Charlie Woods finished tied for 42nd in the Terra Cotta Invitational this weekend -Credit:Photo by Ryan Lochhead/PGA of America via Getty Images
(Photo by Ryan Lochhead/PGA of America via Getty Images)
Charlie Woods bounced back from a disastrous start to the Terra Cotta Invitational with two under-par rounds to close the tournament.
Woods, the 17-year-old son of legendary golfer Tiger Woods, finished well at the 54-hole amateur tournament by posting a 3-under 69 in his final round at Naples National Golf Club on Saturday. It comes as Woods’ father Tiger is currently in rehab after flipping his SUV and getting arrested for DUI last month.
In the end, Woods finished tied for 42nd out of 75 golfers in the field. His hopes of contending were all but curtailed after his first round on Thursday, when he carded a 7-over par 79 that included nine bogeys.
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But the Florida State commit didn’t let his bad day carry over into the rest of the tournament. Woods bounced back on Friday, fighting through four bogeys by making five birdies to finish 1-under par on the day.
In Saturday’s final round, he took another three strokes off his score, but still finished 15 shots off champion Connor Doyal, who went 12-under for the tournament.
Woods began Saturday with another bogey before rallying and going mistake-free for the rest of the round. He birdied the sixth, seventh, and ninth holes before a run of eight straight pars led into a birdie on the 18th.
Tiger and Charlie Woods have teamed up in father-son tournaments before -Credit:Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images
According to the American Junior Golf Association, Woods’ T42 finish marked his third straight event coming outside of the top 35, including a last-place finish at last month’s Junior Invitational at Sage Valley.
His best result this calendar year came in the Junior Orange Bowl International Championship in early January, when he finished T19.
Entering the Terra Cotta Invitational, Woods was ranked 17th in the Rolex AJGA rankings. He still has another year in high school before beginning his college career at Florida State in the fall of 2027.
Of course, Woods partaking in the tournament to begin with was commendable in itself while his father undergoes ‘intense’ physical and psychological treatment in Switzerland after his latest misstep behind the wheel of a car.
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After his accident, Woods released a statement detailing he would be “stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health.”
It came less than two weeks before the Masters, a tournament Woods has won five times and was planning to participate in for the first time since 2024.
Instead, the 50-year-old was forced to follow the goings on from afar while his pal Rory McIlroy did what no player had done since Woods in 2002 by winning his second straight Green Jacket.
It comes as Scottie Scheffler lost $1 million of his Masters prize money just days after finishing second at Augusta National.