Phillip Dunham of Ponte Vedra Beach was partnered with Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, during the 16-year-old’s debut AJGA win, and has broken his silence after the competition
09:50 ET, 03 Jun 2025Updated 09:50 ET, 03 Jun 2025
Phillip Dunham partnered Charlie Woods during the son of Tiger’s landmark win(Image: phillydunham/Instagram)
Charlie Woods, son of the iconic Tiger, was partnered during his Team TaylorMade Invitational win by junior golfer Phillip Dunham, who has now broken his silence on a “solid week”.
The 16-year-old sensation showed shades of his 15-time PGA Tour major-winning father in Florida last week, as he secured a debut American Junior Golf Association event win with a score of 15 under par.
Among Woods’ group during the final round was fellow junior Dunham, who at one point was tied for the lead before his adversary, ranked at No. 604 in the AJGA rankings before the event, pulled away to win.
Ponte Vedra Beach’s Dunham has now taken to social media after tying for second place, extending his gratitude to the tournament’s hosts as he reflected on finishing behind Woods.
“T2 at the TaylorMade Invitational. Rounds of 69-67-68 (-12),” read a post by Dunham on social media. “Thanks to AJGA and Taylormade Golf for a solid week.”
Woods, who pipped Dunham to the title by three strokes, was participating in his first AJGA Invitational and is expected to catapult up into the circuit’s top-20 on the back of the triumph.
Woods won for the first time at an AJGA event last week(Image: Getty Images)
The son of one of, if not golf’s greatest ever player, began the tournament with a lacklustre two-under-par first round score, which did significantly include eight birdies and an eagle.
A much improved second round had him card a better 65. He then started the final round tied for second at nine under par, but birdied the first to tie the lead. Holes four, six, seven and eight were also birdied to close out an impressive front nine.
Back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12 kept him in place as the frontrunner, and another on 14 all but sealed his win, and he kicked on with a three-shot lead, not looking back.
“I didn’t look at the leaderboard once today,” said the 16-year-old after the final round had ended. “On the fairway after hitting the green on 18, he’s [Woods’ caddie] like, ‘You make par here, you’re going to be fine.’
“Being able to say to myself that I won an absolutely amazing event and to say I performed under some high-pressure situations is just huge going forward.
“I haven’t been able to say that I have done that, and now that I can, it is just a big thing for my mental game going forward,” he concluded.
While this was Woods’ first AJGA win, he has claimed the title at several other competitions in the past, notably prevailing in the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour’s Major Championship in 2023.
That year, he also won the Last Chance regional golf tournament before making his U.S. Junior Amateur debut, where he disappointingly failed to make the cut.
