The First Look: PNC Championship

Tiger Woods will make his highly anticipated return to action, teeing it up at the PNC Championship alongside son Charlie for the second time. This is the first time Woods will be competing since the 2020 PNC Championship and since he suffered a myriad of lower-body injuries in a February car crash. Justin Thomas and his father, long-time PGA of America professional Mike Thomas, will defend their title from last year. FIELD NOTES AND STORYLINES: Twenty golfers will tee it up for the two-round tournament in Orlando… Tiger and Charlie, who is now 12, finished seventh last year after back-to-back 62s… Thomas and his father, Mike, look to become the first back-to-back champions of the PNC Championship since Larry Nelson. Mike Thomas was an all-conference player at Morehead State in Kentucky before becoming a club professional… Olympic gold medalist Nelly Korda will tee it up with her father, tennis star Petr. Korda, the lone woman in the field, had a career-year on the LPGA Tour. She won four times, including her first major title, and captured the top spot at the Tokyo Games… Past FedExCup champions Jim Furyk (with son, Tanner), Vijay Singh (with son, Qass), and Henrik Stenson (with son, Karl) are all teeing it up. Woods and Thomas also are past winners of the PGA TOUR’s season-long points race… Thomas also is the reigning THE PLAYERS champion. Past PLAYERS champions also in the PNC field are Woods, David Duval, Henrik Stenson, Matt Kuchar and Nick Price… European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington is in the field alongside his son, Paddy… The Harringtons aren’t the only similarly-named pair. John Daly and his son, John Daly II, are back in action. Daly II is now a freshman at Arkansas – his father’s alma mater… Along with Woods and Thomas, other former World No. 1s in the field include Tom Lehman, Nick Faldo, Duval, Price and Singh… Legendary multi-time major winners Faldo (son, Matthew), Tom Watson (son, Michael), Lee Trevino (son, Daniel), Price (son, Greg), and 85-year-old Gary Player (Grandson, Jordan), will be teeing it up at the PNC Championship along with two-time major winner Mark O’Meara (son, Shaun), two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson (father-in-law, Wayne Ball)… Rich Beem, who won the PGA Championship in 2002, slid into the field along with his son, Michael, as the second-to-last pair to commit (the Woods’ rounded out the field) after Retief Goosen and his son, Leo, withdrew. COURSE: Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, par 72, 7,106 yards. The Ritz-Carlton GC in Orlando, Florida has hosted the PNC Championship every year since 2002. The course boasts generous landing areas on wide fairways, strategically placed hazards, and subtly contoured greens while meandering through wetlands and natural marshes. 72-HOLE RECORD: 118, Davis Love III/Dru Love (2018) 18-HOLE RECORD: 56, Davis Love III/Dru Love (Second Round, 2018) LAST TIME: Making their tournament debut, former FedExCup Champion Justin Thomas and his father Mike Thomas topped Vijay Singh and his son Qass by one. The Thomas duo birdied the opening seven holes in Sunday’s finale and finished with a 15-under 57. The pair – Mike Thomas, a PGA of America professional from Kentucky, is the only coach son Justin has ever had – finished at 25-under for the tournament. Tiger Woods and son Charlie, another pair of tournament debutants, finished 7th, five shots back of the Thomas’. Charlie Woods, 11, and Tiger wore the traditional ‘Sunday Red’ shirts and finished 6-under for their closing six holes in the final round. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Saturday, 1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel), 2:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. (Golf Channel). Sunday, 12:30 p.m.-1 p.m. (Golf Channel), 1 p.m.-4:30 p.m. (NBC).

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