At the PNC Championship, the first tournament for the 15-time major champion since a devastating car crash in February, father and son inspired awe — and trepidation.
To watch Tiger Woods and his son play golf over the weekend was to feel a kaleidoscope of emotion. Goodness, it was something to see Tiger back. It was just 10 months ago when his S.U.V. tumbled off the road in suburban Los Angeles. He nearly died. He had to be pried from the overturned wreck of mangled metal with the Jaws of Life. His injuries, including compound fractures in his right leg, were so severe that doctors discussed amputation. He spent nearly a month in the hospital, and three more laid up in bed. And yet there he was, golf’s complicated and magnificent lodestar, healthy enough now to grind and grimace through 36 holes at the PNC Championship, a casual soiree of a tournament teaming golfing greats with family members. For Tiger Woods, that meant pairing with his son,12-year-old Charlie, who after being put on center stage for the second year running at this tournament is now renowned in the game of golf and far beyond. All weekend — particularly on Sunday when the duo battled briefly to the top of the leaderboard on the back nine — father and son inspired awe and, dare I say it, trepidation. We kept one eye on Charlie, noticing every way he mirrored his father. Every hitch, every grimace and smile and stance. Every torquing twist and long follow-through and confident twirl of the iron. We kept another eye on Tiger, two years removed from winning his 15th and last major championship, the 2019 Masters. He flashed enough tantalizing glimpses of old form to foreshadow a return one day to truly competitive, high-test golf. But Tiger Woods,45, is clearly compromised. For every glimmer of magic in this nationally broadcast event — the orbital drives that nestled upon the greens, the lengthy putts that curved and swept to their targets — came reminders that he is no longer the same.
