Tiger Woods has admitted he plays mind games with son Charlie as he bids to prepare the nine-year-old for professional golf.
The 15-timer major champion, who burst into the scene when he won the US Masters at Augusta in 1997, has made no secret of the impact his own father, Earl, had on him as he came through the junior ranks. And in one famous Tiger Woods Nike commercial, Earl narrated with the words: "You don't really instil anything in a child, you encourage the development of it, but I would do all kinds of things to mess him up."
That tactic was designed to test his son mentally, and ready him for the psychological pressures that come with playing elite level golf. Indeed, the steely focus of Woods became one of his most admired attributions as he dominated the sport at the turn of the century.
And whilst working as a pundit during the first-round broadcast of the Hero World Challenge this week in The Bahamas, NBC's Paul Azinger asked the icon if he took a similar approach with Charlie: "It's non-stop, non-stop," replied the 46-year-old.
"It's trying to get him - if I can get into his head, that means someone else can get into his head. It's going to get to a point where I can't get into his head, and then no one else can get in there either.
Confirming he was following the same coaching methods that his father once did with him, Woods added: "That's what my dad believed. You've got to be willing to take it."
Clearly exacerbated by the topic, Woods explained how former rivals would attempt to put him off his game: "Zing [Azinger] can attest to this, he played in an era where certain players, and we’re not going to mention anybody by name, but certain players would do certain things with clubs and shoes and timing and trying to get in your head, the early walk," he said. "That was still prevalent when I came out here, and a lot of these guys don’t know about any of that stuff, but people did it."
Next month, Woods and Charlie will team up in the annual PNC Championship, a father and son event at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando. Last year, in what was the former world No 1's first competitive appearance since his high speed car crash in February 2021, the duo were runners up to John Daly and John Daly II.
Earlier this months, Woods junior was compared to both his father and Rory McIlroy by fans watching him at the Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship. He finished in 11th place in his age category, and 14 shots behind the winner Cole Kim
