Charlie Woods Is Carving His Own Path in Golf

Charlie Woods drew a big crowd at the U.S. Junior Amateur and proved he's got the game, just not as good as dad. And that’s O.K.

Charlie Woods will likely miss the cut at the U.S. Junior Amateur. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

BETHLEHEM, PA. -- Julian Lennon, son of The Beatles frontman John Lennon, told People magazine some years back that he continues making music and creating art even though it isn't commercially successful because, "I wanted to prove to myself that I'm so much more than John's son."

I found myself thinking about that quote today as I watched Charlie Woods, son of golf frontman Tiger Woods, play in the 2026 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Saucon Valley Country Club. He is not the golf virtuoso his father was. He won’t, barring some miracle, win this tournament. He might not ever win a big tournament at any level. 

And yet, there he was putting it all out to bear, surrounded by a crowd of over 200 people, all of them filming him, photographing him and observing him as something of an oddity as he grinded out pars and fist-pumped a final hole birdie putt that left him at five-over par, in a tie for 121st place, and well outside the 64-player, 36-hole cut.

It takes guts to do what Woods does every day, to put himself out into the same competitive arena his father dominated for decades, knowing everyone watching you is judging every movement you make, wondering if there’s some touch of magic that transferred from father to son. 

Golf is not a game that rewards last names or legacy or wealth. You can’t fake it on the course. Everything is earned. Either you can get the ball in the hole in a minimal number of strokes, or you watch as those around you do a better job of it. 

Woods fell into the second category today. His first-round score dictates he’s in the 50th percentile of his peers, still elite company, but nothing compared to dad. 

You may think it’s unfair to compare one Woods to another. Yet he chose this path. He wants to play golf. He must love the game. After his round, the first thing he did was head to the range. He wanted to grind, to figure out what adjustment he could make to improve for tomorrow. There's another Woods I can think of who is the same.

I wanted to ask Woods why he plays this game, what purpose it gives him when he, like Julian, knows full well he will always be known on the course as his father’s son, measured against his father’s greatness, which, in the vast history of golf, only one other player can say he exceeded.

Like Charlie Woods, Jack Nicklaus’s sons played golf. Gary Nicklaus made it the furthest, qualifying for the PGA Tour in 2000 and making 11 cuts in 30 events, including one second-place finish. Tiger won nine times that year, including three major championships. It almost seems unfair that Tiger overshadowed Gary's moment.

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The same could be said of Charlie. These are unfair expectations for any 17-year-old to shoulder, and yet Woods seems to handle them like water off a duck's back. He’s a good junior amateur golfer, he’s just not a prodigy. He is as aware of that fact as anyone.

Woods declined to speak to the media, so I didn’t get a chance to ask him why he puts himself through this. And yet the real answer lies somewhere within Julian’s quote, which essentially says, “I’m doing it for me, to prove something to myself, not for anyone else, least of all my father or the masses who worship him.” 

Morning Dew 

Woods teed off at 8:06 a.m. on the Old Course at Saucon Valley. Dew still covered much of the fairway in front of him. That was of no consequence. His tee shot went far right of its intended landing spot. Woods made bogey to open. 

There was a crowd of over 100 people surrounding the first tee box when Woods and his playing competitors, Luke Ringkamp and Alex Zhang, teed off. All phones were pointed directly at Woods. 

I remember wondering what they were hoping to capture with those videos. Would they show all their friends and brag about seeing a 17-year-old play golf? Or was it to dissect the young amateur and show all the ways he can improve? Or maybe it was just to prove they were there.

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Either way, Woods gave them what they wanted. He sprayed his opening tee shot and the ants scattered, some following him down the first hole toward the rough, others content to return to their morning coffee, having captured proof of Woods’s existence in their presence.  

It must be such a peculiar thing to be the son of Tiger Woods. These people weren’t here because of Charlie's accomplishments. He’s No. 174 in the American Junior Golf Rankings. He was never expected to compete in this tournament.

Yet his crowd was by far the largest on the course. Some people took selfies with Woods in the background, contemplating his next shot. Others recorded his swings. Some simply watched him in the same manner one might observe fish in an aquarium. What would Woods do next? They were transfixed, yet they didn’t know why.

Meanwhile, Sohan Patel was busy setting the early lead (five under) four groups ahead of Woods in virtual anonymity. Perhaps if those crowds had been reversed, things would have been different for both golfers. Perhaps not. Golf doesn’t offer free redos, either.  

Grinder 

The best thing I can say about Charlie Woods’s game is he never quits and he clearly cares. Frustration bubbled below the surface following every bad swing, but he was able to compartmentalize it and fight for the best score he could muster, like on the 500-yard, par-4 16th hole, when he shanked his drive right, had about 300 yards in and managed par thanks to two great recovery shots and a nice putt. He also made birdie on the short 18th, hitting a wedge to about 15 feet and making the putt. A little fist pump followed. It was impossible not to think of Tiger.

It would have been easy for Woods to pack it in after shooting seven-over his first five holes. But he fought back, shooting 1-under on his last 13. It would likely take an under-par round from him on Friday to make the match-play portion of this tournament. Who knows.

Like most teenagers, Woods, 17, has entered that phase of life where being seen apart from one's parents feels important. He is in that awkward transition from boy to man; his hands and feet disproportionately larger than his wiry legs and arms. 

Yet as I watched Woods, I kept thinking back to Julian Lennon, the son of another virtuoso, who put it all on the line to forge his own path in an industry his father ruled, only to struggle with the reality that he would never reach the same pinnacles.

We don't know what that pinnacle will be for Charlie Woods. We do know his game isn't at the same level of his father's. And that's O.K. He's carving his own path, creating his own piece of art. It might be abstract to Woods realism, but there's beauty in it. As long as you separate it for what it is, rather than what you want it to be.

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