Tiger Woods beamed with pride after the golf icon’s son Charlie followed in his footsteps with the first hole in one of his budding career.

Team Woods were already in contention for the lead at the PNC Championship, a Pro-relative event, with a score of 15-under-par. That put them second on the leaderboard, with only Team Singh on 16-under ahead of them.

But on the 176-yard, par-three fourth hole at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Florida – his home turf – Woods Jr came into his own.

He swung with confidence and watched as his ball bounced a few times on the green before it rolled into the hole for an incredible ace.

The remarkable shot not only produced a wild reaction from the crowd but his dad too, as a jubilant Tiger, 48, bear-hugged his teenage son in heartwarming scenes.

A confused-looking Charlie held out his hands as the awe-struck crowd roared on his behalf, seemingly unaware what he had just accomplished.

It represented Woods’ first tournament since July as he enters the final stages of his career. Clearly, playing alongside his son before passing on the torch was something he always wanted to do.

And what better evidence is there that your offspring is ready to take golf by storm by playing a faultness hole in one.

Reacting to his sensational ace, the youngster admitted he didn’t realise the ball had gone in and bizarrely insisted he would only believe it until he saw it with his own eyes.

“It was a perfect 7-iron, so I just kind of hit it,” Charlie Woods said on the Golf Channel broadcast.

“Down off the left, a little cut 7. It was awesome. I didn’t think it went in. I don’t believe anybody until I go up there and see it.”

The hole in one wasn’t just for optics, though. It put Team Woods back into the lead in Round Two of the tournament with a score of 17-under-par. 

Woods, taking part in his first competition since July, conceded he was not “competitive” after undergoing microdecompression surgery in September to relieve a nerve impingement in his lower back.

But he still saw the funny side of claims that his golf starlet son could one day emulate him.

After half-jokingly acknowledging that his boy had outperformed him over nine holes, Woods Jnr is still yet to beat his dad ovwr 18 holes.

Tiger said: “That day is coming. I’m just prolonging it for as long as I possibly can.”