PNC Championship told us little about Tiger Woods’ latest comeback

ORLANDO, Fla. – There was a funny Tiger Woods moment at the PNC Championship that captured something elemental about this mesmerizing but also zany tournament.

Tiger and son Charlie were in a riveting battle with Bernhard and Jason Langer, each team making birdie on almost every hole. Tiger had hit his drive into the right rough at the par-4 16th, distressingly close to some native flora and fauna up against the water hazard, and he ducked into the loo before the rest of the group had hit.

Upon his return, he asked a threesome of girls from The Benjamin School, where his son and daughter/caddie, Sam Alexis, matriculate: “Where’d Charlie go?”

His meaning, of course, was whether Charlie had found the fairway (he had not), rendering moot Tiger’s stray drive. But these kids were not golfers, and the girls pointed at Charlie himself and said: “He’s right over there.”

I woke up thinking about this scene because it made me laugh, but also because while the PNC might have given an indication of where Woods is in his latest comeback, we nonetheless seemed to be looking in the wrong place for information.

Every time Woods was asked about his own play, he deflected as if to keep the spotlight on the holiday-magic part of this 20-team tournament. He delighted in Charlie’s first-ever hole-in-one. He also marveled at how well Charlie putted – the kid was seemingly automatic, even under pressure late Sunday.

But as for Tiger’s own game? That was harder to gauge.

“I did a few things here and there,” he said. “I'm a great Scramble partner. I can hit a few shots here and there. This is all about family. This is about bonding and it's about having a great time, and we did that. This is a thrill of a lifetime for us to be able to experience this all together.”

Was his speed back? Sort of, but that was hard to figure out, given that the other pros in his foursomes, first Justin Leonard and then the 67-year-old Langer, were never in his league to begin with, distance-wise. Langer didn’t even play from the same tees.

“You’re as long as me,” Charlie said, but he didn’t play the same tees as his father, either.

Did the 82-time PGA TOUR winner Woods hit some terrific shots? No question. He hit driver off the deck to reach the green in two at the par-5 14th hole Sunday, setting up birdie. Team Woods and Team Langer each shot 57, making a combined 27 birdies and three eagles over 19 holes, Bernhard Langer ending it with an eagle on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff.

It was, in its way, epic.

Woods had some vintage moments on Saturday, too. With Charlie having hit rare, less-than-stellar shots, Tiger came through with pinpoint approaches on hole Nos. 10, 14, 15 and 16.

Charlie converted most of the birdie putts.

“He's gotten better at every facet of the game,” Tiger said. “That's a commitment to practicing and developing as a player. I think that most of us forget he's only 15 years old. I know he's been doing this in front of the media for a long time. But being only 15, I think it's incredible what he's been able to accomplish so far, and the ceiling that he has is unlimited.”

Do you have flashbacks to your own career?

“I wish I hit it that far and that good,” Tiger said. “I definitely did not do that at his age.”

“Dad, I didn't win as many tournaments as you did,” Charlie said.

“I made a couple putts,” Tiger replied with a smile.

But that was as far into his own career as he went. He said the word “family” so often you could have made a game out of it. He was expansive when asked about the 67-year-old Bernhard Langer, who popped his Achilles playing pickleball in February, went through a quick rehab, and keeps breaking his own age records on PGA TOUR Champions.

“That consistency to healthy lifestyle,” Woods said, “training, that ability to focus, commitment to fitness. I mean, most of the golf community, they are willing to embrace fitness. Gary (Player) and Bernie were at the forefront of it and look how much they are enjoying it on the back end.”

What of Woods’ back end? He will turn 49 on Dec. 30 and has had a rough year. He started his season at The Genesis Invitational, which he hosts, but withdrew with illness. He made his record 24th consecutive cut at the Masters but finished last among those who made the cut. With his back flaring, he missed the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Open Championship cuts.

He had what is believed to have been his sixth microdiscectomy in September.

Jim "Bones" Mackay, the caddie-turned-on-course-reporter for NBC, finally told Woods what he wanted to know on the 16th hole Sunday. Although his drive had leaked into the rough, it wasn’t going to be a problem in this format, where players get to place the ball.

Bernhard Langer hit his approach to within inches. Charlie strafed his own approach to 6 feet. Tiger hit a weak flare that landed on the bank and bounded down the hill toward the water.

All week he’d said he wasn’t competitive; here was what he’d meant.

“We’ll see,” Woods said, when asked if he could ramp it up again for 2025. “I don’t like this cold right now; I can tell you that. But hey, it’s training, each and every day, doing the little things and keep progressing, and I’ll keep progressing forward into next year.”

It was murky. It was unclear. But as for Charlie? He was right over there.