Tiger Woods was giving high-fives and hugs in the crowd Saturday when his daughter, Sam Woods, and The Benjamin School varsity girls soccer team won the Florida 2A FHSAA state championship.
Sam, a 17-year-old senior at The Benjamin School in Palm Beach and a captain on the team, helped the Buccaneers defeat the Episcopal School of Jacksonville 1-0 at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand, Fla., to win the program’s first state title.
The father-daughter duo shared a sweet embrace and were seen hugging in a video captured by The Palm Beach Post.
Emma Bartoli, a freshman, scored the only goal in the game.
The Buccaneers defense — led by Sam and her best friend, fellow senior Emily Simon — was key in the team’s championship run.
“The defense really led the team all year,” Benjamin head coach Hillary Carney said. “It was a matter of keeping the door shut and not letting them score and knowing we would get one, maybe two. So it was really the stalwart defense leading the way with Emily being in goal and Sam being that senior in the back just settling everything.”
Sam will be attending Stanford University in the fall.
It was a Cinderella season for the Buccaneers.
The girls’ varsity soccer team only won four games during the regular season before they went on a seven-game win streak in the postseason.
The Buccaneers beat out region top seed King’s Academy twice and four-time reigning state champion Lakeland Christian en route to the title.
Woods’ next start on the PGA Tour is still in question.
Sam joins her younger brother, Charlie, as a state champion after he helped Benjamin secure a golf title as a freshman in 2023.
Woods, 49, shares Sam and Charlie, 16, with his ex-wife Elin Nordegren.
