Charlie Woods’ golf coach has revealed he received a bit of blowback for selecting Tiger Woods’ son for the state championship team.
Charlie Woods’ highschool golf coach has revealed he received a bit of blowback for selecting the son of the legendary golfer to represent the team in a national championship despite having a higher average score than some of his teammates.
Tony Harbeck has given an extensive interview to GOLF in which he explained what the young golfer is really like.
Of course, there will be a huge amount attention heaped on the 14-year-old once again this week.
That’s because he’s making his fourth appearance at the PNC Championship with his 47-year-old father Tiger .
Harbeck told the publication there is a 12-man roster at the private Benjamin School in Palm Beach Gardens.
Only five players made the team for the state championship that was held in November.
There were players that had a better scoring average than Charlie’s 74.3.
But what they didn’t have was experience playing the El Campeon course at Mission Inn Resort in Florida that staged the tournament.
Harbeck explained that out of four attempts playing the course, Charlie shot sub-par on three occasions.
He told the publication: “So I got to thinking about it. Here’s a kid who is not afraid of this golf course.
“I mean, for you to break 72 on this golf course is saying something.
“That’s how hard it is. The fact that he’s got three or four rounds below par, I said, ‘You know what? I got to play him in the state finals.’”
The golf coach said the move “kind of upset the cart a little bit with some of my other guys”.
“But sometimes I got to go with a gut feeling,” he said. His decision was ultimately vindicated as the team won their fourth state championship.
Charlie’s scores of 78 and 76 helped his squad raise the trophy.
It gave him significant bragging rights over his father as dad never won a state tournament when he was growing up.