Tiger Woods‘ son Charlie has immediately bounced back from disappointment at the US Junior Amateur Championship with an impressive performance at the Junior PGA Championships.
The 16-year-old is competing against some of the brightest young talents in golf at Purdue University this week in a bid to claim the first big title of his junior career.
And the youngster’s game was trending in the right direction through the first two rounds of the tournament, as he showed flashes of his father’s fighting spirit.
After shooting an opening one-under 70 to sit 43rd out of 156 competitors on Tuesday, Charlie rocketed up the leaderboard Wednesday.
Charlie was six-under for his round, which saw him climb his way up into tied-fourth at seven-under for the tournament – six shots back of leader Lunden Esterline from Kansas.
After opening with a birdie at the par-four first, Charlie immediately dropped the shot at the second. However, he didn’t card another bogey until the 16th, followed swiftly by another at the 17th.
Charlie Woods exploded into form during the second round of the Junior PGA Championship
The 16-year-old shot a second round of six-under to climb the leaderboard into fourth
Tiger Woods had watched on earlier this month when Charlie struggled at the US Junior Am
He sank an astonishing nine birdies across the course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in Indiana.
His explosive display was reminiscent of his 15-time major winning dad, who surprisingly failed to ever win the tournament.
In 1990, the golfing icon finished runner-up to Fort Lauderdale’s Chris Couch at the Junior PGA Championship.
The impressive round all but guarantees to see Charlie through to the final two rounds of the championship, which comes as an encouraging bounceback after he missed the cut last week.
With dad Tiger watching on, Charlie struggled at the US Junior Amateur. Despite a rallying effort during the second round, his comeback fell short, leaving him to miss the cut.
Playing at Trinity Forest Golf Club and Brook Hollow Golf Club in Dallas, Charlie had a rough first day at the tournament but hoped to bounce back in the second round.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen as Charlie’s 11-over first round and 3-over second round led to him missing the cut by a massive 12-stroke margin.
He had tried to muster a bounce-back during round two, playing the first nine in an even-par 36, and had the chance to finish under par after the back nine.
However, he bogeyed the 17th hole and then double-bogeyed the final hole to arrive at his 3-over 74.
It meant that Charlie will not be able to match the result that his father accomplished back in 1991 – when Tiger became the youngest US Junior Amateur champion at the time. Tiger also won the Junior Amateur in 1992 and 1993.
Charlie played in the tournament last year and suffered a similar fate – carding rounds of 82 and 80 at Oakland Hills in 2024.