNC Championship had to feel normal for Tiger Woods, the 48-year-old winningest golfer on the PGA Tour who has been entering a new era of his career for a bit.
Wearing the usual Sunday red and nailing an ace on the par-3 fourth hole of a tournament just felt normal for the Woods family, right?
Even if it wasn’t Tiger that nailed the perfect shot.
That would be his son Charlie, the 15-year-old rising golfer who has grown up in the public eye. The son of the golf legend stroked a 7-iron from 175 yards on the par-3 fourth hole at the Ritz-Carlton Club Orlando in the final round of the tournament that pairs mostly major champions with family members — including arguably the greatest golfer in the modern era who happens to be Charlie’s dad, as well.
“That was the thrill of a lifetime to be able to have that moment with Charlie, make his first hole-in-one,” said Woods, noting with the Associated Press that Charlie Woods’ first eagle had come on the hole before.
Charlie Woods never saw the ball go in the hole, and reacted accordingly. Neither did his father, but Tiger Woods heard the roar of the crowd at the emotional moment and embraced his offspring — before reminding him that golf tradition now required young Charlie to buy drinks for everyone at the 19th hole.
“I’m broke,” Charlie said, shaking his head within earshot of the Golf Channel’s live mics.
The ace gave Team Woods the lead en route to 15-under-par 57 in the scramble tournament, before Bernard Langer’s team made an 18-foot eagle to beat the father-son duo in a playoff.
But as far as that special ace on the par-3 fourth? There’s no question where Charlie Woods, a sophomore at Benjamin School in North Palm Beach, Florida, would rank the shot on a special outing between father and son.
“No. 1,” he said. “It’s not even close.”