Charlie Woods or Miles Russell? The top-ranked junior in the country or Tiger Woods’ son? Well, everyone expected a bitter rivalry between these two. However, during the traditional Junior Am practice round hosted by the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) on Thursday, there was no visible tension. Instead, the two arrived in the same golf cart and denied all the rivalry theories.

While Miles Russell took the wheel, Charlie Woods, the son of golf icon Tiger Woods, rode shotgun. Despite it being their first time playing a full round together, there was a clear familiarity between them. Miles Russell, who was recently left out of the Walker Cup squad, had only positive things to say about Woods.

“He’s been playing great. He’s doing everything really well,” Russell said after the round. Woods, however, was not allowed to give his interview due to a request from his family. The two were paired with AJGA Executive Director Stephen Hamblin and TaylorMade Vice President of Sports Marketing Eddie Erkmanis.

But this friendship didn’t emerge out of nowhere, as the two have been in each other’s company before. Last year at the Florida Sunshine Cup, a charity event that was hosted by Russell, Woods was present too. “He was actually at my charity event… I played with him there,” Miles Russell said in a post-round interview at the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic, where he made his PGA Tour debut. And when asked more about Woods, Russell responded with a smile — “I haven’t played with him in a while, and it’ll be good to see him.”

Russell was also part of the Hero World Challenge Pro-Am last December in Albany, a tournament hosted by none other than Tiger Woods himself. Russell later posted a photo from the event on Instagram, captioned — “Had a ton of fun being a part of the Hero World Challenge Pro-Am, a major thank you to Dan Fireman, @libertynationalgc and @tgrliveevents for making it all happen.”

It’s clear that their visible bond on Thursday had been brewing quietly for a while, nurtured through shared experiences. Yet, make no mistake, as their friendliness won’t soften the competition. The two will battle it out at TPC Sawgrass this weekend, each looking to leave their mark on one of the most prestigious junior stages in the country.

Charlie Woods and Miles Russell enter this week with good form

Charlie Woods and Miles Russell will be teeing it up in the 2025 Junior Players Championship, a 54-hole showdown featuring 78 of the world’s top junior golfers. The tournament is being hosted at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass from August 28 – 31, a course where Tiger Woods won the Players Championship twice in 2001 and 2013. While Charlie Woods has been steadily climbing the ranks after securing his first win earlier this year at the Team TaylorMade Invitational, Miles Russell has three wins under his belt.

Russell recently even made deep runs in two of the biggest events in amateur golf—reaching the quarterfinals of both the U.S. Junior Amateur in Dallas and the U.S. Amateur in San Francisco. Miles Russell, who won the Junior Players in 2023 and finished tied 16th last year, knows the course this week will reward precision and resilience. “If you’re playing poorly or hitting it poorly, it’s going to be a tough day,” he said.

Meanwhile, Charlie Woods, who is chasing history as the first son of a Players Champion to win the Junior Players, earned his ticket to the Junior Players by consistent form through the season, most recently with a tied 9th finish at the Junior PGA Championship. Woods will tee off at 9:20 a.m. on August 29th from Tee No. 1, while Russell will begin his opening round earlier that day at 9:00 a.m. from the same tee.