Charlie Woods helped The Benjamin School boys golf team to a two-stroke victory in the first Florida High School Athletics Association event of the 2024 postseason this week.
The Benjamin School - reigning state champions in Class 1A - landed the District 13-1A title by recording a team score of 291 at the Champions Club at Summerfield, consequently holding off their rivals and second-place Oxbridge Academy from West Palm Beach.
Oxbridge ran Woods and co. all the way in Stuart and almost upset the strongest team on paper with an excellent display. Although the West Palm Beach school fell just short in the team contest, three of their players ended inside the top-five of the individual competition.
Benjamin's Andrew Tsar claimed the individual district trophy after carding a three-under 69 - described, according to the Palm Beach Post, as being "lucky" and containing "many lip-ins" via his team's Instagram account - while his older brother Pavel finished seventh thanks to a three-over 75.
Son of 15-time Major winner, Tiger, Charlie Woods ended the individual tournament in sixth courtesy of a one-over 73, three months on from his disappointing appearance at the US Junior Amateur.
On the Benjamin boys golf Instagram account, the team posted: "Wasn’t pretty but got the job done at districts. Onto regionals.”
Both Benjamin and Oxbridge will move on to the Region 4-1A Championships at Miami Shores Golf Club on Monday.
From Woods' point of view, the team triumph is the latest chapter in an up-and-down year on the course.
He failed to progress through pre-qualifying during February's run up to the Cognizant Classic, while Woods later came up short in regional qualifying for the 2024 US Open, shooting a nine-over 81.
Following a tough showing at the US Junior Amateur in July where he missed the cut via a 36-hole score of 22-over-par, the teenage talent responded in supreme style by winning the South Florida Junior Cup a week later - one of eight major tournaments on the South Florida Junior Tour.
Looking forward, Charlie regularly competes alongside his dad at the PNC Championship each December, but Tiger's status at both that event and the Hero World Challenge remains up in the air following his latest back surgery.
A leading back surgeon told Golf Monthly that Woods is only likely to start being able to play golf again three months after his surgery, which occurred on September 13, leaving a very short gap until the PNC starts at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club on December 19.
Tiger is also yet to make a decision on the tournament in the Bahamas, which he hosts and begins a couple of weeks earlier.
While a spot at the Hero World Challenge could be a stretch for Woods, a couple of factors which may help him play the PNC include the fact that it is only a two-day competition and that players can use a cart.
