Butch Harmon: Competing at Augusta would be Woods' greatest Masters achievement
File photo dated 22-07-2018 of Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods won his first major title in the 1997 Masters, overcoming a nightmare start to storm to a record-breaking 12-shot victory. Issue date: Thursday March 31, 2022. PA Photo. See PA story GOLF Woods Moments. Photo credit should read Jane Barlow/PA Wire.
If Tiger Woods not only plays the Masters next week but competes for the Green Jacket, Butch Harmon believes the achievement will be greater than the former number one’s comeback victory at Augusta National in 2019.
The will he, won’t he intrigue of whether Woods, 46, will tee it up in Thursday’s opening round in Georgia is captivating golf fans across the world ahead of the year’s first major. The 15-time major champion suffered terrible injuries to his legs and ankle in a February 2021 car crash in California and later admitted he feared he would lose a leg. The American underwent surgeries to repair several compound fractures in both legs and his shattered ankle but returned to competitive golf when he partnered 12-year-old son Charlie at the PNC Championship in Orlando last December.
Yet going to the first tee of a major, never mind at Augusta National for the opening round of the Masters represents a significant intensification of the demands Woods will be placing on his body. He has been in similar situations before, not least when he returned from four back surgeries to win his fifth Green Jacket and a first major title in 11 years at the 2019 Masters.
Woods described that win as like having climbed Mount Everest given the circumstances he had overcome and when asked at the weekend about what it would require to see him returning to Augusta later this week, his former coach and Sky Sports expert Harmon said: “What the hell is taller than Everest, because that is what he's climbing.
“If he plays and plays respectably, makes the cut maybe, gets in the hunt a little, it's even bigger than when he came back and won in 2019 , because you consider the severity of the incident, it's amazing he's still alive, let alone playing.”
Yet Harmon, who helped Woods to his first eight majors from his maiden Masters in 1997 to 2002, does not think Woods will play just for the sake of it.
“The way I used to know Tiger, I think if he doesn’t feel he can be competitive he wouldn’t even play,” he said.
“He would know whether he can or can’t, and it’s not just one day, he’s got to do it for four days in a tournament. If he does show up and play, I think we have to believe he thinks he can get it done.
“One thing I will tell you about Tiger Woods, you could never say never. He will prove you wrong. He has this tremendous will to survive, no matter what it is. I think we learned last time that I for one never thought he would win another tournament again, much less another major.”
Few know Augusta National better than Harmon, whose father Claude won the 1948 Masters. Now 78, he played the course last month and will return there as a Sky Sports analyst for the tournament for the first time in two years having broadcast on the event remotely from his Nevada home due to Covid.
“The Masters is such a special place for me. My dad won in 1948, I've been going there my whole life. I would go to every major with my dad. There were no ropes then, you just walked down the fairway with the players. My father and Ben Hogan were best friends so they played every practice round together and it became a ritual.”
Never though, has Harmon found a Masters so difficult to pick a potential champion: “It's wide open. Scottie Scheffler is number one in the world. He has only won three times. None of the superstars have won any tournament.
“Just look at the guys not at the Masters this year: Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson, (Ian) Poulter, (Phil) Mickelson of his own choosing. There is a changing of the guard. There is a lot of great young players and that is why it's hard to pick a winner for this year's Masters.”
Harmon, though, did row behind a return to form for reigning US Open champion Jon Rahm and also namechecked Patrick Cantlay and Tommy Fleetwood while not discounting four-time major champion Rory McIlroy’s chances of finally getting over the winning line in the Masters, though he was speaking before the Irishman missed the cut on Friday night at the Valero Texas Open.
“We all want to see Rory win because we would like to see him complete the lifetime Grand Slam,” Harmon said. “He's swinging the club better and he's starting to putt better. If he can slip on that Green Jacket he could run off with a whole bunch of majors.”
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