Stephen A. Smith is 'over' Tiger Woods after TGL debut, more interested in Charlie Woods

Nobody moves the needle in golf like Tiger Woods. But while that may be true, ESPN‘s Stephen A. Smith has personally seen enough of the 15-time major champion.

Smith, giving his thoughts on Tiger Woods’ TGL debut Tuesday night, said he would rather see his son Charlie Woods moving forward.

“I’m actually more interested in his son,” Smith said on Wednesday’s First Take. “I haven’t seen enough from Tiger in recent memory. I’m over him. I just am. Sorry.”

Woods, 49, has competed in just two competitive golf events since the 2024 Open Championship in July. First was the parent-child PNC Championship playing alongside his son in December. Team Woods finished second to Team Langer.

Then came Tuesday night, Woods taking part in the tech-infused indoor golf league he helped create. The Jupiter Links Golf Club trio of Woods, Max Homa and Kevin Kisner had a bad night. They were soundly defeated, 12-1, by the L.A. Golf Club comprised of Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose and Sahith Theegala.

That has been Woods’ competitive golf output since undergoing microdecompression surgery of the lumbar spine for nerve impingement in his lower back on Sept. 13. Woods underwent surgery in West Palm Beach, Florida, believed to be his sixth back procedure in the last decade. He has continued to deal with complications from his near fatal car crash in 2021, in which he suffered open fractures to both his tibia and fibula bones.

Woods competed in just five events this past season for a total of 11 rounds. He withdrew from the second round of the Genesis Invitational in February after suffering from flu-like symptoms. Woods made the cut and finished 60th at the Masters, and then missed the cut in the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and Open Championship.

Charlie Woods making a name for himself as Tiger Woods readies for 2025 season

All the while, his 15-year-old has been making a name for himself. Charlie Woods won the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour’s Major Championship in June 2023 and 13 months later, qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur. Woods shot +22, failing to make the cut by 18 strokes. At the PNC Championship, Woods made his first career hole-in-one.

While Tiger Woods may not have much tread left on the tires, Charlie Woods has an entire career ahead of him.

“I was always reminding him, ‘Just be you.’ Charlie is Charlie,” Tiger Woods recently said, per The Washington Post. “Yes, he’s my son. He’s going to have my last name, and it’s going to be part of his core. But I just want him to be just himself and be his own person. That’s what we can only do.

“I always encourage it, for him to carve his own name, carve his own path and have his own journey,” he added. “I think he’s doing a great job. In this day and age where everyone is basically media, with all the phones, being constantly filmed and constantly people watching, that’s just part of his generation, and that’s part of the world that he has to maneuver through.”