Tiger's niece carving niche

Cheyenne Woods will play at Wake

In the face and on the green, there is no doubt Cheyenne Woods is related to her famous uncle, Tiger.

But Cheyenne and Tiger Woods share more than golf.

Tiger was groomed for the game by his father, Earl Woods Sr., who was Cheyenne's grandfather and her first golf mentor. Earl Woods died in 2006.

Cheyenne Woods, one of the best female high school golfers in the country, will have a new home for the next four years after signing with Wake Forest.

She fell in love with the campus and the cozy feel of walking the quad.

"It's just beautiful there," Woods said last week from Walt Disney World's Palm Golf Course, where she won the Bill Dickey Invitational Junior Golf Championship. "And it is a small school. I like that. I just love Wake Forest."

Cheyenne Woods, a two-time Arizona state high school champion, and Tiger Woods live about 400 miles apart, so they don't see each other often.

He has given feedback after watching tapes and once brought her in to work with him and swing coach Hank Haney.

She picked up her first club when she was about 5 years old on a visit to her grandfather's home in Cypress, Calif.

He had installed netting in the garage to corral Tiger's practice drives. Tiger laughed when Cheyenne pulled out his 5-iron and began swinging it as hard as she could.

Earl Woods scrounged up Tiger's old cut-off clubs and gave her a first lesson on how to correctly hold a golf club.

The miles between grandfather and grandchild were too great for the type of training Earl Sr. gave Tiger, but Cheyenne's grandfather bought her a set of clubs, evaluated tapes and helped her learn to focus on the course.

The mental part of golf intrigues her so much that she plans to major in psychology at Wake Forest.

"It fascinates me what a change in mind-set can do," Cheyenne Woods said. "I really want to understand that better."

She listens to music -- R&B, hip hop or rap -- to focus before practice or competition, and her mental toughness is one of the strongest parts of her game.

"One of the things that impresses you about her is that she doesn't seem to be fazed by how she is playing," Wake Forest coach Dianne Dailey said. "If you watch her reaction, you don't know if she has hit a great shot or a bad one."

Cheyenne Woods is strong in all aspects of the game but said she needs to be more consistent.

"I can hit the shots, I just don't always do it," she said.

She said she has no idea how many tournaments she has won but that 30 sounds about right, including back-to-back individual state high school titles while helping Phoenix Xavier High to four straight championships.

Cheyenne Woods was ranked No. 51 in the junior girls rankings by Golfweek after winning her second straight Arizona 5-A high school title at Xavier.

She also has won the American Junior Golf Association Nike Golf Junior, the Big I Junior Classic and two U.S. Kids Golf World Championships.

"She is much better than that ranking," Dailey said. "She hasn't played in as many tournaments as some of the girls. She can be a great golfer. She has a tremendous swing, and she is mentally tough."

She is accustomed to the golf spotlight now, although it took a while for her to understand the attention that comes with being Tiger Woods' niece.

"When I first started playing, my relationship was no big deal because everyone around home knew about it," she said. "But when I started going to national tournaments, I was answering a lot of questions."

She has learned that some people think they know her because they have followed her uncle's career.

Her long-term goal is to play on the LPGA Tour, but first she wants to enjoy her college experience.

"Golf is at the center of my world," she said. "But I don't want it to be my entire world.

"I'm different from the person that some people think I am. I'm pretty laid back. I like to have a good time. I like to spend time with my friends."

Her thoughts revolve around Wake Forest, not the LPGA.

Dailey said she has high hopes for Cheyenne Woods.

"She can be one of the best golfers in college golf," Dailey said. "I recruited her because of who she is. She can play better, and hopefully I can help her get there.

"She has played in a pretty big shadow, but she is beginning to emerge from it."