Global Golf Post: UK and Ireland

www.globalgolfpost.com
MARCH 12, 2012

along a lot better than people think they do. Are they going to dinner every night and to each other’s birthday party? No. It’s just not their personalities. They like different things in life. But I think when I’m with them, in the locker room where I see them together, when they play, I think they get along fine. I don’t think there’s any hatred there.

in the type of day and the type of course that he’s playing.

watch how he plays. People say to me, when Tiger was so phenomenal, what is the closest thing to Tiger Woods you have ever seen and I will always say Jose Maria Olazabal.

Harmon watches Phil Mickelson during the 2008 British Open.

B has changed. That was 12 years ago. Players have changed. Tiger has changed. His body is different. He’s had, what, two or three surgeries since then? He’s had two children. He’s gone through a very ugly divorce. So many things have happened. Can he get back to a level of winning consistently as much as he did? Personally, I think that’s going to be difficult. I don’t think it’s a physical thing; I think it’s mental.

HARMON Well, I think there is a tremendous respect for each other and with each other. I know Phil has a tremendous amount of respect for Tiger and I think that Tiger has a tremendous amount of respect for the way Phil plays. I think they get

THE POST Yours is a unique perspective. What’s the one thing the media or the public don’t get about Tiger’s and Phil’s relationship?

"Tiger has changed. His body is different. He’s had, what, two or three surgeries since then? ... He’s gone through a very ugly divorce. So many things have happened."

THE POST Moving on to more Phil: You were quoted recently, after he shot the final-round 64 to win at Pebble, as saying that when Phil has to dial back a little bit, whether it’s weather or conditions – i.e. the final round at last year’s British – he plays his best when he has to back off little bit. True? HARMON There’s no doubt about that. I think he plays more under control in tough weather conditions or wind conditions. You don’t see him jumping off the ground, trying to bomb the drive over a bunker or something like that. You see him take what the course gives him. He takes what the weather gives him and I think his concentration level is so much better that way because he gets away from 100 percent aggressive play.

trick him into pretending that those conditions exist when they don’t? HARMON Well, I have tried but that just isn’t his personality. Phil is a modern day Arnold Palmer. He wears it right on his sleeve. He is an aggressive player, I mean, he’s always going to be aggressive. It’s not that he doesn’t play aggressive in adverse conditions, he just tends to dial back a little and play a little more under control. And we talk about this every week so it’s nothing new. It’s just a matter of him buying into the situation and

THE POST Not many people know that Jose Maria Olazabal is one of your favorite players and people. What is it about the way Jose Maria goes about his business and the way he plays golf? HARMON Olazabal is a dear friend of mine. We have been friends for a long time. I was with him and his family at his induction into the Hall of Fame as an invited guest. He is just a phenomenal person when you

THE POST Of the top players, who gets the most out of the least amount of talent? HARMON That’s a good question. Right now, I would have to say Webb Simpson. I think it’s a big year for him this year because he’s going to have to deliver on what he did last year and he’s going to have to validate that A