Larry Brown Sports

The list of people who are waiting for an opportunity to unload on Hank Haney is long and distinguished. Regardless of the type of person he is or the mistakes he has made in his past, Tiger Woods still has a massive following. Anyone who paid attention to the Arnold Palmer Invitational last weekend is well aware of that. For every person who enjoys reading “The Big Miss” and delving into the life of arguably the greatest golfer who has ever lived, there are several others who think the way in which Haney betrayed Tiger’s trust is despicable. Craig Carton of WFAN in New York may be near the top of that list, as evidenced by the way he unloaded on Haney on Friday.

Haney joined WFAN for an interview with “Boomer & Carton” that turned into Carton simply telling Haney how he feels about him rather than a question-and-answer session. Haney defended the book by saying he only included things that he thought had to do with golf, which as we know from some of the revelations is a highly questionable claim. The entire interview can be heard here and is worth listening to if you enjoy bickering.

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Hank Haney‘s tell-all book about Tiger Woods, “The Big Miss,” is set to hit bookshelves next week, but already this month we’ve been treated to select excerpts, such the one about Tiger wanting to become a Navy SEAL. But just in case the passages that Golf Digest and The New York Times have shared with us were a little boring for your taste, the New York Post is here to save the day.

The Post on Saturday revealed some of the more sordid tidbits of Haney’s memoirs from coaching Tiger, who Haney at one point describes as “the nerdy kid with glasses and braces. When Tiger first got to Stanford, [golfer] Notah Begay called him Urkel.” Particularly, there was the time when Tiger explained to his coach his lesson from sex rehab.

“There are some girls who are going to be after me even more now, especially the wild ones,” Tiger told Haney. “But what I learned is that for the rest of my life I can’t have sex with someone unless I genuinely feel something for them. If I do, I’m putting myself in jeopardy.”

The Post also says that Haney writes about how Woods actually enjoyed all the attention — albeit negative — he was getting after his sex scandal went public, especially when “South Park” featured him calling his ex-wife a “crazy b-tch” and a “stupid Swedish cow” as she swung at him with a golf club.

And then there was this fun detail about a prank Tiger pulled on “devout Christian” Zach Johnson when the two shared a hotel room during the 2006 Ryder Cup:

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Over the past two years, Tiger Woods has had to battle questions about his extramarital affairs and the collapse of his personal life. Now, he has to deal with a book his former coach Hank Haney wrote. Tiger has described the book as “unprofessional and very disappointing,” and it appears answering questions about it is taking its toll. As you see above, Tiger had an extremely awkward exchange with golf writer Alex Miceli on Wednesday after Miceli pressed him about the rumors in the book that Woods trained to become a Navy SEAL back in 2006.

Obviously the Navy SEAL rumor is a sore subject for Woods, who has made it clear that he has no intention of talking about Haney’s book during press conferences anymore. How awkward was that, “Have a nice day,” line? If Tiger could bring that death stare back onto the golf course, he might actually start intimidating opponents again.

H/T to Devil Ball Golf for the video

Hank Haney and Tiger Woods engaged in a public dispute over the coach’s decision to write a book about his most famous student. Tiger said the book was “unprofessional and very disappointing.” Haney said his book was “fair and honest.” Based on the latest revelation from the book, I’m glad Haney wrote it.

According to FOXSports.com’s Robert Lusetitch, Tiger trained and aimed to join the Navy SEALs, taking after his father who was a special forces soldier in Vietnam.

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When Tiger Woods found out that Hank Haney was writing a book about his experience coaching the golfing legend, there was not a pleasant reaction. Tiger flipped out, saying the book was “unprofessional and very disappointing.” That was quite the stretch considering the book hasn’t even been published and Tiger hadn’t read it. Well Haney responded to Tiger this week, describing his book as fair and honest.

“I feel like it is a fair and honest book,” Haney told Chicago Business. “I know he said it is “unprofessional.” I don’t know how you can make a comment like that without reading the book. I think I had an opportunity to write an unprofessional book, but I don’t think I did. I feel like I wrote a fair and honest book.”

Asked if he felt Tiger should be worried about what’s in the book, Haney considered the possibility.

“Maybe. (Mr. Haney then took a long pause.) The truth is the truth. There are quite a few things in there that people will find as surprises.”

Haney also says Tiger reads everything and that he expects him to read the book. That’s how it works for most athletes and coaches. They all say they don’t read or pay attention to what is said about them, but that’s not true. Many of them are aware of what’s being said, and in Tiger’s case, he wasn’t happy about it.

H/T GameOn!

Tiger Woods‘ former swing coach Hank Haney has written a book due out late March and the golfer is not happy with it.

“I think it’s unprofessional and very disappointing,” Woods told Bob Harig, “especially because it’s someone I worked with and trusted as a friend.

“There have been other one-sided books about me, and I think people understand that this book is about money. I’m not going to waste my time reading it.”

Though he says he won’t waste his time reading it, I’m sure there will be plenty of curious folks who will want to. That’s exactly why Haney is writing it.

“The Big Miss is golf history. I observed greatestness and am asked about it all the time. I wanted to share it in a fair and honest way,” he said over Twitter.

The only way to find out if it’s fair and honest is by reading it. I’m sure many folks will purchase it because there is a thirst for information about Tiger; people want to know everything possible about the man, and this book will likely prove that.

Haney coached Tiger for six years before resigning in 2010. Woods won 31 tournaments including six majors while paired with Haney. There is little doubt Haney will have plenty of inside information published in the book. He’s also not the first former aid to turn his back on Tiger.

OK, so I was raving about Tiger’s performance on Saturday in the third round of the U.S. Open because of how well he played despite a knee injury that was killing him. Skeptics said he was faking it, and so did fellow players on tour, most notably Retief Goosen. I saw the pained look on his face and knew all wasn’t kosher. That feeling was confirmed as the news dropped on Wednesday that Tiger’s done for the year to get reconstructive surgery on his knee. So this much we do know: Tiger Woods won a major playing on a bum knee with a ruptured ACL and double stress fractures as the result of the arthroscopic surgery recovery. That part makes him courageous. But what might make him foolish was his decision to commit to playing the tournament rather than keep himself on the shelf. According to swing coach Hank Haney, not only was Tiger aware he should not have been playing, but he also called his shot:

“The week of Memorial [two weeks before the Open], I thought there was no chance he could play,” Haney said in a telephone interview from his home in Texas. “The doctors told him he needed to be on crutches for three weeks and then three more weeks of inactivity, and then you start rehabbing.

“But Tiger looked the guy in the eye and said, ‘I’m playing in the U.S. Open and I’m going to win.’ Then he started putting on his shoes and told me we’re going to go practice. It’s just incredible.”

OK, so there’s the legend. And Tiger did make it worth his while because he won. But was this in hindsight a foolish move, knowing what we know now — that he was going against doctors’ advice? This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a player go against doctor advice, and doctors don’t always have the right assessment (many seek second opinions). Still, despite the heroics, maybe it wasn’t worth it in the long run to do what Tiger did. Hopefully his career won’t be cut short by this knee injury. And truthfully, we’ll never know how much this particular choice impacted his injury. For all we know, he could have shredded his knee down the line anyway.

(Photo Courtesy Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)