LEMONT, Ill. -- Tiger Woods and Butch Harmon have patched up
their differences.
Woods said Wednesday that he called his former swing coach
recently to talk about criticisms Harmon had made. During the U.S.
Open, Harmon said Woods might be in a "bit of denial" over the state of his game.
The two split after Harmon modeled the swing that helped Woods win seven of
11 majors in one stretch. Woods is now 0-for-8 in the majors, not
winning since the 2002 U.S. Open, and has three victories on the PGA Tour in the last year.
"I decided to pick up the phone and call Butch and handle it
the way it should be handled," Woods said after his pro-am round
at the Western Open. "We talked about every single conceivable
issue and point of view that each of us had, perception-wise.
Sometimes things can be spun out of hand ... and I wanted to hear
it from his mouth and he wanted to hear it from my mouth."
Woods seemed to be particularly upset that Harmon had made his criticisms in public, without going to his former pupil first. But Woods said everything has been straightened out.
"We talked about it for a while," he said. "And things are certainly much better than they were before."
Meanwhile, Woods will change from a Nike 340cc Ignite driver to a Nike 410cc Ignite, which has a bigger club head, at the Western Open, Nike Golf announced Wednesday.
Woods used the new clubs in a practice round this week. He has never played anything bigger than the 340cc Ignite that he switched to in October. This would be a noticeable departure from the old 275cc Titleist he used to play. The bigger head is more forgiving and promotes longer distance.
Woods has a five-year, $125 million endorsement contract with Nike.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.