Tiger Woods and his son are under pressure

The world has killed slowness and doesn’t even know where it buried it: this is argued by an enlightened poet like Christian Bobin, but the golf played on the world tours proves it every week, with young, very young, and rookie players not only attacking tournaments but also winning them.

Charlie Woods, results

The latest in chronological order? Aside from Ludvig Aberg, now almost a “veteran” of the golf scene, let’s mention some new names, such as Nick Dunlap, Jake Knapp, and David Puig, who between the PGA Tour, the LIV, and the Asian Tour are rapidly climbing the world rankings.

Among the very young players trying to speed up the pace is evidently Charlie Woods, who, as you may already know, for the first time competed in a pre-qualifying tournament for a PGA Tour event, this week’s Cognizant Classic, ending up scoring a heavy 86 under the world’s judging eye.

That the boy has crystal-clear talent is beyond doubt, but it is equally true that Tiger perhaps should consider more carefully what kind of media pressure he is subjecting his son to. And it seems strange, to tell the truth, that it is precisely him, he who more than any other athlete on earth has paid dearly for media exposure, who allows Charlie to experience the same morbid attention from the public firsthand. And perhaps, just perhaps, Tiger should allow his son to grow up in a quieter world, less obsessed with the hope of finding a new Tiger: sometimes one almost gets the feeling that Charlie lives in the frenzy of never being able to forget that he is the “son of”, when instead it would be healthier for him to discover the value of disconnecting from social pressure, without being forced every time he steps onto the field to share a useless and dangerous comparison.

In the end, instead of rushing to chase after the unattainable paternal figure, it would be wonderful if Tiger allowed Charlie to get off the speed train, to slow down and follow his child’s heart, which is truly the one thing that none of us, much less a young boy, should ever forget to possess.