Butch Harmon discusses his stable - Phil Mickelson, Nick Watney, Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland.
Sky Sports expert Butch Harmon talks us through the four stars he'll be coaching at Augusta - Phil Mickelson, Nick Watney, Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland
PHIL MICKELSON
Sky Sports: Phil Mickelson obviously knows Augusta like the back of his hand so what work do you do with him that week?
Butch Harmon: Well, Phil Mickelson is obviously a person that is a perennial favourite at Augusta. He's won the Green Jacket three times, he knows the course, as you say, better than anyone. He's already been there practising and charting the greens. As for the work we are doing leading up to The Masters, we did some work last week practising with different drivers - drivers he can flight his ball a little differently, the way he likes to at Augusta. There's a lot of right-to-left holes at Augusta which for a right-handed player would be a draw but for Phil is a nice high fade which is easier to control than the draw. So we usually use a different driver at Augusta with a little different loft and a little different characteristics so he can hit these fades so we've already started working on that. And then Phil Mickelson is so comfortable at Augusta. He feels so well there, he's had great success there, he's always going to be one of the favourites and he's really looking forward to it.
Sky Sports: Might he put two drivers in the bag again this year, something he's done before at Augusta?
Butch Harmon: Well there's a possibility. We've experimented with a couple of different ones. As of right now, we're thinking of settling on one but, knowing Phil, I wouldn't rule that out because every now and then he throws us a curve. We have tried a couple, we've got two or three that are very good for Augusta, we'll just have to see how we progress before we get there.
Sky Sports: He struggled early in the season but then had that big turnaround with a win at Pebble and a play-off loss at Riviera. Was that something you had seen coming?
Butch Harmon: Well we've seen that coming for quite a while but he hasn't putted well at all. Probably the last 18 months is the most inconsistently Phil Mickelson has ever putted. In the off-season he went back and took out a putter that he'd putted with when he was a young kid. He knows that it had less loft on than the putter he used all last year. He doesn't have to forward press the putter as much with his hands, his hands stay quieter. He's started to roll the ball a lot better on the greens which in turn has given him a lot of confidence.
NICK WATNEY
Sky Sports: A couple of years ago Nick had that great final round (he finished seventh) and you were very excited about him being a future major champion, with Augusta being the most likely venue. Does that still hold?
Butch Harmon: Yes, Nick Watney's game is really suited for Augusta. He drives the ball beautifully, he shapes his shots right to left which is his natural shape and he can move the ball around trajectory-wise. He loves Augusta National, it's a place he feels comfortable at. His pitching and wedge game has gotten so much better which is very important when you play at Augusta because of the fact that you're going to miss greens and the grass is so tightly mown around the greens so you have to have a good short game to do well there. Nick's putting has really turned around, his pitching's really turned around and he is just really anxious for April to come and for the Masters to start. He loves the place and I really look for him to have a great week.
Sky Sports: Was last year just a blip as he struggled (Nick was 46th after finishing 7-19-11 in his first three Masters) despite going into the tournament in great shape?
Butch Harmon: Yeah, it really was a very strange scenario the way the thing played out. He had a lot of family and friends there and I think he kind of lost his focus. We talked about that during the off-season. He puts so much pressure on himself now at majors as he knows your career is measured on how you play in majors and last year I think he got too hyped up, he put too much pressure on himself. But this year we've talked a lot about just going in and, even though it's The Masters, just playing golf. I've told him 'look, you know the course suits your game, let's just go and relax and enjoy it' and I think you're going to see a more relaxed Nick Watney.
DUSTIN JOHNSON
Sky Sports: A lot of people put him forward as your ideal man for Augusta with his big-hitting but is his short game really tight enough to challenge for the Green Jacket because he hasn't yet bettered tied 30th in three visits?
Butch Harmon: Well, Dustin Johnson is a very long hitter, one of the longest in the world. You know he's coming off knee surgery in the off-season and he's starting to round into form a lot better as he was a little shaky at the start of the year. His knee is strong, he feels good about that, but the weak link in Dustin Johnson's game is his wedge play and his pitching. It's something that he's worked on very hard but, to me, he's still not where he needs to be and this, I think, will be a factor at Augusta again for him as it's been in the past. You have to have a great short game around these greens, you have to have tremendous imagination, feel and creativity and right now DJ really struggles in that department. Although he's worked hard on it, I think until he really masters that part of the game he's not going to fare as well at Augusta as we all think he should.
Sky Sports: Obviously, it's the one major where he hasn't challenged as he's gone close in the other three. Is it just the golf course?
Butch Harmon: I think it is just the golf course. Augusta lends itself to a person who is a completely rounded player and, as I said a moment ago, in DJ's case he's still not as sharp in his wedge play and short game around the greens as he needs to be. He knows that's his weakness and he knows he has to improve on that. When he gets that down and is comfortable with it, he's going to contend for a long time there.
GARY WOODLAND
Sky Sports: Would the need to hone short-game skills also apply to Gary Woodland, another big hitter you now work with?
Butch Harmon: Gary Woodland's a different player. Gary Woodland's probably the longest hitter in the game today. He drives the ball well but he's going through a swing change. I've been working with Gary for a couple of months now - every shot he saw was a high, left-to-right fade and I'm trying to have him move his ball around, right-to-left, up-down and change trajectories so he hasn't been as consistent as he needs to be. He has really struggled with the putter this year and that's the thing that's stopped him from contending. I think the thing that hurts Gary Woodland at Augusta is that he hasn't played enough there. Augusta National is the kind of course that you have to know very well. There are so many little nuances about it, about the way balls bounce on the greens, the way you play different holes from different parts of the fairway, so he's still in a learning process. He has a tremendous talent, he's a hard worker, he has talked about Augusta a lot and about how much he likes the golf course and how much he thinks it's suited to him but he just needs to learn the little nuances of the golf course before I think he can have a chance to win it.
BUTCH ON THE OTHER CONTENDERS...Sky Sports: Outside of your four guys, who would you expect to put in a big challenge? Obviously Tiger and Rory will be hugely popular but is there anyone else you would tip to go well?
Butch Harmon: I'm very anxious to see Rory go back to Augusta now that he's ascended to number one in the world and had such a tremendous run of tournaments, one right after another. After what happened to him last year I can only imagine that he can't wait to get there. The one I think that could break through this year is Lee Westwood. He's played well there in the past, he's played very well so far this year. The Achilles Heel in Westwood has always been his chipping and pitching, he hasn't been very good at it and I think that's kept him from winning The Masters in the past. But it appears he's really worked hard on that, he seems a lot better on that side of the game and I think Lee Westwood seems to be flying under the radar. He played extremely well at the Honda, although his closing 63 in difficult conditions was overshadowed by Rory's win and Tiger's final round 62, and I really look for Westwood to challenge.
Sky Sports: How do you think last year's winner Charl Schwartzel will get on?
Butch Harmon: There'll be a lot of pressure on him, that's for sure. Because of the fact he flew under the radar last year, birdied the last four holes and just kind of won the Masters without anybody really thinking he did. I actually thought when Adam Scott made that putt for a par on the 17th hole that Adam had won The Masters and then Schwartzel birdied the last four to win. We'll just have to see how he handles the pressure of being the defending champion at such a great tournament.
Sky Sports: How does your week pan out Butch? I expect you're extremely busy!
Butch Harmon: I have my four guys that will be playing and I have my many hours of TV for Sky which I really enjoy, having the opportunity to broadcast The Masters the way we at Sky do. It's just a great honour for us. You know, it's a long, hard week for me but I love Augusta, I love the tournament and I'm really looking forward to it.
Sky Sports: Thanks Butch.
