Charlie Woods makes admission to reporters in front of dad Tiger
Charlie Woods told reporters in the past he's been too focused on winning the PNC Championship with his father instead of just having fun.
Charlie Woods told reporters missing the cut at the U.S. Junior Amateur has been the biggest learning experience of his career so far.
The 15-year old drew crowds at Oakland Hills' South Course in July but shot rounds of 82 and 80 to finish on 22-over par at the tournament his father won three times in a row.
He had earned his spot in the 264-player field with Tiger on the bag in a qualifier a month before, shooting a gritty 1-under 71 after starting his round with a double-bogey.
But he wasn't thinking properly over each shot, he said.
"I was so focused on winning and how I played that it kind of crept into kind of how am I going to win, instead of how I'm going to play the shot, and it kind of built up and that caused two very, very bad rounds of golf," Charlie told reporters after the first round of the PNC Championship.
He added: "As I get older, I learn how to deal with different things.
"Like last year [at the PNC], I focused so much on winning and playing, instead of everything else and having fun out there.
"Like Dad said, I did a lot better today."
Team Woods shot a 13-under 59 on Saturday to share a tie of the lead at the hit-and-giggle PGA Tour event at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando.
It is the first time Tiger has played any form of competitive golf since missing the cut at The Open Championship in July.
It did not appear as though the 15-time major champion was in any kind of discomfort.
He stressed he's still incredibly rusty.
Unsurprisingly, Charlie is courting a considerable amount of interest this week.
Tiger told reporters before the event began that he's doing a great job with handling the Woods name.
But more than anything, he just wants Charlie to be himself.
He doesn't see any similarities to what he experienced as a junior golfer, though.
"The type of attention is very different than what I had," Tiger said.
"We didn't have social media. We didn't have camera phones.
"We didn't have any of that. It was kind of hearsay amongst neighbors. It was a different time and era."
Team Woods have 11:07am EST (4:07pm GMT) tee time tomorrow.
They are playing alongside German legend Bernhard Langer and his son Jason.
The duo are the defending champions.
Team Woods are yet to win the parent/child event.
This is the fifth occasion they have teed it up together at the PNC.
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