This weekend’s PNC Championship has a main event, and I’m not sure his name is Tiger, Jordan or Justin. No, the person everyone is clamoring to see play golf in Orlando in the pro-am is Charlie Woods. Tiger’s son won the day last year when he nearly birdied his way to chasing down John Daly and his son for the victory. After a year of improvement and a golf swing that is about as good as it gets for a teenager, he’ll be the main event in 2022.

Humorously, there is some controversy (if you want to call it that) over what tee boxes Charlie will play. In an event that features an 11-year-old and an 87-year-old, there are a wide variety of tee boxes to be played. Charlie was reportedly going to play the second-longest tee boxes originally, but the tournament committee bumped him to the third-longest, according to Golf Channel. The course is expected to play around 6,400 yards from where he will tee off.

Tiger admitted last week that Charlie recently out-drove him, so I’m not sure the second-longest tees (around 6,700 yards) would have been an issue. The younger Woods will likely dominate from 6,400 yards.

Despite Tiger playing in just his fifth event of 2022, his son is the talk of the tournament even among other competitors.

“Anybody we play with will be a treat and will be a thrill,” said Jordan Spieth’s dad, Shawn, on Thursday. “Is Charlie carrying it 260 or 290? Everybody wants to know which one it is, so that will be fun, or more, after the last two weeks.”

“Charlie,” responded Padraig Harrington when asked which Woods he was more interested in seeing swing. From PNC transcripts: 

 “Actually, to be honest, definitely Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. But kind of just strange enough, after watching Tiger in The Match, to me, with a bit more speed and a bit more of that, like,  you never doubt Tiger’s mental ability, and it’s always one where is he able to come back, and you don’t want to give up — like he looked better physically at that match and the speed.

“And you know me, obviously, I’m interested in that stuff. You know, you’d never run Tiger off, but I actually think he might be even better than that — in a better place than I had thought. So I will take a little sneaky look at Tiger, no doubt. But Charlie, to be honest, I’m more interested in Charlie.

“It’s very interesting for a 13-year-old. And he did it when he was 11. It’s hard to support the angles in a golf swing when you don’t have — at 11, he could hold the club at the right position. Like most kids who are good at 11, 12, 13 years of age, their swing hasn’t even come close to developing.

“Like I bet you if you went back and looked at Rory at 12 years of age, he was hitting a big loopy, you know, drop kicking. Because that’s what they do, kids. But Charlie has always managed to pressure the golf ball, which is exceptional at that age. It really is. So, yeah, I’d be looking at and looking at the swing to see how it is.”

Just a three-time major champion looking forward to seeing the swing. No pressure or anything.

Regardless, the Charlie-Tiger pairing — which is among the favorites to win the PNC at 5-1 — will be a fascinating watch on both accounts. Charlie, because he’s Tiger’s son and obviously gifted at golf, and Tiger, because he’s the best to ever do it and any chance to see him in the twilight of his extraordinary career is always quite a gift.

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Over 80 guests gathered at The Bramshaw and Bell Inn in Hampshire on December 7 to celebrate the impact of women in the golf industry at the inaugural Women in Golf Awards.

The night of celebration shone a spotlight on every corner of the industry, with six award winners coming from a wide range of professional backgrounds, including a greenkeeper, WPGA members and industry legends.

The biggest award of the night, for Inspirational Achievement, went to IMG’s Vicky Cuming, Head of Golf Client at IMG, in celebration of her remarkable career.

Nicole Wheatley, co-founder of the Women in Golf Awards, said: “Over the last 30 years, Vicky has managed Ryder Cup captains and players, Major winners, a Solheim Cup winning captain, a dame and a few sirs along the way.  In addition, Vicky is a tireless champion of the women’s game and gives up her time as mentor to help future generations realise their own potential. For so many women in the room on the night and throughout the industry, Vicky represents what can be achieved. She has shown that there are no glass ceilings. Just opportunities.”

On receiving her award, Vicky said: “I’ve never really been aware of barriers, but I would say that when I started I couldn’t have sat in a room full of women working in the industry – so we have made some progress. It’s a great time for women’s golf and for women’s sport and I feel that all of us have a responsibility that golf keeps up with those other sports. Let’s make sure this becomes an annual event. It’s so important for us to keep supporting each other. What a brilliant group of women we all are, so let’s keep doing what we’re doing!”

“This has been a phenomenal evening,” added Wheatley. “I feel quite overwhelmed by the response from the room and thoroughly inspired by the people I have met tonight. Our winners are all excelling in their respective areas of the industry, but most significantly every award winner we have heard from tonight is committed to making golf better for the women who play the sport, or the women who have chosen golf as a career.”

Ben Blackburn, co-founder of the Women in Golf Awards, added: “I have no doubt that this event will become a significant date in the calendar for men and women alike. I have been privileged to be here tonight and it’s clear that The Women in Golf Awards can play an important role in attracting the best female talent to golf and in nurturing our future leaders, many of whom were in the room tonight.”

2022 WOMEN IN GOLF AWARD WINNERS

Venue of the Year: Highwoods Golf Club, East Sussex

Women’s Initiative: The R&A Women’s Leadership Development Programme and Project Ukraine

Trailblazer: Lucy Sellick, Head Greenkeeper, Wenvoe Castle Golf Club, Wales

Brand of the Year: Surprizeshop

Unsung Hero: Emma Booth, Winchester Golf Academy

Inspirational Achievement: Vicky Cuming, VP Golf at The IMG Group

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American tour professional Andy Ogletree chalked up the first professional victory of his career after winning the Asian Tour’s International Series Egypt at Madinaty Golf Club.

