WEST LAFAYETTE — Charlie Woods entered the Junior PGA Championship and started slow, just cracking the top 50 on Tuesday at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette. Woods would prove to doubters, if there were any, that he could hold his own on the big stage just over a week after being cut in the U.S. Amateur Championship in Dallas.

Nine birdies in each of his previous two rounds in the 49th Junior PGA Championships put Charlie Woods in contention for a U.S. Junior Ryder Cup spot. But just an ordinary round on Friday knocked him down the board on the final day.

Lunden Esterline finished with a total gross score of 266, 19 under par for the championship that took place over 4 days at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex at Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The FedEx St. Jude Championship will have a very notable absence next week. Rory McIlroy to skip the FedEx Cup event at TPC Southwind.

The PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs begin next week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. World No. 2 Rory McIlroy won't be a part of it. The reigning Masters champion wasn't in the St. Jude field released by the PGA Tour on Friday.

Though the FedEx Cup Playoffs begin next week in Memphis, Tennessee, the No. 2 golfer in the world will not be part of the field. Rory McIlroy's name was absent Friday from the 69-man list of competitors for the 2025 St.