Teacher wants to make Woods comfortable
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Butch Harmon drove four hours from
Houston to give a quick lesson to Tiger Woods before the final
round of the Byron Nelson Classic but he showed up early at the
Colonial to make sure everything was in place.
"I'm just here for the day," Harmon said Tuesday
at Colonial Country Club. "I just want to make sure he feels
comfortable."
Woods will be trying to win his third consecutive start at
the Colonial following his victories at the Nelson and the Masters.
The last player win three straight starts was Nick Price in 1993.
While Harmon wants to make sure things are in their proper
place for the Colonial, the broader agenda is getting Woods game
to peak at the U.S. Open in June.
"We'll work for a while this afternoon," Harmon said
"Then we won't get together again until the week before Congressional,"
he said, referring to the site of Open. "We want him to be
in top form then."
Harmon said Woods' victory in the Nelson while not playing
exceptionally well shows how much he has grown as a golfer.
"He made absolutely no mental mistakes coming down the
stretch," Harmon said. "He put the ball in the right
spots in the fairways and didn't go after sucker pins."
Harmon called Woods "the smartest player since Nicklaus,
Hogan being the smartest ever."
Woods tends to have problems with his posture, Harmon explained,
and the key was standing more erect. Harmon said Woods' other
chronic problems are having the club face too closed at the top
of the swing, causing him to hit over greens, and being too aggressive
as a putter.
"But that's just being young," Harmon said about
the putting.
---
ROYAL PAIR: Tiger Woods got a royal hug from Sarah Ferguson,
the Duchess of York, after he won the Byron Nelson on Sunday,
raising the interesting question of how they got to be such pals.
"Sarah and I are good friends," Woods said Tuesday.
"We've talked a lot (on the telephone). She's helped me a
lot. It's nice to meet her face-to-face."
How does a 21-year-old golfer from the colonies get to meet
royalty from the mother country?
"I met her through Kevin," Woods said.
Kevin, of course, is Kevin Costner.
Of course.
DIVOTS: Carvel Ice Cream Bakery conducted an informal survey
of children asking them who they wished they could be when blowing
out their birthday cake candles. First daughter Chelsea Clinton
was No. 1 and Tiger Woods was second, finishing ahead of Xena
the Princess warrior, Darth Vadar and Michael Jordan, in that
order. ... Fuzzy Zoeller won the 1981 Colonial. ... Nick Price
withdrew from the Colonial because of a sore wrist. ... Interesting
timing by American Express to announce its endorsement deal with
Tiger Woods the same week MasterCard is the title sponsor for
the Colonial Invitational. ... While much has been made about
Tiger Woods turning down President Clinton's invitation to join
him in honoring Jackie Robinson, it apparently was not the first
time Woods had turned down the President. One source close to
Woods said he has been asked either to play golf or join the President
in another activity five previous times.
|
