Tiger Woods and 15-year-old son Charlie ran off five straight birdies on the back nine Saturday for a 13-under 59 in the scramble format, giving them a share of the lead in the PNC Championship in Orlando, Florida in Woods’ first competition since back surgery in September.

Woods said he scheduled that surgery — the sixth on his lower back in the last 10 years — to be sure he recovered in time to play with his son for the fifth straight year.

This is the first time they have shared the lead after the opening round, joined by the last two champions — Bernhard Langer and son Jason, and Vijay Singh and son Qass.

Woods hit an array of good shots, including a wedge to inches on the short par-4 seventh, but otherwise downplayed his game by suggesting he still had a lot of rust. This was more about spending 36 holes on a brisk day at the Ritz-Carlton Club Orlando with his son, a sophomore at Benjamin School in North Palm Beach.

His daughter, Sam, caddied for her father for the second straight year. Their mother, Elin, was among those in the gallery in a tournament that is all about family.

“We’re trying to pull off each and every shot for each other, and to ham-and-egg,” Woods said. “And I think we did that great pretty much the entire day. We picked each other up, which was great. And Charlie made pretty much most of the putts today.”

It helped playing in the same group with former British Open champion Justin Leonard and his son, Luke, a senior and teammate with Charlie at Benjamin School.

Langer extended his astonishing record on the PGA Tour Champions this year by winning for an 18th consecutive season. He and his son made eight birdies in a nine-hole stretch in the middle of the round, and they had an eagle on the 14th hole.

Singh and his son, who won this event in 2022, shot 28 on the back nine.

“There’s so many teams in the hunt,” Langer said. “It’s anybody’s game that is within three or four shots of the leaders, which is most of the field.”

Padraig Harrington and son Paddy, and Tom Lehman and son Sean, were at 12-under 60. The Lehmans looked to be leading when they were around the green on the par-5 18th, but then it took them four shots to get down in the scramble format, taking bogey.

Having Team Woods in the mix is enough to get attention.

“It’s great for the tournament and happy for them,” Langer said. “Should be fun for the crowd tomorrow to come out and watch everybody play.”

Woods hasn’t competed since the British Open in July.

For Team Woods, it’s a matter of not looking too far ahead. The father knows that all too well with his record-tying 82 titles on the PGA Tour. The son got a lesson in that this summer.

Charlie Woods qualified for his first U.S. Junior Amateur, making it to Oakland Hills but not staying very long. He shot rounds of 82-80 and didn’t make it to match play. He also fell short in Monday qualifying for the Cognizant Classic on the PGA Tour and U.S. Open qualifying.

But he said the U.S. Junior was his biggest learning moment.

“It’s about focusing on my playing,” Charlie said. “I was so focused on winning and how I played that it kind of crept into how am I going to win instead of how I’m going to play the shot. And it kind of built up and that caused two very, very bad rounds of golf. But live and learn.”

His father listened to the answer and nodded.

“Learn,” Woods said.

The PNC Championship is for players who won a major or The Players Championship and a family member. Annika Sorenstam is playing with her son, while Nelly Korda is playing with her father. Steve Stricker — winner of seven senior majors — is playing with daughter Izzy, a freshman at Wisconsin.

Korda dazzled with a fairway metal out of the sand on the par-5 14th to set up eagle. Team Korda was four shots behind.

SKIING

Lindsey Vonn was not about to put everything on the line in her first World Cup race back after more than five years of retirement.

Not with her history of crashes and injuries.

Not with her new titanium knee.

Not at age 40.

Vonn took a low-risk approach and finished 14th in a super-G on Saturday in St. Moritz, Switzerland, crossing 1.18 seconds behind Austrian winner Cornelia Huetter.

“This was the perfect start,” Vonn said. “Today is just the first step and I’m not looking for more. Today I really needed to get to the finish. I wanted to have a solid result. And that’s exactly what I did.

“There’s definitely a lot that I have left to give,” Vonn added. “Today was not the day to try to do anything special.”

