Butch on possible Woods return: "I think it's probably even bigger than when he came back and won in '19"

Sky Sports golf expert, Butch Harmon

BUTCH Harmon has been to the Masters so many times, he finds it easier to count the few he's missed than try to work out how many he's seen.

As the son of 1948 Masters champion Claude and coach to Tiger Woods when he won the 1997 Masters by 12 strokes and the 2000 US Open by 15, his opinion counts.

So when he says that time is not running out for Rory McIlroy to win another major after nearly eight years in the doldrums, you have to believe him, even if McIlroy is making his 14th attempt to win — meaning he will match Billy Casper in the number of attempts required before winning at Augusta.

Only Mark O’Meara, who won at the 15th attempt and Sergio Garcia, who took 19 goes, will have taken longer than McIlroy if he succeeds next Sunday.

"Jack Nicklaus proved in '86 that time doesn't run out for these players, and Mickelson proved it, going out and winning the PGA at 50 years old," said the 78-year old, who will be one of Sky Sports' experts at Augusta National next week. "So I don't think time's running out; I think he might be getting a little frustrated with himself that he hasn't won, not just the Masters or another major in quite a while."

Harmon was speaking before McIlroy went to San Antonio and missed the cut by two strokes in the Valero Texas Open.

Nevertheless, he sees improvements in the Co Down man's game, especially his putting under Brad Faxon and believes a Masters victory could open the floodgates to more major wins, given that golf is such a game of confidence.

"It's a confidence thing," he said. "Winning breeds confidence, and if you're not winning, it's pretty hard to be confident in what you're doing. So I would love to see him win and just get the monkey off his back, and then I think he'll take off and start winning a lot of majors again, but this one is a lot of pressure for him.

"I definitely think that he has the game to do it, that's for sure. Now, if he can slip on a green jacket next Sunday night, he would have a tremendous amount of confidence, and he could run off and win a bunch of 'em. But first you gotta get this one."

When Colin Montgomerie was Ryder Cup captain in 2010, and he heard on the radio that Dustin Johnson had hit an enormous drive and had just a flick of a wedge to the green, he would breathe a sigh of relief.

"Well, it's only Dustin; he's more likely to miss the green than hit it close," the Scot was reported to have said at Celtic Manor that week.

The American corrected that fault and went on to win two majors and reign as world number one for 64 consecutive weeks, but McIlroy appears to be struggling to achieve the same control with the short clubs.

"It reminds me a lot of Dustin Johnson five or six years ago when I had a conversation with DJ at the end of the year, and I showed him his stats from 150 yards in," Harmon recalled. "I told him it was horrendous. And I said if you can fix this, you're going to be the best player in the world. And he went to work on it. He brought up a launch monitor and he carries four wedges. That means you got 12 different swings for three lengths of each backswing. 

"He started charting how far he could hit the balls with each swing. And now, if you watch him warm-up, he probably has the longest warm-up on tour. He'll warm up for an hour and 30 minutes, an hour and 40 minutes in the first 40 minutes is nothing but wedges with the launch monitor right there. He'll tell you, I'm gonna hit this 80 and it'll go 81 or 79.

"If you look at Rory's swing, it's built for a driver. He's got the most beautiful driver swing you could have with a big flowing beautiful release, but the wedge game is a little different than that. You gotta hold the club off a little bit. And I think that that's more important now with this new equipment 'cause boy, he hits it so much further than he ever did before. He'll get it figured out. And when he does, he's gonna be something special to watch."

With much of the pre-Masters talk centred around Tiger Woods and his possible return from horrific leg injuries to play at Augusta National next week, Harmon would not be surprised, given what happened at Augusta National in 2019.

"I don't think he'd ever show up if he didn't feel like he had a chance to be very competitive," Harmon said. "I just don't think that's his nature. I don't think he's gonna show up to shoot 78-78. That to me is not Tiger Woods, so we're just going to have to wait and see 'cause he's damn sure not gonna tell us.

"The one thing I will tell you about Tiger Woods, you could never say never with Tiger Woods. I mean, he will always prove you wrong. He has this tremendous will to survive no matter what it is. And he's very competitive in everything he does. I think we learned the last time. I, for one, never thought he would win another tournament again, much less another major. And he did come back (from spinal fusion surgery) and win it. So you can never say never with him and know nothing surprises you about the guy.

"Even if he doesn't win, just say he plays and he plays respectably, makes the cut, maybe gets in the hunt a little. I think it's probably even bigger than when he came back and won in '19 because when you consider the severity of this traffic accident that he created for himself, it's amazing he's still alive.”

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Woods' first major win at the Masters by the incredible margin of 12 strokes.

It's a memory that's burned into Harmon's consciousness, and his recollection of it speaks volumes about the Masters and Woods' love of tradition and the history of the game.

"Oh yeah, I'll never forget it," Harmon recalled. "The one thing I loved about Tiger Woods is he always wanted to know the history of the game, and he always wanted me to tell him stories about the old-timers and my dad's relationship with Ben Hogan. And I said, you know, my dad's greatest feeling in his professional life was when he walked up the 18th fairway at Augusta on Sunday with a five-shot lead and he knew he couldn't lose. 

"And I said, you're going to have that feeling one day. And lo and behold, in '97, I'm standing behind the 18th green and behind his mom and dad and it's kind of dusk and I've got my sunglasses on 'cause I got tears in my eyes. I'm thinking, damn, he sure is doing it, and by a hell of a lot more than five shots.

"That, to me, was probably one of the coolest memories that I have."

Watch The Masters this April live on Sky Sports and NOW. Coverage from April 4-10 will be exclusively live on Sky Sports Golf.