Charlie Woods, son of 15-time major champion Tiger Woods, failed to advance to match play at the U.S. Junior Amateur on Wednesday after a fan disrupted his backswing with the sound of an iPhone camera shutter.Woods, 17, found himself in a 14-for-2 playoff at the annual national championship, held this year at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa. The Florida State commit shot rounds of 76 and 70 during the stroke play portion of the event to earn a spot in the sudden-death playoff, which began early Wednesday morning. The two remaining players moved on to the 64-person match-play bracket, which began Wednesday afternoon.Woods teed off at 7:24 a.m. ET in the third playoff group of four. He went for the par-5 hole in two, leaving himself a chip from thick rough to get up-and-down for a birdie, which was what was needed to advance further in the playoff.
However, during Woods’ third shot, a loud click sounded in the middle of his backswing. Woods chunked the chip shot, leaving a long birdie attempt from off the fringe, and turned around, acknowledging the disruption.In an amateur video posted to X, Woods can be heard saying, “Really dude?” and dropping his club.
— Trevor Keaton (@Trevor_Keaton) July 22, 2026Woods made a bogey on the hole, missing the cut in his third attempt at the U.S. Junior Amateur, the most prestigious national junior tournament in the country. Eli Wessel of Indianapolis and Hudson Kutchma of Westfield, Ind., advanced from the playoff.In his two previous appearances, Woods shot 82-80 in 2024 and 80-74 in 2025. Tiger Woods won the junior championship three consecutive times, in addition to three consecutive wins at the U.S. Amateur. Charlie Woods is eligible to play in the Junior Amateur for a final time in 2027.Woods, a rising senior in high school, announced in February that he had committed to play golf at Florida State alongside the No. 1 junior in the world, Miles Russell. At the time, Woods was ranked No. 9 in his class and 21st nationally on the American Junior Golf Association’s standings.However, his ranking has since plummeted to No. 174 in his class, as his sole AJGA victory — the 2025 Team Taylormade Invitational — is outside the 12-month window of contributing events.
