ORLANDO, Fla. – Tiger Woods turns 49 at the end of the month and has an urgent goal related to his golf. He wants to extend the inevitable day when his son beats him over 18 holes.

They will play with each other, not against each other, for the fifth straight year this week at the PNC Championship, a 36-hole tournament so meaningful to them and everyone else in the field that Woods was eager to play for the first time since undergoing a sixth back surgery in September.

However, it was revealed that 15-year-old Charlie had finally defeated his 15-time major champion father.

“He beat me for nine holes,” Woods said, an important clarification for him. “He hasn’t beaten me over 18 holes yet. That day is coming. I’m just going to extend it as long as I can.”

Going into details, Woods talked about the typical banter between them and how much fun they had. It was clear that he would not bear the loss individually.

Winning is a goal at the PNC Championship, but not the priority. It’s a happy end to the year for all 20 teams at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando, an event that pairs winners of the majors or Players Championship with a family member.

Woods played five tournaments this year and completed just one, making the cut at the Masters for the 24th consecutive year. He had to play 23 holes in high winds at Augusta National on Friday and shot 72, his best round of the year. That was followed by an 82, an example of the ups and downs of a player whose body has been plagued by injuries.

“I’m not going to feel what I’m used to,” Woods said. “Recovery is now the hardest part. But as the rounds, weeks and months go by, it becomes more and more difficult.”

He missed the cut in the next three majors and then had lower back surgery in September to relieve some of the cramps he had been feeling. The timing of the operation was related to the PNC Championship.

Woods decided not to take part in the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas two weeks ago because he was not competitive enough to face Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas in a 20-man field made up of players ranked in the top 40 in the world .

This might as well be his fifth major as he plays with his son.

“That was one of the reasons I had the surgery done sooner so I could hopefully give myself the best chance to be with Charlie and be able to play,” Woods said. “I’m not competitive at the moment, but I just want to be able to have that experience again. This has always been one of the bigger highlights of the year for us as a family, and now we can experience this moment together again.”

The surgery was on his back, but Woods said his right leg, which was mangled in a February 2021 car accident near Los Angeles, remains the biggest physical obstacle.

Still, he chose to walk the Pro-Am tournament on Friday instead of driving a kart, which players are allowed to do because the tournament is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour Champions.

Team Woods has yet to win since play began in 2020. The duo finished second the following year, two shots ahead of John Daly and his college son, when Charlie was 12 years old with the golf ball. Woods plans to rely on his son’s tee shots in the scramble format.

They will play the opening round on Saturday with Justin Leonard and son Luke, who attends Benjamin School in North Palm Beach with Charlie and will attend Villanova next year.

Charlie Woods went through the US Open qualifying for the first time this year and failed to get past the first stage. He qualified for the US Junior Amateur in Oakland Hills, but didn’t come close to making it to match play.

Woods appreciated his son getting the spotlight that few others his age get.

“I always reminded him, ‘Just be yourself.’ “Charlie is Charlie,” Woods said. “Yes, he is my son. He will have my last name and it will be part of his core. But I just want him to just be himself and be his own person. That’s all we can do.”

“I always encourage him to make his own name, make his own path and take his own journey,” he added. “I think he’s doing a great job. In this day and age where everyone is basically a medium, with all the phones, constantly being filmed and constantly watching people, that’s just a part of his generation, and that’s a part of the world that he has to maneuver through.