Like a father, like a son? Hopefully not when it comes to Tiger Woods’s Oakland Hills curse! The young golfer, Charlie Woods, qualified to compete in the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur. The tournament is staged at the Oakland Hills CC for the first time in its 76 editions. Woods Jr. would be competing against other stellar amateur golfers such as Miles Russell, Kris Kim, and others. Along with skills, the 15-year-old will need a ton of luck too, especially if he wishes to overcome the Oakland curse that eluded his father.
The 82-time PGA Tour winner, Tiger Woods, doesn’t have a good history with Oakland Hills. An amateur at the time, Tiger Woods’s 1996 U.S. Open experience at Oakland Hills was nothing short of poor. He started strong in his second-ever U.S. Open by making a great shot from 80 yards away to get a birdie. Up until the 14th hole on the opening day, Woods was leading the game as he was 3 under par, but after that, things started going down, as per the Bleacher Report.
The young golfer started having trouble keeping the same pace and made several mistakes in the last five holes, including three bogeys, one double bogey, and one quadruple bogey. This led to a disappointing score of 76. There was no coming back after that; in the next round on Friday, Woods made a score of 69 and eventually finished at T82. Although the course has changed in almost 28 years, things could go badly for Woods Jr.
USA Today via Reuters
With the way his last few performances have been, he would be hoping to not be as unlucky as his decorated father at Oaklands Hills. In his last two attempts to make it to the PGA Tour and the US Open, Charlie failed. Then, in his last event, the Future Masters, he finished way behind the winner, tying for the 103rd spot as he shot two rounds of 73 and 76. Well, having said that, that’s not all the bad luck Woods has faced at the Oakland Hills.Tiger Woods’s tragic loss at the 2004 Ryder Cup
The Oakland Hills curse followed Tiger Woods to the 2004 Ryder Cup, and the whole USA team suffered. The 35th Ryder Cup was a big disappointment for the US team. They played against Europe at the Oakland Hills Country Club (South Course) in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, from September 17–19, 2004.
The US captain, Hal Sutton, was very confident before the tournament started. He even wore a cowboy hat and said his team was going to win easily, according to Golf Compendium. But was Sutton right? No. He paired two of the best players on the team, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, together, thinking they would make for an easy win. But his predictions proved to be wrong again, as they lost two games on the first day and were separated afterward.
However, things worked out quite well for the Europe team, as they led 6.5 to 1.5 after the first day. The US team tried to catch up but couldn’t. They lost most of the games and never got close to Europe’s score. Tiger Woods went 2-3-0 for the tournament, and Phil Mickelson went 1-3-0. On the other hand, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia played great for Europe, each winning 4 games and tying 1. The final score for Europe was 18.5; for the U.S., it was 9.5. This was one of the worst losses for the US team in Ryder Cup history.
Fans can only hope that the cards work out in Charlie Woods’s favor and he doesn’t follow in his father’s footsteps this time. Do you think he’ll be able to win the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur? Let us know in the comment section below!
