The Loop
A victorious Justin Thomas and his dad found the perfect way to needle Tiger Woods and Charlie Woods over the holidays
Ben Jared
Team Thomas and Team Woods stole the show at their respective debuts at the recent PNC Challenge Father-Son Championship. But their performance also seems to have sparked the next great (friendly) family rivalry in golf.
We got a taste of this during the first round of the tournament when young Charlie Woods left Justin Thomas a playful note in a bunker, but apparently the needling between these members of golf royalty has continued since. On Wednesday, JT confirmed he and his father, Mike, found the perfect way to remind Tiger and Charlie over the holidays about how the tournament turned out.
Here's the funny exchange between Thomas and a reporter during his press conference ahead of this week's Sentry Tournament of Champions:
Q. I'm curious if either you or your dad or both of you have worn your victory belts over to Tiger's place yet?
JUSTIN THOMAS: We have, yes. We had dinner with him around the holidays and we both wore our belts over there.
Q. How did that go over?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Oh, it was great. We would expect them to do the same thing. And, no, I mean, Charlie just kind of laughed when he saw us and Tiger just said, you know, well done, well played. And you know, it was all in good fun. But they fully expected it, I think.
Nicely done, guys. Sometimes the best form of trash-talking involves no talking at all. And considering Tiger's penchant for pulling out some of his spoils at opportune times, he and Charlie would have 100 percent done the same thing.
As for that note in the bunker, JT provided a little more background:
"It was good. It was the -- I mean, the part about it is the whole story wasn't really told," Thomas said. "My dad left that note for Charlie in the practice round because he hit it through the fairway and he didn't draw it or didn't turn it over, so my dad wrote a note and put it under his ball and somehow he was smart enough to keep the note and use it in the same situation. So it was very well played. It was very smart for a kid his age."
In other words, this rivalry is just getting started.