As possessor of the world’s most analyzed golf swing, Tiger Woods is often amused by what he hears. The noise only intensifies when he plays poorly. Such is the case at the Players Championship as Woods enters with a string of eight straight rounds without breaking 70. In a conference call on Tuesday morning, Golf Channel analyst and former PGA Tour pro Brandel Chamblee suggested that Woods should ditch his current swing coach and reconcile with his former teacher Butch Harmon.
“He needs to fire Sean [Foley],” Chamblee said. “I know he’ll never do that because he’s letting his ego get in the way of common sense. He wants to prove to people he’s right. He would rather prove to people he’s right than be right.”
In the same conference call, analyst Nick Faldo suggested that Woods’ woes are all in his head.
“He just doesn’t have the self-belief, the self-confidence that he obviously had, the Tiger of old,” Faldo said.
Woods was asked about the comments Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass.
“I always find it interesting since they’re not in my head,” Woods said. “They must have some kind of super power I don’t know about.”
Woods had cutting words for Chamblee, who played on the tour before losing his card in 2003.
“I can understand that everyone has an opinion, and he’s entitled to his,” Woods said. “But he is no longer playing anymore. So be it.”
Just six weeks ago, Woods was a PGA Tour winner at Bay Hill. But in the Masters, Woods lost control of his swing and his temper. Last week at the Wells Fargo Championship, Woods missed the cut.
While Foley has built an impressive list of clients on the tour, including Hunter Mahan and Justin Rose, he has struggled to reach Woods. Critics say Woods’ swing — once a free-flowing work of power and grace — has become too studied and mechanical.
Woods hinted at the problem of marrying technique and feel, while trying to master the third major swing change of his career.
“Now, if I get completely uncomfortable and put myself in a position where it feels just awful, I hit it pure. So there’s where I’m developing in the swing,” Woods said. “I’ve been through it with Butch, I’ve been through it with Hank [Haney], and you get through stages like this, go through periods like this.”
– Kevin Dunleavy
