The Hero World Challenge, an unofficial PGA Tour event hosted by Woods, tees off today at Albany, featuring 20 players from the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Woods isn’t playing this year, but as a host, he is there. And as always, the event kicked off with a pro-am and the customary press conference. During media interactions, Scheffler gave us a little peek behind the scenes. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t all business.

The PGA Tour feels like it’s on fire these days, doesn’t it? New formats, that ongoing merger saga, the snail’s pace of play debates, and so much more. Pretty much anyone in the golf world has something to say about it. And it makes sense—big changes can feel like a lot when one season’s ending and another is gearing up. So, when you get two big names like former World No. 1 Tiger Woods and current No. 1 Scottie Scheffler met on the course, they were not knee-deep in these hot topics. They talked about their kids. 

“Talked about his kids,” Scheffler said with a grin. “It’s really exciting, when you ask somebody about their kids, they always get so excited and that’s really fun for me to be able to do with people because they get so excited and it’s fun to share what’s going on. Tiger’s the same way, he always gets excited when he gets to talk about his kids.”

If you’ve followed Woods even a little, you know how much he adores his kids, Charlie and Sam. It’s the kind of thing that melts even the toughest hearts in the golf world. So did he give some parenting advice to first-time dad Scheffler? “There was no advice. If I did, I’m sure neither of us would probably want to be sharing it publicly,” revealed the #1.

We’ve all seen Woods’ love for his kids. Whether it’s Charlie’s golf swing or Sam’s proud moments, his passion as a dad is undeniable. “I just love being with them and seeing what they’re doing, what they’re capable of doing—the joys, just the shifts of interest. It’s just fun. We have a great time together,” Woods shared back in 2011, and it still rings true.

Well, its not like they only talked about their kids. They talked about the ongoing matters of the golf world as well. “I think most of the time we just talk about money and how the purses need to be bigger,” Scheffler said. “Today we really grinded on the Ryder Cup and how it’s just such BS that we’ve never gotten paid. Tiger was really frustrated; he feels like he hasn’t made enough money in his career. I feel the same way; I feel like last year I didn’t get paid 4 enough for what I did. Mostly that, just a bunch of griping.” 

Woods feeling that he has not made enough money would come as a shocker to many. He is the richest golfer with the most amount earned from the Tour. Scheffler made the most this year, nearly $29.2 million from tournaments. Sure, Woods is one of the greatest golfers of all time, but it’s the bond he shares with Sam and Charlie that shows how great a dad he really is.

A look at Tiger Woods’s bond with his children

We all love Woods on the course, but if you ask him, his favorite role is definitely being a dad. Through all the highs and lows—majors won, injuries, comebacks—his bond with his kids, Sam and Charlie, has been the real constant. And honestly, it’s a side of Woods that’s just as impressive as his golf game.

By the time Charlie and Sam were toddlers, Woods’s world got pretty messy with a very public scandal and divorce in 2010. But even in the middle of all that chaos, he put his kids first. In a 2015 interview with TIME, he admitted he was upfront with them in the simplest way: ‘Guys, the reason why we’re not in the same house, why we don’t live under the same roof, Mommy and Daddy, is because Daddy made some mistakes.’ It wasn’t flashy or complicated—just an honest dad trying to explain a tough situation.

Sam has been cheering her dad on since she was six months old, and in December 2023, she even caddied for him during the PNC Championship. Meanwhile, Charlie is shaping up to be a mini version of his dad. The two first competed together in the 2020 PNC Championship, and fans couldn’t help but notice their eerily similar mannerisms. Even Charlie’s coach sees the resemblance, both in his game and his demeanor.

Whether it’s being there for Sam on the sidelines or coaching Charlie on the course, Woods’s role as a dad goes way beyond golf. And maybe, just maybe, that’s his greatest win of all.