Tiger Woods finishing PGA Championship ‘upset’ former coach Butch Harmon

Everyone is weighing in with an opinion Tiger Woods and his week at the PGA Championship, including his former swing coach Butch Harmon. Woods grimaced through another round of 74 on Friday, but if it were up to Harmon, he never would have made it to the back nine.

In his role as analyst for the Sky Sports coverage at Valhalla, Harmon said he was surprised and upset to see Tiger, clearly in pain after almost every shot, continue to play on past the front nine. “Tiger Woods had a disastrous day,” said the man who instructed Woods during his most dominant stretch of golf. “In all honesty, I was really ... upset with him for playing the back nine, for want of a better word.”

The expectation of a second straight Tiger WD crescendoed at about the 7th hole, where he winced in pain and grabbed for his back as soon as he hit his drive way left into some marsh. Once there, he labored and limped out of the junk after hitting a recovery shot.

Once back on the fairway, Tiger grimaced in pain and lifted his leg off the ground looking for relief after airmailing an approach shot over the green.

A duffed chip shot and double bogey later, and the WD seemed assured as the turn approached.

But Woods went on to the 10th tee, and finished it out on the 18th green. In addition to saying he was “upset” and “surprised” that Tiger played the back nine, Harmon speculated that Woods played on to demonstrate he could fight through it and avoid that second straight WD from his now persistent injury problems.“I think Tiger wanted to show ‘I came here to play, I’m going to finish my round’. Quite frankly he swung at about 70 per cent on the back nine and hit a lot of good shots.”

The Harmon-Woods breakup wasn’t exactly smooth, and it’s been frosty at times in the years since Harmon stopped working with him. But Harmon said he just wants Tiger to get healthy, because the game is better when Woods is better. “I hope he goes home and gets healthy and comes back because the game is in a better place when Tiger Woods is at the top of the leaderboard.”

Harmon is considered by most to be the best coach in the game, a reputation he achieved largely by working with Tiger. He now counts Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler among his top students. But the swing guru didn’t go into the specifics or mechanics of what Tiger is doing wrong or could do better to avoid injury, something that another former Woods instructor, Hank Haney, is never shy about.

Until Tiger starts winning again, whether it’s from Haney, a set of anonymous coaches, Brandel Chamblee, or Paul Azinger, we’re going to hear constant analysis and critique of his swing. Is that causing the health issue or is the back trouble preventing the sharpening of his current Sean Foley motion? No one’s voice would carry more weight than Harmon’s.