

Between the ages of 15 and 17, Tiger Woods won three consecutive US Junior-Am Championships. He followed it with three straight US-Am titles. Woods was born gifted and has been winning Junior World titles since the age of eight. His dominance was vertical. Matching him today is Charlotte Naughton.
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When a teenager goes double digits under par on a grand junior stage, wins by seven shots, and joins a list that includes Tiger Woods, who won this tournament in 1991, the story almost writes itself. That’s exactly how Naughton opened her 2026 season.
Naughton, 17, dominated the Junior Orange Bowl International at Biltmore Golf Course, Florida, by posting a mesmerizing 10-under-par. She became the first girl in the history of the tournament to reach such a score across the four rounds played.
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The Longhirst Hall standout, who is a part of England Golf’s Women’s Squad, registered the largest winning gap since 2017. Back then, it was her fellow English golfer Lily May Humphreys‘ nine-shot victory that made the news. In the present day, Naughton’s closing round of 69 gave her the victory with a record. Funnily enough, it was after her win that the realization dawned on her.
“I’m very pleased with myself,” Naughton said afterwards. “I didn’t know it was for a tournament record when I had that putt, but it was a nice way to finish.”
Congrats to Alabama signee Charlotte Naughton on winning the Junior Orange Bowl International Championship by 7 strokes! #RollTide pic.twitter.com/vdXvpLCRYw
— Alabama Women’s Golf (@AlabamaWGolf) January 8, 2026
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But this was not just any random win. Charlotte Naughton worked hard to elevate this into a significant event. Both her final rounds were without any bogeys. At the same time, over the entire four days, she missed only two greens in regulation. Yet, that wasn’t the most telling part.
At the par-4 16th hole, Naughton found herself a fried-egg lie in a greenside bunker. That is one of the most difficult golf shots. But the 17-year-old didn’t falter. She blasted out 20 feet and kept her card clean. And that’s how she almost matched Woods.
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When Woods played this event in 1991, he was only 15 years old. Two years younger than Naughton is today. He won the boys’ division by a record 14 strokes, which was one of the most dominant victories in the event’s history. From thereon, the future automatically wrote itself for Woods.
The same can be said for Charlotte Naughton. This Junior Orange Bowl victory isn’t the only gold on her resume. Rather, it closed her 2025 season, giving her the strongest portfolio she can show to the world.
In September 2025, she clinched gold at the World Junior Girls Championship in Canada. That event too saw a bogey-free second round. This victory has gotten her into this year’s CPKC Women’s Open, a very unusual opportunity for a teenager. Other than this, in May 2025, she again made history by becoming the first English player ever to win the German Girls’ International Amateur Championship. To all this, add her runner-up finish at the R&A Girls’ Amateur Championship and her selection for the Junior Ryder Cup 2025, and you have a dominating portfolio rivaling many pros.
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But while these are extraordinary achievements, will it actually be fair for Charlotte Naughton to be compared to Tiger Woods? As mentioned, Woods’s dominance was vertical—winning one competitive circuit repeatedly. Whereas for Naughton, the picture looks rather horizontal. She has won across countries, continents, federations, etc.
Maybe there’s someone else she can be more accurately pictured with.
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Who does Charlotte Naughton resemble most?
Apart from Tiger Woods, Charlotte Naughton joins other notable players in the list of this win. These include Inbee Park, Lexi Thompson, Brooke Henderson, Bubba Watson, and Jose Maria Olazabal. It is among these names that there’s one that can be fairly put up with Naughton: Henderson.
At the ages of 16 and 17, Brooke Henderson went on to win the Canadian Women’s Amateur, securing a runner-up spot at the US Women’s Amateur and a T10 at the US Women’s Open. That’s a once-in-a-blue-moon sort of feat for a low amateur. Perhaps that’s why she felt the need to turn pro at the age of 17, the same age Naughton is today. Her decision turned fruitful, as just the next year, she secured her first LPGA win at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Just like Naughton, Brooke Henderson also achieved multiple major international championship wins in her late teens. She also became World No. 1 before turning pro. Haughton, for her part, is World No. 2 today. Their trajectory at this stage only seems to go up.
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If Naughton turns pro by next year or so (let’s assume 18 or 19), she has the potential of following a similar professional arc and accumulating 10-15 LPGA wins in her first decade. While that might not equal Tiger Woods, it would still be a standout achievement for her own name.
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