Why Webb Simpson left Butch Harmon for another top Tour coach

For seven-time PGA Tour winner Webb Simpson, choosing the spotlight from his opening-round 67 on the RSM Classic was simple: his ace on the 219-yard par-3 third gap at Sea Island Golf Club’s Plantation Course.

“It was a great moment, great memory,” Simpson mentioned after his spherical.

It looks as if it’s been some time because the 37-year-old PGA Tour veteran, as soon as a top-10 staple and winner of the 2012 U.S. Open, has been within the combine. Though Simpson has made greater than $44 million over the course of his 340-event Tour profession, it’s been a yr since he posted his final top-10 end, which, because it occurs, was at this very match final yr.

But issues are wanting up. Simpson at present sits in a tie for sixth place, three photographs behind chief Cole Hammer. After his spherical, Simpson opened up in regards to the current struggles he’s confronted on the course, and the drastic change he made in an effort to enhance.

“I didn’t have that much confidence last year. It’s hard to create confidence out of nothing,” he mentioned. “I’d work on my game and I just wasn’t quite getting over the hump, but I feel like the last five, six weeks since I’ve been home, my practice sessions are different and they’re reminding me of what it used to feel like and the shots I’m hitting, the way I’m striking the golf ball. So I’m optimistic.”

Another issue making Simpson really feel bullish in regards to the state of his sport is the work he’s been doing with new swing coach Cameron McCormick.

“I’ve gotten three lessons now from Cameron McCormick and I feel like what he’s trying to get me to do is get me in positions that I’ve been in before,” he mentioned. “I think I’m going to blame myself for a couple years there I tried to hit the ball so much further that I got into a number of bad habits that it was hard to see because it happens incrementally over time. But Cameron, he pulled out a bunch of swings from 2011 and 2020 and showed those similarities, so we’re just trying to get it back to where that was.”

Prior to woking with McCormick, Simpson was a longtime scholar of Butch Harmon. But given the gap between them — with Harmon not often away from his base in Las Vegas, and Simpson’s dwelling in North Carolina, the logistics of continuous a profitable relationship grew to become too troublesome.

“I had a tremendous run with Butch, I loved working with Butch,” Simpson mentioned. “You know, my best year ever on Tour winning the Vardon trophy was with Butch. It got to a point where he’s in Vegas and it was so hard to get to him, you know, for just one lesson and make it back to Charlotte. So I just started thinking. Not only that, I want to work with a guy I’m going to see on the road more. You know, Butch is not traveling. I’ve known Cameron from a number of years out here, but I just, I remember seeing him on the road quite a bit. So I thought, man, that would be a great start of having a guy like that who’s had tons of success.”

McCormick’s highest-profile scholar is Jordan Spieth, who McCormick has coached since Spieth’s junior days.

“I didn’t know a whole lot about [McCormick]and the way he teaches,” Simpson mentioned. “It was kind of like, hey, can you come to Charlotte? We spent a day together the week before the CJ Cup or two weeks before the CJ Cup. Yeah, just hit it off. Like I said, he’s going to be traveling a lot with Jordan [Spieth] and Tom and a couple other guys, so it’s nice for me to think I have a guy out here if I need him.”

Simpson resumes his quest for an eighth profession Tour victory together with his second spherical on the RSM Classic on Friday alongside Justin Rose and Zach Johnson at 10:30 a.m. ET. Check out the complete listing of Round 2 tee occasions right here.

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