Tiger Woods crushed Hank Haney for his comments on U.S. Women’s Open
Tiger Woods doesn’t go out of his way to discuss his relationship with former coach Hank Haney, but he didn’t mince words when talking about Haney’s comments on the U.S. Women’s Open and its players.
We all know that Tiger Woods is a reserved person. He’s been that way since before most of us even knew who he was. It was instilled in him from an early age by his parents, and it kept him one of sport’s most glistening personalities for the better part of two decades.
He’s evolved since his public perception changed ten years ago, but much of it has been for the better. Woods is a little more willing to reveal his true self these days, and when the time is right, he speaks his mind freely.
The time was right on Friday, when ESPN analyst Michael Collins asked Tiger about Hank Haney’s comments on the U.S. Women’s Open and its field. Haney, Woods’s coach from 2004 to 2010, predicted “a Korean” to win, and said that he “couldn’t name you, like, six players on the LPGA Tour”.
Tiger didn’t even have to take two seconds to consider his answer. “He deserved it,” Woods said. “Just can’t look at life like that. And he obviously said what he meant and he got what he deserved.”
That’s a straight knockout from Tiger Woods, who readily acknowledges that his split from Haney was less than amicable, to put it lightly. No coming back from that.
It’s also a significant departure from the Woods of 20 years ago, who once said that the only time he ever thought about race was when the media brought it up. Certainly the national and global discussion is evolving, but Woods didn’t miss a beat here.
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Perhaps it was a little easier since Haney’s comments were pretty clear. If not intentionally racist, at best they were tone deaf and ignorant, almost laughing about his own lack of knowledge of the women’s game. He could have just thrown out a few big names and mentioned that he doesn’t follow their game closely, and none of this ever happens.
Haney did issue an apology on Twitter basically immediately after his comments went viral, but the PGA TOUR still decided to suspend him from their SiriusXM channel, and his future on their satellite airwaves has not been decided.
I don’t know Hank Haney personally, so I’m not going to say whether or not I believe him to be a racist or just a person who doesn’t think before he speaks – not that that’s any better in this instance. But you know who does know him pretty well? Tiger Woods.
We know that Tiger can hold a grudge against those who slight him, but this time the shot was completely deserved, and frankly, probably a bit more muted than it even could have been. But some good can still come of this, of course.
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As Earl predicted all those years ago, when the voice of Tiger Woods gets behind something, he has the power to make some big changes. Perhaps his support of the women’s game and its players will help others look at things a bit more closely before spouting off.