Woods’ ex-coach Haney: Tiger’s not concerned with major record
The natural response, even if an overreaction, to Tiger Woods withdrawing from the Farmers Insurance Open on Thursday is to wonder about Woods’ competitive future.
Add to the muscle flare up and back pain at Torrey Pines that he shot a career-worst 82 the week prior, there’s plenty reason to doubt Woods’ future ability to contend at any tournament, much less major championships.
What if Woods never wins another major? What if he never wins another PGA Tour event? He’d fall short of both Jack Nicklaus’ 18-major mark and Sam Snead’s 82 official PGA Tour wins. According to Woods’ former coach Hank Haney, the 14-time major champion would be content with what he accomplished if he never pads his eye-popping resume.
On his SiriusXM radio show on Friday, Haney recalled a story from 2007 in which he was prodding Woods for his poor “work ethic.”
“He said, ‘If my career ended today, I’d be happy with what I’ve done,'” Haney said. “And I’m just telling you, that’s what he told me. So I think he is fine with where he is. If his career ended today, I think he’d feel great about what he has done.”
In his tell-all book, “The Big Miss”, detailing his time with Woods, Haney recalls Woods’ obsession with the Navy SEALs around this time. Haney believed Woods was seriously considering giving up the game to enter the military, like his father Earl.
Haney, who coached Woods from 2004 through May 2010, said he never believed Woods was driven to achieve by Nicklaus’ major tally.
“This thing that the media has drum up that Tiger’s No. 1 goal, the No. 1 driving factor in all of Tiger’s life is to beat Jack’s record,” Haney said. “I’m just going to tell you that I was with him for six years, 110 days per year and I never got that feeling.”
Haney further added that Woods probably would have won 19 majors had he never stopped working with Butch Harmon, as he did in 2003.
“He has been his own worst enemy if you look at all these swing changes he’s gone through,” Haney said. “If he never changed his swing from Butch Harmon, he probably would have already broke Jack Nicklaus’ record. But he did change his swing, and even though he won a higher percentage of tournaments during the time I helped him, it still cost him time because he had to re-group a little bit. It took him a year to start winning again, so this is just time that he keeps wasting.”
Now that Woods has played six full competitive rounds with the swing he is developing with consultant Chris Como, Haney, who labeled the partnership an “epic failure,” sees a clear laundry list of priorities that Woods must address quickly.
“He’s got to get this swing organized so it doesn’t hurt his back,” Haney said. “Then he’s got to deal with the driver issue, then he’s got to deal with the short-game issue. Lots of issues to deal with, not much time. Clock’s ticking fast now.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
