Tiger feeling ‘less rusty’ ahead of PNC Championship return

Tiger Woods has admitted he feels less rusty ahead of the PNC Championship where he will compete alongside his son Charlie Woods.

Woods will make their fourth consecutive appearance in the 36-hole scramble event at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando – live on Sky Sports Golf on Saturday from 6pm – where major champions and winners of The Players play with a family member.

He made his competitive return to golf at the Hero World Challenge in early December, after seven months out as he had his right ankle surgically repaired.

The 15-time major champion, who hopes to compete in up to six tournaments in 2024, finished level par for the week at Albany on his return to claim 18th spot in the 20-player field.

On Friday, Tiger and Charlie, 14, took to the course in Orlando to get some practice in before this weekend’s event.

Asked about whether the rust is beginning to come off, Woods said: “It’s better. Today was definitely a bit better. I felt like I was able to knock a lot of the rust off there at Hero [World Challenge] and my hands felt better with control hitting shots.

“Especially today with the wind blowing as hard as it was, I was able to hit flighted shots nicely, which was not quite on par or as sharp as I was, as I wanted to be at Hero.”

Woods elected to walk around the course at the pro-am on Friday which was significant as he’s been struggling with walking since his car crash in 2021.

“Well, I felt like I was physically fit to do it, and also, walking is always better for my back,” he explained.

“I just wanted to keep it loose and keep it going, and we’re just having so much fun, it doesn’t really matter. We had a good time doing it.”

Tiger: Amazing to see Charlie grow

Tiger and Charlie finished seventh on their PNC Championship debut in 2020 before claiming an impressive runner-up finish in 2021. Last year, the duo finished tied in eighth.

Woods’ last win came at the 2019 Zozo Championship, where he tied Sam Snead’s record of 82 PGA Tour wins.

The 47-year-old says his son is “very motivated” to play golf and he tries to join him every time.

“He’s still growing. You can see how much he’s grown from last year. It’s amazing how much he has grown, has changed, and it’s a moving target with him, right,” said Woods.

“He’s grown somewhere near four inches this year, so his swing has changed, it’s evolved, clubs have evolved. And we kept trying to adjust things, and it’s been a lot of fun. But it’s also challenging for him because each and every couple weeks, things change. He’s growing so fast.”

He added: “I enjoyed caddying for him and being there with him, just to talk through shots with him and have him understand what I would see or how the thought process I would have going through shots.

“He would bounce things off of me, and give him my take on certain things. And sometimes he doesn’t see it the way I saw it, which is fun, but I think it’s the understanding of how to hit the proper shot at the proper time.

“That’s what all kids have to learn is when do I hit a certain shot at the right time, or how do I take stuff off a shot, how do I hit it a little bit harder, what do I need to do?

“You can do that at home all you want, but under tournament conditions, it’s just so different. And being able to share that with him, share my experiences with him in game-time mode.

“I think that it was great for both of us because I think we both are able to learn from it and grow from it. I think I learned to be a better teacher with it, and I think that he became a better player because of it.”

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