Charlie Woods is facing big expectations again, but this week at the Junior PGA Championship, he’s out there on his own. After a tough finish at the U.S. Junior Amateur, Charlie opened with a 1-under round at Purdue—putting him tied for 46th and 6 strokes away from the top of the leaderboard. He’s certainly playing much better here than he did in Dallas, Texas. But that’s not the only difference fans spotted at the Purdue Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.

As pictures from the Indiana course showed, Charlie doesn’t have the support of his father, Tiger Woods, in the Junior PGA Championship. This comes as a surprise considering the big cat was present for the 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship only a week ago. The protege was seen practicing alone on the course without the guidance of his legendary father. However, Woods still looked determined to leave a positive impression on the course.

In fact, the Instagram account of the Junior PGA Championship even shared a video montage of how alike he and Tiger Woods are. They shared a clip of 14-year-old Tiger driving the ball when he participated in his first-ever Junior PGA Championship exactly 35 years ago in 1990 in Florida. In the next slide, they showed Charlie Woods doing the same in the 2025 edition of the tournament. With three more rounds to play, it would be interesting to see how well he performs in the tournament.

Ironically, this is one junior event that his father never won. The 82-time PGA Tour champion finished as the runner-up in the 1990 edition of the junior major event. Going into the final round, he was contending with local talent, Chris Couch, for the title. However, one advantage that the 15-time major winner had back in 1990 was that he was unknown. In an interview after 54 holes, he stated, “I don’t feel any pressure because nobody around here ever heard of me. The pressure will be on (Couch) because he’s the local favorite.”

Unfortunately for Charlie, the world knows who he is. Everyone expects him to follow in his father’s footsteps. Even if Tiger Woods didn’t win the 1990 Junior PGA Championship, the world would want to see his son, Charlie Woods, win the 2025 Junior PGA Championship. And with his father not around to look over him at West Lafayette, the Team TaylorMade Invitational champion will have a lot on his plate this week.

That being said, what kind of competition does Charlie Woods face in the Junior PGA Championship right now? Let’s review the leaderboard after 18 holes.

Charlie Woods’s biggest obstacles for the next 54 holes

After 18 holes of thrilling action, Chase Yenser has been the biggest threat to Charlie Woods and everyone else on the field. He carded an excellent round of 7-under 64 to finish with a two-stroke deficit at the top. While a lot can happen in 54 54-hole, he is certainly a firm favorite to take the junior major title. The second place is tied between 4 young golfers that including world #24 amateur golfer, Mason Howell. Howell has been incredibly consistent over the past year and has overshadowed Woods’s recent achievements, according to Ryan Lavner.

With 6 strokes separating him from the top, Charlie Woods certainly has a lot of work to do over the next three days. However, his biggest priority right now would certainly be to make the cut as he heads into the second round, just one stroke away from the probable cutline.