The signs remain positive that Tiger Woods comeback is all going to plan as he’s set to play his next competitive round when the PNC Championship gets underway on Saturday. Playing in Friday’s Pro-Am, the 15-time major winner opted to walk rather than take a cart as he’d done last year.
“Well, I felt like I was physically fit to do it” Woods said when asked about the decision post-round, “and also, walking is always better for my back. 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.”
Woods is once again set to join son Charlie for the event which features selected Major champions playing with a family member in a paired format.
“Yeah, it’s a blast for us to be back out here, playing and competing and just enjoying this atmosphere,” Tiger said. “It’s been a blast, and hopefully we get through the next day or so without any delays, and hopefully we’re able to post something good.”
Woods was noticeably and expectedly rusty when he made his return to competition at the Hero World Challenge a fortnight ago, particularly with his short game, and he feels better equipped to handle the delicate shots with another two weeks under his belt.
“Yeah, it’s better,” he explained. “Today was definitely a bit better. I felt like I made some — I was able to knock a lot of the rust off there at Hero and felt — my hands felt better with control hitting shots, and 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.”
Charlie’s progression, as usual, will be one of the most closely followed stories this week, and Tiger has revealed just how much his son has grown physically over the past 12 months.
“He’s still growing,” he replied when asked about Charlie’s physical condition having been hampered by an injured ankle himself last year. “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. 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 just has — he’s growing so fast.”
Woods also revealed that, despite Charlie moving back a tee – he’ll play the course from the same tees as Jim Furyk, John Daly and Vijay Singh, among others – they’ll still enjoy a length advantage because Charlie is outdriving his dad at home.
“He’s one tee further back, so I guess he’s tee No. 2. He’s just one tee ahead of me, which is fine because he’s hitting it past me now,” he smiled. “So we still have an advantage out there, but we both have to hit shots well at the same time.”
Tiger has been a regular caddie for his son at Junior tournaments and, though he tries to take a back seat a lot of the time, admits that it does help to be able to give his perspective on a specific shot, not that Charlie always listens.
“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. And 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.”