Still, when Vonn came down, the crowd of Swiss-flag-waving fans turned silent in anticipation and all of the other top skiers watched her run on a perfectly clear day in the Alps.

“To have her back on the world stage is just fantastic,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, president and CEO of U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “Just the attention she’s bringing to the sport and the role model she is — it’s a big day.

“These kind of moments transcend outside of just sports. We see it with Mikaela (Shiffrin) and what she’s done recently, which is just superhuman as well, setting all those records.”

Vonn lost time early in her run but nearly matched the top finishers in the middle and bottom section of the Corviglia course.

When she reached the finish and saw her time, Vonn flashed a wide smile and waved to the crowd.

“I didn’t risk anything with the line. I was a little bit conservative in some sections, but overall I skied really well. Now I just need my top section to be a little faster and I’ll be in really good shape,” said Vonn, who is planning to race another super-G in St. Moritz on Sunday.

Vonn finished less than a second off the podium, which also included Olympic champion Lara Gut-Behrami in second place, 0.18 behind Huetter, and Sofia Goggia in third, 0.33 back.

“I’m really close to being there,” Vonn said. “I’m just not quite there yet.”

Vonn started No. 31 under a new wild card rule for former champions. But that still meant going after all of the current top-ranked skiers had raced.

“The course was a little bit bumpy when I went and so some sections I was a little bit more conservative with my line,” she said. “But in some sections I was really fast.”

Vonn had to cut her career short in 2019 due to a series of crashes and injuries, but then she had knee replacement surgery in April and had two titanium pieces inserted into her right knee. Her knee feels better than it has in years, so she decided to come back.

“The last few years of my career were so much different than they are right now,” Vonn said. “I’m skiing without thinking about my knee, which I really haven’t done since I first tore my ACL in 2013. So it’s been a long time that I felt this good and I’m a little bit older, but honestly, I’m a hell of a lot stronger than I once was.”

Vonn left the tour with 82 World Cup wins — the record for a woman at the time and within reach of the then all-time Alpine mark of 86 held by Swedish standout Ingemar Stenmark. The women’s record held by Vonn was eclipsed last year by Shiffrin, who now has an outright record 99 wins.

SOCCER

Angel City Football Club’s roster makeover continued on Friday with the team trading Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez to Kansas City and forward Katie Johnson announcing her retirement.

Rodriguez, who arrived before last season in a trade with the Portland Thorns, will join the KC Current, with Angel City receiving $100,000 in intra-league transfer funds.

“After speaking with Rocky, it was decided that this trade was a desired outcome,” ACFC technical director Mark Wilson said. “We are grateful for her contributions to our season and wish her the best.”

Rodriguez appeared in 20 games last season with Angel City.

“Rocky is a player with great experience who brings even more quality and depth into our midfield group,” Current sporting director and coach Vlatko Andonovski said.

“Her knowledge of this league and the competition will be beneficial to our team and we’re happy to bring her to Kansas City.”

Johnson, a Monrovia native, is retiring after eight seasons. After a four-year career at USC, Johnson was a first-round pick of the Seattle Reign in the 2017 NWSL Draft.

The Seattle Reign acquired Olympic gold medalist Lynn Williams in a trade with Gotham FC.

The Reign also received goalkeeper Cassie Miller in the trade announced Friday. Gotham received midfielder Jaelin Howell, an international roster spot and $70,000 in allocation money.

Williams, the National Women’s Soccer League’s all-time leading scorer with 80 goals, joined the league in 2015 as the sixth overall draft pick by the now-defunct Western New York Flash.

Over the course of her NWSL career, Williams has won four league championships and three NWSL Shields. She was the league’s Most Valuable Player and the Golden Boot winner for most goals in 2016.

Williams has appeared in 75 games for the U.S., scoring 25 goals and 13 assists. She earned a bronze medal with the team at the Tokyo Olympics, and a gold in the Paris Games this summer.