Tiger Woods and son Charlie share the lead at PNC Championship in Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — 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 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.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Gary Player, of South Africa, watches his tee shot on the fifth hole during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Padraig Harrington, left, and his son Paddy Harrington line up their putt on the 18th green hole during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Mark O'Meara, left, and his son Shaun O'Meara talk about their next shot before teeing off on the fifth hole during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Tiger Woods, left, talks with his son Charlie Woods, right, after finishing on the 18th green during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Orlando. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Lee Trevino tees off on the fifth hole during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

John Daly, left, and his son John Daly II wait to putt on the third green hole during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Justin Leonard hits out of a bunker onto the third green during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Fred Couples watches his tee shot on the fourth hole during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Charlie Woods tees off on the fifth hole during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Tiger Woods tees off on the fifth hole during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Annika Sorenstam, left, congratulates her son Will McGee after his shot to the 18th green during the first round o the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Tom Lehman hits from the third fairway during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Charlie Woods hits out of a bunker onto the fourth green during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Tiger Woods hits out of a bunker onto the fourth green during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Nelly Korda watches her tee shot on the fourth hole during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Tiger Woods, right, and his son Charlie Woods discuss their putt on the third green during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Bernhard Langer reacts after chipping onto the 18th green during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Vijay Singh, left, and his son Qass Singh line up their putt on the 18th green during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Charlie Woods, right, gets a fist bump from his father, Tiger Woods after making their putt on the fourth green during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 in Orlando. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

BEIRUT (AP) — A prominent Lebanese politician held talks on Sunday with the insurgent who led the overthrow of Syria's President Bashar Assad, with both expressing hope for a new era in relations between their countries.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt was a longtime critic of Syria's involvement in Lebanon and blamed Assad's father, former President Hafez Assad, for the assassination of his own father decades ago. He is the most prominent Lebanese politician to visit Syria since the Assad family's 54-year rule came to an end.

He held talks with Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who led the Sunni Islamist rebels who swept into Damascus earlier this month and forced the younger Assad from power.

“We salute the Syrian people for their great victories and we salute you for your battle that you waged to get rid of oppression and tyranny that lasted over 50 years,” said Jumblatt, a key figure in Lebanon’s Druze minority and the former leader of a leftist party.

He expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

Jumblatt's father, Kamal, was killed in 1977 in an ambush near a Syrian roadblock during Syria's military intervention in Lebanon's civil war. The younger Jumblatt was a critic of the Assads, though he briefly allied with them at one point to gain influence in Lebanon's ever-shifting political alignments.

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he said, pledging that it would respect Lebanese sovereignty.

Al-Sharaa also repeated longstanding allegations that Assad's government was behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which was followed by other killings of prominent Lebanese critics of Assad.

Last year, the United Nations closed an international tribunal investigating the assassination after it convicted three members of Lebanon's Hezbollah — an ally of Assad — in absentia. Hezbollah denied involvement in the massive Feb. 14, 2005 bombing, which killed Hariri and 21 others.

“We hope that all those who committed crimes against the Lebanese will be held accountable, and that fair trials will be held for those who committed crimes against the Syrian people,” Jumblatt said.

Separately, Iran's supreme leader said that young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after Assad's overthrow as he again accused the United States and Israel of sowing chaos in the country.

Iran had provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's nearly 14-year civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising. Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Hezbollah.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in an address on Sunday that the “young Syrian has nothing to lose" and suffers from insecurity following Assad's fall.

“What can he do? He should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity," Khamenei said. “God willing, he will overcome them.”

He accused the United States and Israel of plotting against Assad's government in order to seize resources, saying: “Now they feel victory, the Americans, the Zionist regime and those who accompanied them.”

Iran and its militant allies in the region have suffered a series of major setbacks over the past year, with Israel battering Hamas in Gaza and landing heavy blows on Hezbollah before they agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon last month.

Khamenei denied that such groups were proxies of Iran, saying they fought because of their own beliefs and that the Islamic Republic did not depend on them. “If one day we plan to take action, we do not need proxy force,” he said.

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s Syria coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/syria

FILE - Lebanese Druse leader Walid Jumblatt speaks to the media after a meeting with France's President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to the crowd during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. A portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini hangs at right. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to the crowd during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)