According to an earlier report from ESPN, Butch Harmon, Tiger Woods' former swing coach and the current swing coach for Phil Mickelson, predicts that Woods will return to compete on the PGA Tour sooner rather than later.
Claude "Butch" Harmon Jr. is the son of 1984 Masters champion, Claude Harmon Sr. He is one of the world's most famous swing instructors, and coaches numerous PGA and LPGA Tour superstars like Adam Scott, Nick Watney, Ernie Els, and Natalie Gulbis. He runs The Butch Harmon School of Golf, which is located in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Although Harmon and Woods severed their instructor-student relationship years ago (Woods works with Hank Haney now), and have traded a couple verbal blows since, they seem to be friendly now. Harmon also works as a commentor for SKY, and is often asked by members of the media to weigh in on Tiger Woods. Today, Harmon said, "If you want to put a timetable on it, I'd say you may see him in Florida before the U.S. Masters [in April]."
There are a number of reasons this prediction may hold weight. It would be hard to believe that Woods would, if physically healthy, miss the year's first major - The Masters - which takes takes place from April 5th thru the eleventh. Woods is still chasing Nicklaus' major championship tally of eighteen, and Augusta National was the site of Woods' first major championship win in 1997.
Making the Masters his homecoming event would be seriously surprising, however. If he does compete in this year's Masters tournament, he will probably come back at least a week or two before in order to get some competitive rounds under his belt. Further, Woods will almost certainly not make The Masters his first event in order to avoid forcing the gentlemanly tournament directors from Augusta National to shoulder the burden of dealing with the maelstrom of paparazzi that would result.
What impact has Tiger's secret life had on junior golfers? Check out the article that touches on this topic.
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