PGA Championship 2011 Results: Should Tiger Woods Reach Out to Hank Haney?

Stop me if you've heard this before, but Tiger Woods didn't look so hot out on the golf course today. In fact, he looked downright awful.

Some of you might not be up to speed, so maybe we should do a quick recap.

Tiger played the first round of the PGA Championship earlier on Thursday. He got off to a hot start by birdying three of his first five holes on the back nine, but the wheels soon fell off and stayed off for the rest of his time on the course.

Starting with a double-bogey on the par-three 15th, Tiger proceeded to wipe out his three-under start by shooting a 10-over in his final 13 holes.

Do the math, and that's a seven-over 77, the worst round Tiger has ever had at the PGA Championship. It's also not quite in the same ballpark at Steve Stricker's seven under. Not even on the same planet, actually.

So what went wrong exactly? Well, as Tiger tells the story, he got a little too cocky.

Via the Washington Post:

"

I was having mechanical thoughts through those holes, and I figured I was three under, I can start letting it go now, and just play by instinct and feel. And [I] just screwed up my whole round. I’m not at that point where I can do that yet.

"

If Tiger's old instincts and feel for the game are really that far gone, about the only advice that I or anyone else can give him is that he should stick to the basics.

That's something of a tired cliché when it comes to sports, but there is a reason for that. More often than not, simplifying things is the best course of action when one is in a slump.

However, at this point I think it's fair to wonder whether or not Tiger really has the proper help when it comes to the basics. Sean Foley has been his swing coach ever since last year's PGA Championship, and it's pretty difficult to determine exactly how he has helped Tiger.

Sure, he's had a few good rounds here and there, but Tiger has been a little lacking when it comes to consistency. That’s just as much a mechanical issue as it is a mental issue. For what it’s worth, Tiger’s injury absence this year didn’t help in either regard.

As such, maybe it's time to make a change. Tiger has already made one recently, of course, as he decided to fire long-time caddie Steve Williams last month. You may have heard about that. And don't worry, I'm not about to suggest that Tiger needs to go beg to have Williams back.

Instead, I'm about to suggest that he needs to go beg to have Hank Haney back.

You remember Haney, right? He was Tiger's swing coach for six years, but he decided to cut ties with Tiger last May after he withdrew from THE PLAYERS Championship.

Much like Williams, Haney didn't make any effort to hide his frustration with Tiger, as he said Tiger needed something he apparently couldn't get from him.

"He needs what a friend can offer," Haney said, per ESPN. "Whether he values my friendship and whether he feels I can offer anything as a friend, that's up to him."

The rough translation at the time was the same as it is now. Tiger needs a shoulder to cry on, not a guy who can make sure his shoulders are in the proper place.

The difference now is that we actually know that this is not the case. When Tiger fired Williams, he essentially cut ties with a guy who knows him better than anyone. Williams' official title may have been as Tiger's caddie, but he also moonlighted as Tiger's confidante.

If Tiger no longer deemed it necessary to have a confidante like Williams around at all times, his insistence that he needed to make a change takes on new meaning.

Instead of having somebody around to look out for his mentality, he must have decided that he needs to get over himself so he can focus on golf. If he needed to get rid of Williams in order to do that, well, so be it.

If Tiger truly wants to focus on golf and only golf, that’s where Haney can help. Foley doesn’t deserve to be blamed for ruining Tiger’s swing, but there is enough evidence to suggest that he’s not helping it either.

Haney, on the other hand, is a man who should be all too familiar with Tiger’s best swing. Presumably, he can re-install it, so to speak.

He can, but it’s up to Tiger to make the call. He may have to swallow some pride in order to do so, but begging Haney to take him back can only help.

Not much of a guarantee, no doubt about that. But at this point, nothing is guaranteed for Tiger.