As a golfer, playing a round with your parents, and in the same vein for parents, playing golf with their children is something truly special. Sharing the game we love with those closest to you is a feeling we all long for at the end of the day. So it’s no surprise the professional golf calendar year includes an event like the PNC Championship to capture some of those special moments between family members, and this year was certainly a VERY special tournament.
This year the PNC Championship, defended by major champion Justin Thomas and his father Mike Thomas, also a Class A PGA Professional by trade was a heighten spectacle in the golf world due to the fact that Tiger Woods, who after a serious car accident last January wasn’t even sure he’d ever be able to play competitive golf again, made the announcement that he planned to enter the PNC Championship with his son Charlie Woods. Other contenders were major champion, and golf icon John Daly and his son John Daly II, who currently plays golf at Arkansas, LPGA superstar and major champion Nelly Korda and her father Petr and Stewart Cink and his son Reagan, who’s been on Cink’s bag since January at the Safeway Open.
The weekend played out to be an incredibly memorable event. Cink and his son Reagan lead after the opening round, posting a 13-under, then yielded to a dueling match between the long hitting Dalys and Team Woods. Charlie and his dad set a record for the tournament with 11 consecutive birdies on Sunday in a charge back to over take the number one spot, but couldn’t’ hold of John and John, who birdied 18 to secure a two stroke win at 27-under over the Woods combo.
The main takeaways:
- It’s great to see Tiger back swinging the club. He’s obviously working hard to get back to a competitive playing level, but still a long way to go before we see him teeing it up on the PGA Tour.
- John Daly II is a stud, he’s swinging a lot like his dad was in his prime and I believe we’re going to see him at the top of leaderboards not too far from now at the professional level.
- I’ll finish with a question, instead of a takeaway: Could Charlie be better than his father when it’s all said and done? He had moments that looked that good during the tournament.