Tiger Woods 'looked better than people thought he would be'

Having played lots of golf with his own sons over the years, Paul Lawrie knows exactly what it meant to Tiger Woods to join forces with his boy, Charlie, in the PNC Championship in Florida at the weekend.

Charlie Woods reacts on the 17th tee as father Tiger Woods watches during the second round of the PNC Championship golf tournament last week.

While treading carefully as he did so, the 1999 Open champion tweeted that it was “so cool” as he watched the second round in Florida on Sunday as Team Woods reeled off 11 birdies in a row at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.

In the end, they finished in second spot, two shots behind John Daly and his son, also John, with Lawrie also posting on social media that he feels it “needs to be at least 54-hole event”.

The main focus was understandably on Woods snr as he made his comeback ten months after suffering severe injuries to his right leg in a car crash in Los Angeles.

But, as was the case when the duo made their debut in the event 12 months ago, young Charlie also found himself under the microscope for his smooth swing and fearless play.

“I understand a lot of the criticism for people following a 12-year-old little boy,” said Lawrie. “But some of his play was unbelievable and I really enjoyed watching him.

“Charlie hit a shot into 17 (on Sunday). That’s a 5-iron 170 odd yards in left to right wind with a left pin and water on the left. But he was right in there and had one finger up when the ball hit the green.

“Charlie’s swing has improved a lot in the last year. It’s way better. But everyone has to remember he’s a 12-year-old and it just looks like he’s having fun playing with his dad and just leave it at that.”

As for dad, who used a buggy in the scramble event due to the fact he’s not up to walking 18 holes yet, Lawrie said: “Tiger looked better than people thought he would be.

“He hit an awful lot of good shots, 3-woods off the fairway to 260 yards to the pin and he was pitching them on the green.

“Nobody was expecting that. But he did a good job of playing it down before the event. But he knew. If he hadn’t felt ready there is no way he would have played.

“It looks like he is still struggling a wee bit with his right leg. But that will take a bit of time to get it up to PGA Tour standard.

“But you’d hope by the time of the Masters in another five months he would be alright to pay, I would have thought.

“But he looked way better than I was expecting and it was nice to see him playing again. You could tell on the back nine that he was right into it.”

Despite being a major winner, Lawrie has never been invited to play in the PNC Championship with either of his golf-mad sons, Craig and Michael.

“I would love to play in that with one of my boys and I’ve tried to get into it. But I’ve never had an invite,” he said.

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