Her own course to master

ROGERS -- There is no escaping the comparisons and expectations.

Cheyenne Woods may be in her first season on the LPGA Tour, but she knows all about what comes with being a professional golfer and the niece of Tiger Woods.

It's just part of the deal when your uncle is one of the most successful golfers to ever play on the PGA Tour with 79 career victories, including 14 major titles.

But from having her own endorsement deal with Nike to having her own swing coach, Cheyenne Woods prefers to be her own person when it comes to playing golf.

"There really aren't any comparisons, not mechanically," Cheyenne said following Wednesday's pro-am at Pinnacle Country Club, site of the LPGA Northwest Arkansas Championship that begins Friday. "Tiger has always left the mechanics up to my swing coach that I work with back home in Phoenix.

"I talk to Tiger about things off the course or mental stuff. But in terms of on the course, he leaves that up to my swing coach."

Of course, her uncle is having his own issues on the course after making an early exit last weekend in the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place, Wash., where he shot 10-over-par 80 in the first round of a tournament he has won three times before ultimately missing the cut by 11 strokes.

Cheyenne, 24, said she is confident if anyone can turn things around on a golf course, it's her uncle, who once spent 281 weeks as the world's No. 1 player from June 2005 to October 2010.

"He has a great team around him to help him out," she said. "He's doing all the right things. He's one of the hardest workers I've ever seen. He'll definitely be back to where he was.

"I haven't talked to him in a few weeks, and I haven't gotten to see him play too much. I think it's something he needs to work through, and I think he'll get there eventually."

Cheyenne made it through the final qualifying tournament in December to earn her LPGA Tour card. She is 118th on the money list, having earned $25,431 in 11 events with her highest finish being a tie for 24th in March at the Founders Cup in Phoenix.

Despite missing six cuts in the past seven tournaments she has played, Woods' caddie said she is progressing.

"She has the game," said Reynolds Robinson, who has served Woods' caddie for three years. "She is just settling in trying to get comfortable with the courses and full-time tour life.

"She'll get it. She has a lot of talent."

Woods equaled the course record of 9-under 63 and shared the first-round lead at the Manulife LPGA Classic three weeks ago at Whistle Bear Country Club in Cambridge, Ontario, hitting 16 greens and needing only 26 putts in the first round before finishing in a tie for 54th place.

"Getting to come out here and play all these events, getting to know the courses and see what tour life is really like was a goal of mine," Woods said. "I've played on the European Tour and I've played the Symetra Tour, but I wanted to see what the LPGA Tour was like and experience the entire season."

Woods said she had never spent time in Arkansas before this week, other than driving through it on her way from Phoenix to Winston-Salem, N.C., where she was a two-time All-American at Wake Forest. She said other LPGA players are complimentary of the Rogers stop, and with a $2 million purse, it is worth entering.

"I know a lot of the girls say this is one of the best events out here, so I can definitely tell it is pretty good," she said.

While other players talk to her about life on the tour, they haven't made a big deal out of her being a niece to one of the greatest golfers of all time.

"I've known a lot of these girls for awhile," she said. "So for them it's a non-topic."

Sports on 06/25/2015