Woods and Thomas Teams Just Wanna Have Fun at Father/ Son
This week, borrowing a lyric from Cyndi Lauper, it’s not just girls who wanna have fun. It’s what the competitors at the PNC Father/ Son want.
Two of the most famous teams in the event are Tiger Woods and son Charlie and Justin Thomas and his dad Mike. They will have a four-generation foursome on Saturday. Charlie is 11, Tiger is almost 45. Justin is 27 and Mike, his dad, is old enough to have a 27-year-old PGA Tour player son.
Strangely enough, even though they will be competing, there’s a lot of friendly feeling in the foursome, particularly regarding Charlie. Even though the youngster is always talking about how he wants to beat Justin, Justin is pulling for Charlie.
“As much as I joking as I’ve made about it, I’ll be his second biggest supporter out there behind Tiger. I want to see him play well,” Thomas said to media Thursday before the event.
He told a story about the three of them – Charlie, Tiger and Justin – having a 9-hole putting contest two or three years ago. Charlie would have been 8 or 9.
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After the 8th hole, Charlie was 2-under, Justin was 1-under, and as Justin recalled, Tiger was either 1-under or even. Justin was World No. 1 at the time.
According to Justin, Charlie said something like, here I am 9 years old, and I’m beating the No. 1 player in the world and supposedly and best player of all time. Then, Charlie proceeded to three-putt the 9th putting hole.
“I beat him, so that shut him up pretty quick,” Justin joked. But he knew how amazing it was that someone so young was beating them through eight holes.
In an interesting twist, Mike Thomas has actually helped with Charlie, mainly by talking to Tiger about how he and Justin shared time together as Justin was growing up. According to Tiger, Mike has been helpful from the start.
Tiger is not doing a lot of instructing. He is more focused on the time spent with his son. He just gets a thrill out of watching his son execute shots.
As far as how Charlie plays or how far he hits it, Tiger just said the game is much different these days than it was when he was growing up. He said the clubs and balls are different and that balls when he was a youngster had much more spin than today’s do.
Tiger said that his father, Earl, did not ever coach him.
“It was all about feels and being in the moment and being present, being with you, and he did that,” Tiger explained. “I’m doing the same thing with Charlie.”
As far as wanting to play in the PNC Father/Son, according to Tiger, he was the one who watched the tournament in years past. He remembers seeing Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player with their sons. The family decided that playing in the tournament was something that Charlie could handle now, and that’s why they decided to play.
Charlie has been playing junior golf tournaments, has been in front of people.
“This is a different world that we live in now,” Tiger said. “Everyone has a phone and everyone has an opportunity to do video, and he been out there, and he’s enjoying it.”
Although Justin and his father are favored, Justin is not focused on the outcome of the tournament. Of the four, Justin’s father, Mike, has probably played the least golf in recent years. He has been practicing, but Justin does not expect him to be at the top of his game. However, as far as Justin is concerned, it just doesn’t matter.
“I don’t know that I can put into words just how cool Saturday is going to be,” Justin said. “Playing in a Father /Son with my dad, and playing with Tiger and Charlie, it’s just going to be a really, really special day for all of us.”