ORLANDO, Fla. – Tiger Woods might not be ready for tour-level golf. He can still deliver quite a show on the course.
In a remarkable return from a car crash 10 months ago that badly damaged his right leg, Woods and 12-year-old son Charlie set a tournament record with 11 straight birdies and pushed John Daly and his son, a college golfer, all the way to the finish Sunday in the PNC Championship.
Daly and John Daly II, a freshman at Arkansas, shot a 15-under-par 57 in the scramble format and won the 36-hole event by two shots at 27-under 117. It might have been the widest Woods ever smiled after a runner-up finish.
“The fact that I’m able to have this opportunity this year – even a couple weeks ago we didn’t really know whether or not I would be doing this,” Woods said. “But here we are. And we had just the best time ever.”
The birdie streak began on the seventh hole at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando when Tiger hit a half-wedge shot that put the ball a foot from the cup. Charlie holed a 10-footer on No. 8, stooping to pick up the marker before the ball was even in the cup, another moment where the confident son looked a lot like his 15-time major champion father.