Charlie Woods shot a 3-over 74 in the final round of the Junior PGA Championship on Friday, fading out of contention to secure one of the two qualifying spots for the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team.
Woods, the 16-year-old son of Tiger Woods, entered the day tied for second with a three-day total of 12-under par at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex’s Ackerman-Allen Course in West Lafayette, Indiana. But he never caught fire in the final round, going out in even par and then stumbling with a bogey on the 14th and a double bogey on the 15th.
He finished tied for ninth at 9 under.
Lunden Esterline, a 2027 Auburn commit from Kansas, won the event going away at 19 under. Along with the title, he secured one of the two automatic qualifying spots for the Junior Ryder Cup team. Giuseppe Puebla, who finished at 13 under, was awarded the other.
The U.S. will take on Team Europe from Sept. 23-25 at Nassau Country Club and Bethpage Black in New York. Woods is eligible to be selected as the lone captain’s pick next week, but as the 20th-ranked player in the latest American Junior Golf Association rankings, that would be unlikely.
Woods has never competed in the event.
A rising junior at the Benjamin School in Palm Beach, Florida, Woods won the AJGA’s Team TaylorMade Invitational in May. He missed the cut at the recent U.S. Junior Amateur.
Also Friday, Asterisk Talley won the girls’ Junior PGA title by one shot over Zoe Cusack.
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