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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. - A day after Butch Harmon, Tiger Woods' former coach, said the world's top-ranked golfer was "in denial" about his swing troubles, Woods fought back.

"He doesn't know really what I'm working on," Woods said Saturday at the U.S. Open after his third-round 3-over-par 73 left him nine strokes behind leader Retief Goosen. "He has never asked me. And I've never talked to him about it. No one really knows."

That's part of the problem, Harmon said.

"He won't tell anyone what he's working on," Harmon told London-based SKY Sports. "He's very secretive about the work he's doing for some reason. I don't quite understand that."

Harmon served as Woods' coach during a stretch in which he won seven of 11 major tournaments he played in. His only victory without Harmon by his side came at the 1997 Masters.

During their time together, Woods overhauled his swing into one that he and Harmon said would prove more effective over a long career.

Though Woods repeatedly has said he is "close" to putting his swing together, Harmon disagrees.

"He is not working on the right things in his golf swing," Harmon told SKY Sports. "For him to stand there at every one of his interviews and say, 'I am close; I feel really good about what I am doing,' I think it might be a bit of denial."

Woods, whose tee shots have found just 47 percent of the fairways at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, said he thought his dispute with Harmon was settled before being told about his former teacher's comments.

"I don't understand why he would ever say anything like that especially when we've been as close as we are," said Woods, who has played in seven major tournaments without a victory, the second-longest stretch of his career.

FLESCH TIED FOR 11TH: Steve Flesch of Union, Ky., was seven strokes behind Goosen in a tie for 11th at 2-over-par 212 after an even-par 70 Saturday.

MASTERS-OPEN DOUBLE: Since the Masters began in 1934, five players have won the first two legs of the Grand Slam (Masters, U.S. Open) - Craig Wood (1941), Ben Hogan (1951, '53), Arnold Palmer (1960), Jack Nicklaus (1972) and Woods (2002). Phil Mickelson won this year's Masters.