Charlie Woods, son of Tiger and an accomplished junior golfer, is one of the standouts on The Benjamin School’s boys golf team, which headlines the field for Wednesday’s Central Florida Prep Invitational at Country Club of Orlando.
It wouldn’t be a shock to see a Tiger sighting. When time permits, he watches his son’s team play.
Another golfer to watch is Circle Christian senior Luke Gossett, who was the tournament’s individual champ a year ago and later won the Class 1A state championship.
Benjamin, based in Palm Beach Gardens, won the 1A state team title in 2023 and was a state runner-up last year. The Buccaneers set a school record with a 269 score for 18 holes in an August home match against Winter Park.
The field also includes 2024 CFPI champ Jupiter, along with 4A state runner-up Lakewood Ranch of Bradenton, nine-time state champ Ponte Vedra, and most if not all of the best teams in the Orlando area.
“(CCO) does it first class and the course is in phenomenal shape,” Winter Park coach Rob Robison said. “The way they treat the teams is top notch.”
Before 2023, the event was organized by Bishop Moore and CCO was just the host. The Hornets still have their own invitational, to be played at Shingle Creek Golf Club on Oct. 10-11.
Starting last year the CFPI tourney is put on by CCO general manager Eric Allain and head golf pro Robbie Huelga.
“They stepped it up to another level as a golf event,” Windermere Prep coach Kyle McClone said. “Robbie does an unbelievable job, with the way the course is set up, and giving us lunch, drinks on the course and a full buffet dinner afterward.”
Why would the oldest private golf club in Central Florida (opened in 1911) want to take on the responsibility of organizing and running a tournament consisting of 15 of the top teams in the state?
“Our GM and I talked and we thought we weren’t supporting (youth golf) the way we wanted,” Huelga said. “We all played junior golf and know what it’s like playing a nice course. Golf is a great game and we all want to share it and give back to junior golf.”
Among the teams in the field are five of the top 10 from last year’s 1A boys state finals (Benjamin, Circle Christian, The First Academy, Windermere Prep and Lake Highland Prep), a top-five 2A team, (Bishop Moore), and four 3A top-10 teams (Lakewood Ranch, Ponte Vedra, Lake Mary and Winter Park).
Also in the field are Windermere, Montverde Academy, Columbus, and Ransom Everglades.
One logistical change this year is moving the shotgun start time earlier to 10:30 a.m. That provides some leeway to get all 18 holes in after weather shortened the event to nine holes last year.
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at [email protected].
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