After beating Tiger Woods over nine holes and launching his budding pro journey at the 2024 PNC Championship, Charlie Woods had quite the headline-making year. But being the son of Tiger Woods comes with a towering set of expectations. So, when the 16-year-old teed it up at the Sage Valley Junior Invitational in South Carolina, the hype was already sky high. However, come April 19, Charlie’s outing at Howey-in-the-Hills turned out to be anything but what fans expected from the golf prodigy.
On day one, Charlie somehow managed to enter the second round, but the 16-year-old finished in 32nd out of 36 golfers. While Charlie managed to improve his performances over the next two rounds, finishing 27th and 25th by birding two of his first three holes and four overall, but let’s be honest, this is far from ideal for someone who started his pro career a year ago to perform at an event billed as “the most prestigious event in junior golf.” And when you are Tiger Woods’ son, it’s even more difficult.
Before the pressure surrounding him grows, John Daly’s son, someone who’s walked a similar path, has stepped up in Charlie’s defense. On March 31, John Daly II, who also started his pro career just last year, was on the Identity Sports Podcast. The 21-year-old first tried to draw parallels, “I get this question a lot, like what’s it like having John Daly as dad. Honestly, how you view your dad is how I view mine. He’s just a father to me, he’s nobody else.
“He taught me basically everything I know… I think those high expectations went around my head a few times, it used to, at least. People expect just because you have a famous professional, like Tiger, for example.
“Tiger and Charlie, I feel like everybody just put Charlie in this category that not many people get to until they are 20, 21, or 22, whatever it is. He’s just a kid, he wants to have fun, I guess. I don’t know him all that well but I think people expect way too much of him for his age right now. I definitely feel some of the stuff he is probably going through.”
Apart from performance pressure, Charlie also has to face strong media attention, which increases the pressure even more for the teenager. However, Daddy Woods is aware of this and acknowledges that this is a different time. Back in 2024, he talked about it and said, “No. It’s a different time and era. I didn’t have this much attention.”
Tiger Woods also believes that his son is doing what he should right now and further added, “That’s what Charlie is doing. He’s playing golf with us, and then playing the high school matches. The type of attention is very different than what I had. We didn’t have social media. We didn’t have camera phones.” The pressure of media and performance certainly gets to Charlie, as other golfers alongside him believe the same.
Charlie Woods has a lot of “pressure with his name”
Back during the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, Charlie Woods struggled. He finished the opening round 12 over par with a score of 82. His playing partner, Davis Ovard, later spoke about the experience. He said, “The amount of pressure he has on him is unbelievable. I can’t imagine being in his shoes.” The pressure Charlie felt makes sense. This is the same tournament that Tiger Woods won three times in a row during the mid-1990s. At the time, Tiger was the same age as Charlie is now.
Charlie’s second playing partner, Chase Kyes, also shared that even looking at Tiger Woods is intimidating. To this he added, “I looked over at him [Tiger Woods] a couple of times, but I really tried not to. There’s a lot of pressure with his name.” Although Woods is aware of all this and said back in 2022, “He’s in 8th grade, but still, he’s a kid. Let him go out there and be a kid, enjoy it. You don’t nitpick kids. And don’t compare him to me, because he’s not me, he’s Charlie, OK?” Unfortunately, things aren’t going as planned.
What do you think about Charlie Woods and the kind of pressure he is feeling right now? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!