Charlie Woods bounces back from US Junior Amateur nightmare to win first ‘major’ title
Charlie Woods and Eva Lye won their respective divisions at the 2024 South Florida PGA Junior Cup. Contested at the BallenIsles Country Club’s newly renovated East Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the event is simply known as “The Cup” and is one of the eight junior majors on the South Florida PGA Junior Tour. Woods beat out 62 other junior boys golfers, while Lye bested a field of 25 girls. Woods was the only golfer in his division to finish under par after shooting scores of 73-68-73.
“I feel like it was a compilation of a lot of hard work this summer,” Woods told the PGA of America. “I wanted to redeem myself, and I feel great about how I played.”
Two weeks ago, Woods came up short of advancing to the match-play portion of the U.S. Junior Amateur. Only the top 64 earned a spot in that bracket. “I wanted it so bad,” he said of his junior title. “I felt focused, and I knew what I had to do to get it done. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do better.” As for Lye, she never led until the very end, posting a 1-under 71 to nudge past Abigail Sheldon. “I didn’t want to give up even though I had a bad day yesterday,” said Lye of her second round 77. Lye is the daughter of former PGA Tour player Mark Lye, 71, who won one PGA Tour event.
