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'Tiger's Niece' Ready To Make A Name For Herself

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 26, 2008

LAKE BUENA VISTA Cheyenne Woods was 3 years old when, poking through the garage at grandfather Earl's house, she came upon a treasure. It was a golf club with the shaft cut down to a size more suitable for a toddler. She picked it up and started swinging.

She must have looked pretty good.

Grandpa had adapted the club so his son - some kid named Tiger - could swing something more his own size. Tiger had moved on to big-boy clubs by that point, but when Earl saw how young Cheyenne seemed to be enjoying herself, it wasn't long before he bought her a set of sticks.

It was a good investment.

Cheyenne Woods has managed to wear the label of "Tiger Woods' niece" and still make a name for herself on the golf course. She is a poised, confident and supremely talented young woman now, about to start her freshman year at Wake Forest. She'll study psychology and, of course, play on the golf team.

Sound familiar? That's how Tiger did it - enrolling and playing at Stanford, savoring the college experience, and then turning pro. Cheyenne wants to play pro golf, too, but only when she is ready. Other things are more important right now.

"Her grandfather and I talked about this a bit. She was not thrust into this or forced. She was not rushed," said her mother, Susan Woods. "You only have one childhood, one time to go to high school, one time to go to college. She has plenty of time for golf. She'll do well in the college experience.

"I'm not one to see that she does it the fastest. She has a long life ahead and I think she'll do fine. She liked golf from when she first started, but I don't know if I'd really call her a prodigy. She works hard at it. Let's see how she does."

She has won more than 30 junior tournaments and back-to-back state 5A championships in Arizona. She is competing at Walt Disney World's Palm course in the Bill Dickey National Junior golf tournament, which starts today. After this, there are a couple of more events and then it's off to college.

You will hear from her again, though.

Soon.

Highest Score Wins?

Cheyenne played her first tournament when she was 8 years old. She shot 97 for nine holes at the Mesa Country Club outside Phoenix. She started jumping up and down with excitement when her score was posted.

She checked again. There was no higher number.

"I was used to basketball," she said. "Highest score wins. I saw that 97 and started going, 'Mom, Mom! I won!' "

Mom had to gently explain that it's different in golf. Cheyenne didn't take long to figure that out. Less than two years later, she won her first junior tournament - this time for real.

Tiger had become quite the phenomenon by that point, so Cheyenne frequently became known simply as "Tiger's niece."

She's cool with that.

"I expect that, because he's Tiger Woods," she said. "I just hope to one day make my name known."

Uncle Tiger doesn't intrude on her game a lot. He'll help with tips if she asks, and he has helped set her up with trainers and coaches, but mostly he has let Cheyenne grow at her own pace and with her own goals. It's hard to resist comparisons between Cheyenne and Michelle Wie.

Wie is 18; Cheyenne will be 18 in a few weeks.

Wie was pushed onto the national stage against competition she wasn't nearly ready to compete against. Cheyenne has been allowed to grow and mature, competing against her peers and experiencing success.

"I didn't even think about jumping straight to the LPGA," Cheyenne said. "I always wanted to go to college - get the college experience, live away from home. I'm not ready for the tour."

Used To The Limelight

Watch her play - the smooth, effortless swing; the distance on her drives; the sharp approaches - she just seems destined for success.

The mental game is there, too. That may be the strongest part of her game. There was a shades-of-Tiger moment during a practice round Wednesday when she fumed as a drive sailed into some trees. It was gone in a moment, though.

"I let it go," she said.

She did, too.

A local TV crew followed Cheyenne's foursome. Two guys from the Golf Channel were waiting with a microphone when she finished play. This kid is used to the spotlight. Like her uncle, she knows how to handle it.

"It's fun," she said. "I just hope in the future it will be about me winning tournaments."

That's probably one you can count on.

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