Tiger’s Niece Hits the Tour
When ya see the word “Woods” on the leader boards, you expect a certain red polo clad gentleman to be behind the name. But these days, it looks like ol’ Tiger’s gonna have to move over, there’s a new Woods in town. 21-year-old Cheyenne Woods, Tiger’s niece, is makin’ her professional debut Thursday when the second major tournament of the LPGA year opens at Locust Hill Country Club.
After turnin’ pro just a few weeks ago (three weeks by this caveman’s count), Cheyenne is a recent graduate from Wake Forest where she was a two-time al-American and a three-time all-Atlantic Coast Conference golfer. While her accomplishments are impressive (and numerous!), Cheyenne is lookin’ forward to taking the next step in her golfin’ career.
“This is my first event as a professional and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start off my career,” she said. “I’m excited about the opportunity and happy to be back in Rochester.”
She was invited to play in the tournament two years ago as an amateur (this was way back when before the event was considered a major championship). After acceptin’ a sponsor’s exemption when Melissa Reid (a European tour member) had to withdraw, Woods had barely a week to prepare for the event. Clearly, this girl’s got moxie.
She finished her college career with the lowest single-season scorin’ average (73.47) and career average (74.31) in the program’s history. Now, as a caveman, I can tell ya that program’s been around for quite a while. With her impressive golfin’ track record, Cheyenne is confident that she has what it takes to make it on Tour.
“It’s exciting to be here at a major,” Cheyenne added, who earned a degree in communications at Wake Forest. “I think college has prepared me well.”
Cheyenne ain’t the only one certain that she’ll take the Tour by storm.
“She’s an exceptional player and she won’t have any problems at all making the transition to the L.P.G.A.,” said Tour veteran Laura Diaz, a 1997 Wake Forest graduate. “She’s already learned a lot about dealing with the demands of school, golf, and life.”
Woods has been a great player ever since she came onto the Wake Forest team. She maintains a calm, cool, and collected demeanor that sometimes even surpasses that of the other player to bear the Woods name. “She is unflappable,” said Wake Forest Coach Dianne Dailey of the young player. “Cheyenne stays so calm and under control.”
Hopefully the youngest Woods player’ll live up to the famous namesake. Only time’ll tell, so stay tuned with Scratch!