The 24-year-old 2019 US Amateur champion is currently suspended from the PGA Tour after playing in the LIV Golf event held in London in June. Although he was not a member of the PGA Tour when he played at Centurion – where he finished last and won ¢120,000 – Ogletree was issued with a six-month ban from entering future PGA Tour events.

Having since been dropped by LIV Golf following the signing of more high-profile players, the former Georgia Tech graduate was left with nowhere to play, so joined the Asian Tour, which has an affiliation with LIV Golf, taking part in events in Singapore, Korea and Morocco, before finally finding success in Egypt.

Ogletree, who shot a final-round 62 to beat fellow LIV player Bernd Wiesberger by four shots, said: “This is amazing, just incredible. I have always been a huge fan of match play, and that is kind of what it came to in the end; it was basically a two-horse race. I just tried to keep matching what Bernd was doing, and fortunately I kept making a lot of putts.”

Having missed out on winning his PGA Tour card at last year’s Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School, Ogletree has no regrets about taking up LIV Golf’s offer earlier in the year.

“It gave me somewhere to play. It gave me the opportunity to get into the Asian Tour as well,” he said. “My big thing was I just wanted a guaranteed place to play. I didn’t feel I was getting better playing Monday qualifiers for PGA Tour events or playing the mini tours. What presented itself was LIV. It definitely helped that I was able to make some money and was able to fund what I was doing for the rest of the year.”

The Mississippi-born player now has the option of playing more Asian Tour events or returning to the US to try and Monday qualify for PGA Tour events once his suspension ends next month.

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A new PGA Tour season — the last with the fall swing as we know it — began on Thursday in Napa, California, with a lengthy weather delay and a pretty fascinating first-round leaderboard. The entire field was unable to finish Round 1 on account of some early fog on the West Coast and a handful of golfers will finish up their first 18 holes on Friday morning.

Let’s take a look at a feel-good story at the top of the board after a partially completed Round 1 and a couple of big names who got their new seasons off to a great start.

The leader

1. Justin Lower (-9): Everybody probably remembers his teary press conference after narrowly missing making the top 125 last year at the Wyndham Championship. Lower later retained his PGA Tour card by being bumped up because some of the players ahead of him in the top 125 moved over to LIV Golf, and he took advantage of it on Thursday at the Fortinet Championship.

Lower’s T8 finish last year at the Barbasol Championship is the best of his career by OWGR points earned, but he’s in a great position to better that and put himself in a great spot to get well ahead of the curve of making the top 125 when this season concludes. Lower said after his 63 on Thursday that a year of experience on the Tour makes all the difference in the world.

“I left this course last year kind of in shock, honestly,” Lower said. “I was like, ‘God, if this is how the Tour is, I need to get a lot better very quickly.’ Yeah, I feel a lot more confident than I did at this point last year just being the last card last year and then being where I am this year, I feel a lot more confident with my game and a lot more comfortable, for sure.”

Other contenders

2. Max Homa (-7)

T3. Ben An, J.J. Spaun, S.H. Kim (-6)

T6. Greyson Sigg, Nick Taylor, Rickie Fowler, Sahith Theegala, Emiliano Grillo, Scott Harrington, Matti Schmid, Sung Kang, Brice Garnett, Robby Shelton (-5)

This dawned on me last year at this very tournament, which Homa won, but he has turned himself into one of the most consistent threats to win on the entire PGA Tour. He shot his third consecutive 65 at this event (dating back to last year when he shot 65-65 on the weekend to win) and picked up right where he left off on his best year ever on the PGA Tour last season. With the Presidents Cup coming next week, Homa’s form is a great sign for the U.S. team and perhaps an even better sign for him as he tries to win this tournament for the second straight year (Brendan Steele did the same in 2016 and 2017).

Rickie’s return

Rickie Fowler has had a rough few years, but he had an awesome Thursday with a 5-under 67, which is his second-best round since the Wells Fargo Championship in May. Contention from him this weekend would be incredibly popular and the absolute perfect start for the PGA Tour to a new season.

“Like we’ve talked, just trying to get back to being more consistent,” Fowler said. “I’ve had some good weeks in the past few years, but it shouldn’t just be a few weeks in those years, there needs to be more. That’s kind of the biggest thing is just getting back to playing some consistent golf, consistently being in contention and having chances to win tournaments.”

2022 Fortinet Championship updated odds and picks

• Max Homa: +350
• Justin Lower: 9-1
• Sahith Theegala: 12-1
• J.J. Spaun: 14-1
• Emiliano Grillo: 14-1
• Hideki Matsuyama: 20-1

I think Homa has the best chance to win, but I don’t like his number here. I’d rather have Theegala at 12-1 or even somebody like Adam Svensson — who was fifth in strokes gained tee to green on Thursday — at 55-1.

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The DP World Tour has announced the creation of a new team match play event aimed at giving European players experience in the format ahead of potential future Ryder Cup appearances.

Two 10-man teams comprising players from Great Britain & Ireland and Continental Europe will be selected by European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, with the event taking place at Abu Dhabi Golf Club from January 13-15, 2023.

Donald will work with both teams in Abu Dhabi and will keep a close eye on the action inside the ropes across the three days, with the two team captains to be announced in due course.

The match, which closely resembles the Seve Trophy, which was held eight times from 2000 to 2013, will consist of one session of foursomes, one session of fourballs and one session of singles matches, with all 20 players taking part in each session.

The two teams will be confirmed following the conclusion of November’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, with performance on the DP World Tour rankings considered in the player selection process.

“One of the first things I was keen to do when I was appointed as Ryder Cup Captain was to reinstate a team match play contest to give playing and leadership experience to future Ryder Cup players, vice-captains and captains,” Donald said. “I spoke to a number of former Ryder Cup Captains who were strong advocates of how similar events in the past have benefitted players who were pushing to make Ryder Cup teams, as well as their own captaincy journey.”

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