Tiger Woods is currently battling a hostile foreign government over the future of golf, but if you want to know what really rankles him, it’s his 14-year-old son’s phone habits.
‘I just don’t like the fact that he stares at his phone all the time,’ Woods said of his son Charlie, whom he’s currently paired with at the ongoing PNC Championship in Orlando.
‘Put your phone away and just look around,’ Woods continued, as quoted by Golf.com. ‘That’s one of the things that I think all parents struggle with is most kids don’t look up anymore. Everyone is looking down.
‘Look around you, the world is so beautiful around you, just look up. But everyone is staring into a screen, and that’s how people view life. It drives me nuts at times because he’s always looking down and there’s so many things around you that are so beautiful at the same time.’
Charlie was forced to disconnect from his phone on Saturday, as he and his dad joined forces in Orlando for the PNC Championship, where Woods’ daughter Sam served as a caddy. It is the first time Sam has caddied for her father.
The PNC Championship includes a star-studded field of 20 major champions, but the Woods were once again the main attraction, with fans packing out the first tee to see the pair tee off shortly after 8am local time.
Both of their drives were striped straight down the middle, with son Charlie showing off his impressive length as his game continues to improve.
Sam’s presence on the course on Saturday was first spotted on the range, as she watched her dad practice before their round.
In a clip posted to social media, the doting daughter can be seen staring at her dad while he plays a shot, before he wiped sweat from his face using a towel on his bag.
During the first few holes on the course, Charlie and Sam were spotted chatting at the side of the green while Tiger putted out, with Charlie even jokingly shushing his sister while their dad played his shot.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour has narrowed its choice of potential investors to a new consortium led by Fenway Sports Group and said it would continue negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s national wealth fund as it races to meet a December 31 deadline.
The PGA Tour board — six players, including Woods, and five independent directors — sent an email to players last week to say Strategic Sports Group was the unanimous choice to further negotiate a potential partnership in the new PGA Tour Enterprises.
The new for-profit company was at the heart of a framework agreement announced June 6 among the PGA Tour, European tour and the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi financial backing of LIV Golf.
‘We also anticipate advancing our negotiations with PIF in the weeks to come,’ the board said in the email to tour membership. ‘Please know that while we can’t get into more details at this time, we are very confident in an eventual, positive outcome for all players and the PGA Tour as a whole.’
The update came three days after Masters champion Jon Rahm, for two years a consistent voice against the 54-hole, no-cut rival league, bolted for LIV Golf in a deal that various reports put in the neighborhood of $500 million.
Strategic Sports Group includes owners Marc Attanasio (Milwaukee Brewers); Arthur Blank (Atlanta Falcons); Cohen Private Ventures (New York Mets); Wyc Grousbeck (Boston Celtics); Tom Werner and John Henry (Boston Red Sox); Tom Ricketts (Chicago Cubs); and Marc Lasry (Milwaukee Bucks). Others in the group include Gerry Cardinale, managing partner of RedBird Capital who has ownership in AC Milan.
Lasry, Blank, Cohen and Werner also are team owners in the TGL league founded by Woods, who is also on the PGA Tour board, and Rory McIlroy, who recently left the board.
Acorn Growth was believed to include Randall Stephenson, the retired AT&T chairman who resigned from the PGA Tour board in July over objections to its deal with Saudi Arabia.
However, Stephenson wrote to PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan last Tuesday to say he has no interest in Acorn or its proposal, only that he has responded to Acorn questions about putting together an attractive proposal. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter.
