BRASELTON, Georgia — Charlie Woods shares one honor with Tiger Woods.
The son of the 15-time major champion made the first team All-America list announced by the American Junior Golf Association.
Woods, a junior at The Benjamin School in South Florida, was among 12 boys the AJGA named to the first team of its annual list.
Tiger Woods (left) and Charlie Woods AFP FILE PHOTO
Miles Russell, the 17-year-old who was an alternate at the Walker Cup this summer, was selected player of the year for the second time.
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Woods won his first big title at the Team TaylorMade Invitational in May. Tiger Woods was the AJGA player of the year in 1991 and 1992.
The second team included Mason Howell, who won the US Amateur and played in the Walker Cup, and Cameron Kuchar, the son of Matt Kuchar who plans to attend TCU.
Aphrodite Deng, the Canadian living in New Jersey, was player of the year in the girls’ division.
Deng won the US Girls Junior this year, along with two big AJGA events.
The teams were determined exclusively through the Rolex AJGA Rankings as of October 14.
Meanwhile in Florida, the PGA Tour heads to the southern tip of Baja California in Mexico, the start of a closing stretch for several players trying to keep their jobs another year.
Johnny Keefer can only hope this is just the beginning.
The World Wide Technology Championship will be only his fifth start on the PGA Tour — two of them were majors — since Keefer turned pro last summer. That he is No. 53 in the world ranking and has one eye on a Masters invitation speaks to what he has done.
Even more telling for the 24-year-old with endless energy and an easy smile is how he looks at the game. Keefer doesn’t talk about winning. He talks about the joy of competing, the same credo Scottie Scheffler has leaned on during his rise to No. 1 in the world.
Does he have goals? Yes and no.
“The ‘no’ part is I don’t like to put too much expectation on myself. I just want to play, have fun and compete,” Keefer said. “But at the same time, I do have goals, small goals to get me where I want to be. I’m hoping I can get to No. 1 in the world, be a major champion, all that. But the little steps for me are what’s important.”
Little steps already have led to big gains.
That’s what brought Keefer to PGA Tour headquarters last week with nine other Korn Ferry Tour graduates who will be rookies in 2026. It was a full day of orientation, video interviews, photo shoots and then a surprise at the end when Keefer was presented a bronze trophy as Korn Ferry Tour player of the year.
