But ask the golfer about his Canadian connection, and he become effusive, talking at length about his relationship with Sean Foley and how the swing coach changed his outlook on golf and life.
"He's not for everyone," Mahan says of Foley, the 36-year old instructor from Burlington, Ont.
"He's a little different and can go on tangents about literature or religion. But I like that. He's a great guy – solid as a rock. You can count on him from a man-to-man perspective. You can count on him."
Mahan played like a man confident with his golf game, carding one of the hot rounds yesterday at St. George's Golf and Country Club in Toronto, though he admitted the greens were soft and scoring conditions were ideal. Nonetheless, his score of 5-under 65 put him near the top of the leaderboard.
Mahan has worked with Foley, the outspoken, well-dressed and generally effervescent swing doctor, since 2008. Foley's rise happened started in 2006, soon after he moved to Toronto to pursue his dream of teaching golf full-time. He admits now that it was a long shot. He had no students in Orlando and everyone he met was a golf teacher.
As luck would have it, Foley had run into Calgary's Stephen Ames the year previous. Ames, who was struggling with a recurring back injury, didn't absolutely buy into Foley's often technical swing theories when the pair first met. But he was interested in what the swing teacher had to say about avoiding further injuries to his tender back.
Foley's outgoing nature and Ames' success, including a win during their first year together, brought the swing coach attention, and with it, more clients. Sean O'Hair, who struggled with an overbearing father, blossomed under Foley's tutelage. Justin Rose, on the other hand, jettisoned a longstanding relationship with David Leadbetter to work with Foley. For the past two months Rose has arguably been the hottest player on the planet, finally fulfilling his potential and winning twice on the PGA Tour.
Foley says he didn't make Rose or O'Hair great players – he just helped them recognize and capitalize on their talent.
"I just take away that they already were that, but they didn't know it," he says. "When they start to understand the mathematics behind why the ball flies or how to make it fly differently, it is cool to see a theoretical application show up in real motion."
Mahan, who won earlier this year in Phoenix, says Foley's strength is in his ability to talk to the level of the student. While the coach will often mix philosophy, biomechanics and swing theory into his rapid-fire speech, Mahan says Foley can still make it understandable.
"That makes him a good teacher – he can be as technical as you want or as simple as you need," he says.
"I tend to want to be a little more technical. I want to know what is going on."
These days Foley has little time, especially at a tournament like the RBC Canadian Open, where he has numerous students in the field, including O'Hair, Oshawa's Jon Mills, and Chris Stroud. On the range, where the caddies call him by his nickname – Axel, after Eddie Murphy's character in Beverley Hills Cop, -- Foley bounces around, dressed impeccably.
Foley says his teaching isn't based in theories – it is fact-based science.
"I'm not searching and that's the beauty of science," he says. "When I'm out on the range and not pontificating on things, I have a check list. Your transmission in your car has a purpose and your body is the same with golf. What is the purpose of your feet? They are used to grip the ground. If my hands are moving away from the body on the downswing, what happens to the golf swing. I've turned over every page trying to learn all of that."
The recent question that has dogged Foley is whether he's been in discussions with the world's No. 1 golfer, Tiger Woods. Woods left long-time swing coach Hank Haney recently, and has been seen speaking with Foley and playing practice rounds with O'Hair and Mahan. The rumors have made Foley a star, and he's even asked to sign autographs at the course by star-stuck kids.
Foley is critical of Haney ("Maybe that's why the demise of [Woods'] swing came so fast – he started listening to that crap," Foley says), and admits he is interested in working with the world's best golfer, who has struggled with his game since returning in April from a self-imposed exile due to a sex scandal.
Foley is laissez-faire about the possibility of working with Woods ("If it happens, then cool. If it doesn't, then that's fine as well."), but adds he would not work exclusively with the golfer.
"I'd never leave my guys, not for any money," he says. "That is so ethically against what I'm about."
As for Mahan, he thinks Foley would be bored only coaching Woods. The instructor needs different problems and new situations to keep him engaged. He completes his remarks just as Foley, dressed hand-to-toe in Nike gear (the company is one of his sponsors) bounces in to talk to Mahan.
"I don't think it is his nature or personality to work with one guy," Mahan says before departing to the clubhouse for a post-round conversation with Foley. "He likes to work with guys and see different problems. He likes to engage his mind. He talks to teachers – everybody. He wants to get as good as he can get."