Charlie Woods In Position To Make US Junior Ryder Cup Team

The 16-year-old needs to finish in the top two spots at the Junior PGA Championship to make the Junior Ryder Cup, with Woods T2nd heading into the final round

Charlie Woods wearing a red polo and black cap hits an iron shot
(Image credit: Ryan Lochhead/PGA of America)

Charlie Woods has put himself in prime position to make the US Junior Ryder Cup side after a second successive 66 at the Junior PGA Championship.

Tiger Woods' son sits in T2nd-place heading into the final round in Indiana, where the top two finishers will earn a spot on the team for New York next month.

Woods is at 12-under-par and seven back of Lunden Esterline, who he plays with in the final group at 10.06am ET. His other playing partner Pennson Badgett is also at 12-under, with three players just one stroke back at 11-under and another competitor 10-under-par.

Charlie carded nine birdies for the second consecutive day to vault from seven-under to 12-under.

Charlie Woods smiles while carrying his golf bag in a red shirt and black cap

(Image credit: Ryan Lochhead/PGA of America)

The competition courses alternate each day at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Indiana, with the final round taking place over the Kampen-Cosler course.

While victory may seem out of reach, anything can happen on the golf course as the juniors look to emulate past champions that include Miles Russell, Caleb Surratt, Akshay Bhatia, Sam Burns and Trevor Immelman.

It's an impressive turnaround from last week's US Junior Amateur Championship where Charlie shot 14-over-par in the stroke play portion to miss out on the match play stages for the second consecutive year.

That followed his biggest ever win in May where he won the Team TaylorMade AJGA Invitational to vault up the AJGA rankings. He currently sits 20th in the list.

In the girls division, AJGA no.1 and Curtis Cup star Asterisk Talley takes a two-stroke lead into the final round. 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

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

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.