Things are getting serious for Charlie Woods in Florida. The 15-year-old will play a PGA Tour pre-qualifier at Lost Lake Golf Club on Thursday to qualify for next weekend’s Cognizant Classic. Should the teenager finish in the top five or share one of the places, however, that would only be the first step for Charlie Woods. Advancing would initially mean taking part in next week’s Monday Qualifier. There he would have to finish in the top four to take part in the Cognizant Classic and have a chance of winning a share of the nine million US dollars in prize money.
Charlie Woods: Almost a tournament winner at the age of 13
Charlie, who was born in 2009, is not in the spotlight for the first time. He has already played with his father four times at the PNC Championship, which Bernhard Langer won for the fifth time last year with his son Jason. In 2021, the Woods duo and Charlie, who was 13 at the time, even managed to finish runner-up. Tiger’s offspring also seems to practise a lot outside of father/son tournaments. His handicap is currently +3 and therefore clearly fulfils the requirements for pre-qualifiers, which demand a handicap of 2 or better. In the pre-qualifier, he is now fighting for progress in the flight with Olin Browne Jr, son of three-time Tour winner Olin Browne, and Ruaidhri McGee.
Tiger Woods’ son far from the age record
At the Cognizant Classic, which will take place between 29 February and 3 March at Palm Beach Gardens, Charlie Woods would probably be one of the youngest participants in the tournament on the course. It would be far from historic on the PGA National’s Champion Course. Because in the history of golf, Don Dunkelberger is unlikely to be overtaken any time soon. At the age of just 11, Dunkelberger played in the 1937 Chicago Open, but withdrew from the tournament after the first round. The youngest participant of this millennium is Lorens Chan, who took part in the 2009 Sony Open at the age of 14. In 1992, Charlie’s father Tiger made his debut at the Nissan Open at the age of 16. He failed to make the cut at his first PGA Tour event at the Riviera Country Club before going on to win 15 major titles in his career.