Florida High School Athletic Association came up with a drastic change that could impact Charlie Woods’s future. The FHSAA has allowed student-athletes to sign Name, Image, and Likeness deals with brands for which they can earn money. The board has also approved high school athletes to hire agents, but only for NIL purposes.
Charlie Woods has already attracted a lot of eyeballs because of the uncanny similarity with his father’s mannerisms. With Tiger Woods, the teenager also teed off in the PNC Championship four times in a row. So, it will hardly be surprising if the Woods family gets snowed under the flurry of NIL deals coming his way. Will he sign any NIL deals, though? Or has he already? Here is what teenage Woods’s Benjamin High School coach thinks.
There were rumors of Greyson moving in as the first sponsor after Woods Jr. sported the wolf emblem in this year’s PNC Championship. Moreover, Greyson reshared a story on the Instagram handle, welcoming Charlie Woods to the fold. Coupled with Tiger Woods’s break-up with Nike, it was read as an inevitable sign that the 15-year-old might be signing a NIL deal soon.
However, that post has since been deleted. And, in the last seven months, Charlie Woods has sported different brands. His high-school coach, Toby Harbeck told Palm Beach Sports, “I’m sure someone’s going to approach him with [NIL] … but they’re so smart and they’ve got such good people around them that I think the only thing we need to be careful of is making sure we’re all aware of what’s going on − and that deals with all kids.”
Harbeck revealed that the Woods family likes to live in their ‘own little world’ as Charlie Woods said during the PNC Championship. Since the announcement, Barbeck hasn’t spoken with his most famous ‘student’. Neither has he got the chance to talk to Tiger Woods.
Barbeck revealed, “They’re very protective as far as letting anyone get a word in about anything.” That’s not surprising from a man who named his yacht, ‘Privacy.’ Regardless, Harbeck would be ‘shocked’ if the 15-time major champion allowed his son to sign a NIL deal.
Toby Harbeck asks what is it that Charlie Woods lacks. At 15, he is the center of media attention whenever he steps on the greens. His achievements, be they personal or in school, are well documented.
Fans have flocked around the 15-year-old, almost to the point of disrupting the tournament when Woods Jr. attempted to earn a spot in the Monday qualifier of the Cognizant Classic. The teenager’s U.S. Open bid also received equal, if not more attention. Harbeck said, “He doesn’t need the fame. He’s got that. He surely doesn’t need the money. So what’s the benefit of Charlie receiving NIL money? Is there one? I don’t know”
Notably, Miles Russell, perhaps the most famous 15-year-old not named Charlie Woods, has already signed a NIL deal with TaylorMade. The Jacksonville native also has an NIL deal with Transcend Capital. But for Charlie Woods to ink a similar deal, the world needs to wait a while.
