Charlie Woods Climbs Junior PGA Leaderboard With Nine-Birdie 66

Tiger Woods' son made nine birdies in a six-under-par 66 on day two of the Junior PGA Championship

Charlie Woods holds his finish on a drive at the Junior PGA Championship
(Image credit: Ryan Lochhead/PGA of America)

Charlie Woods has put himself in position to challenge for the Junior PGA Championship after a sensational six-under-par second round of 66.

Woods junior began the day with a birdie-bogey start before a run of five birdies in the space of six holes to turn in 31 (-5).

Birdies at 12, 14 and 15 got him to eight-under-par for the day but back-to-back bogeys dropped him back to six-under. He parred the 18th to post a 66 and sit at seven-under-par for the tournament and in solo-4th.

He finished his round six back of Lunden Esterline, who at the time held the lead at 13-under-par.

Tiger Woods' son began the tournament with a solid one-under-par 70 over the Ackerman-Allen layout at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Indiana.

His second round on the Kampen-Cosler course saw him vault up over 40 spots on the leaderboard and briefly into 2nd-place, which would be enough to qualify him for the US Junior Ryder Cup side.

Charlie Woods at the top of his backswing during a drive at the Junior PGA Championship

(Image credit: Ryan Lochhead/PGA of America)

The top-two finishers will be on the six-boy, six-girl 12-person squad to face the Europeans in New York later this year.

It's a huge turnaround from last week where Charlie shot 14-over-par in the stroke play portion to miss out on the match play stages of the US Junior Amateur Championship. He shot 11-over-par on day one with dad Tiger watching on before a three-over-par second round.

It was his second consecutive missed cut in the prestigious USGA-run event.

The Junior PGA Championship is a 72-hole stroke play event with a 36-hole cut for the top 60 plus ties, with a secondary cut coming after the third round where only the top-30-and-ties make it through.

The last two rounds take place over the Ackerman-Allen Course.

The Floridian should make it through to the final round, which takes place on Friday.

Woods will be hoping to seal another big win after his recent Team TaylorMade AJGA Invitational victory, where he could join the likes of Miles Russell, Caleb Surratt, Akshay Bhatia, Sam Burns and Trevor Immelman as Junior PGA Championship winners.

AJGA-ranked no.1 player and US Curtis Cup star Asterisk Talley leads the girls section. Big names to have won the girls event through the years include Yuka Saso, Rose Zhang, Lexi Thompson and Inbee Park.

View live scoring from the Junior PGA Championship

Watch highlights of Charlie Woods' 66:

Watch Charlie Woods' Incredible 9-Birdie Round | 2025 Junior PGA Championship - YouTube Watch Charlie Woods' Incredible 9-Birdie Round | 2025 Junior PGA Championship - YouTube
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Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, X and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 and 2025 Masters from Augusta National and was there by the 18th green to watch Rory McIlroy complete the career grand slam. He has also covered five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!

Elliott is currently playing:

Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

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