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The Sports Network
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - It's amazing the things we choose to care
about.
Hank Haney, the famed former swing coach for Tiger Woods, is writing a book
titled "The Big Miss." It's about Haney's years coaching Woods and Haney's
said numerous times that this will not be some tell-all scandal rag.
But Woods isn't satisfied.
"I think it's unprofessional and very disappointing," Woods told ESPN.com in
a telephone interview, "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."
Those are some harsh words from Tiger, but they aren't appropriate.
There is a murky area about whether it's bad form to write a book about people
you worked with, or for. Some pros probably won't use Haney after this, but to
my knowledge, he isn't really coaching much these days.
Clearly, Woods has never liked when employees talk out of school about him,
but Haney is no longer an employee, so, per the First Amendment, a book seems
like fair game.
"I was a witness to greatness," Haney said "to the AP last Thursday. "And I
get asked the question all the time about Tiger. I wanted to talk about it and
I wanted to share it with people. That's the bottom line."
Haney has been clear that there won't be any stories of tawdriness. Haney said
when Woods' 2009 car accident revealed about 10 inappropriate transgressions,
he had no knowledge of the behavior.
What is Woods so afraid of then? Haney isn't a terribly controversial guy.
After following him on twitter for a year, the most controversial stance I've
witnessed is he advocates Five Guys burgers over others.
What if this book just lauds Woods' work ethic and ability? Tiger hasn't even
read the thing yet and he's condemning, which, by the way, will boost sales
more than any Haney appearance on "The Daily Show."
"I'm not sure I understand the unprofessionalism part," Haney told the AP. "He
hasn't read the book. There's a lot of positives in there. I think he's the
greatest golfer who ever lived.
"I was just in a position to observe greatness and anyone who observes
greatness likes to share it. I feel like I wrote a book that was fair and
honest. It's golf history."
Woods has no interest in people around him writing or saying anything about
him. That's a tad naive, although, when I interviewed Jimmy Roberts a few
years back about a book he was doing, he said that he approached Woods, who
turned Roberts down because he had his own book deal going he had yet to
complete.
So maybe Woods doesn't want anyone spilling beans before he does.
The fact is this: Woods has no standing to complain about someone writing an
accurate depiction of him. If he felt that strongly, maybe he should've had a
confidentiality arrangement in his deal with Haney that prevented this in the
event their relationship ended.
Haney will come off poorly if he tells tales of witnessing a woman sneak in
Tiger's mansion through a side door. However, if Woods didn't want people
writing books about his behavior, he should've considered not behaving that
way.
Woods has much more important things to worry about, like his golf game. He
starts his year in Abu Dhabi this week, then Pebble a little later where the
possibility exists his amateur partner, Tony Romo, might shoot lower than him.
Instead, he sounds like a bitter guy with something to hide.
Yes, Haney is trying to make money. He doesn't make royalties on those Five
Guys tweets. That's the American way. Hank should thank Tiger for the stories,
the years of service, the talk show, the notoriety and now 50,000 more copies
of "The Big Miss."
RANDOM THOUGHTS
- If you're a tournament official and your event is struggling, bring in a
former President of the United States. President Clinton helped make the
Humana Challenge, formerly the Bob Hope, somewhat relevant again. Any Democrat
President who can get male, professional golfers to play in an event he's
running is a masters salesman. PGA Tour golfers would rather vote for a water
buffalo than a Democrat.
- Mark Wilson is underrated, yes. Five tour wins is a decent number in the
Tiger Woods era, but winning after the Masters would help. All five of his
wins came early on in seasons.
- Imagine playing two of your idols in a playoff, then beating them. That's
what happened to Branden Grace when he knocked off Ernie Els and Retief Goosen
at the Volvo Golf Champions event. It was his second win in a row and with two
wins in three events, I'd vote for him right now for European Tour Player of
the Year.
- Movie moment - "50 First Dates" is where Drew Barrymore has some rare form
of amnesia where she re-lives the same day over and over. She marries Adam
Sandler and they have a baby while he does science on a boat near Alaska. What
doctor lets her have a baby? She doesn't know she's pregnant every morning, so
what if she wakes up and feels like having a Bloody Mary? She doesn't know.
Bad fake medical work.
The Sports Network