Words can indeed ruin years of relationships in just seconds, especially when comments are made publicly. This was what happened between Tiger Woods and former coach Hank Haney. They worked together for six long years and parted ways in 2010. He had released a book called The Big Miss: My Years of Coaching Tiger Woods, where he shared his journey with coaching the 82X PGA Tour Champion. But as it turns out, Tiger Woods was not okay with it and called it “self-serving,” “disappointing,” and “unprofessional.” This is where the rift started.
Since then, Haney has often criticized Woods. At the 2023 Hero World Challenge, Woods finished in the 18th position. This tournament was his comeback after being away from the greens since his WD in the Masters. When speculations of his comeback became the hot talk, Haney disagreed with it being the right time, “Look to be in excruciating pain like he was last year.”
But things are now changing. Now, Haney seems to say all the positive things about Woods. Some time ago, the 15x major winner was teaching his short-game techniques to Collin Morikawa. Haney adorned the video as he reposted it, saying, “Tiger is a little more advanced than most of the other greats, actually a lot more.” Not just Woods, Hank Haney has only good things to say about his newest venture.
We all know Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s brainchild, after attempts of delay, is finally set to kickstart in 2025. This is going to be very different from other golf tournaments! The matches will take place at the SoFi Center using a giant simulation screen that’s over 20 times the size of a standard golf simulator. Alexis Ohanian made sure to tell fans that!
At the promotional event, Billy Horschel seemed to be very overwhelmed and captivated by the entire concept. He will be a part of the Atlanta GC squad. “You imagine all these other sports that play in arenas and everything. You never imagine golf is going to play Arena, and it is, and we were moving as I speak,” said Horschel.
He mentioned how he watched the NFL team Falcons play at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium two weeks ago and how he loved the venue. And when he got to witness what TGL was, he felt proud to be part of the golf community. “I could never imagine I was going to be a part of something like this in golf, and I mean, It’s going to be so cool. It’s going to be so cool. And so unique. And I think it’s going to be a massive success.”
Hank Haney took to his official X account and shared the video of Billy Horschel. Agreeing with him, the former coach wrote, “I’ve got high hopes for this deal, golf could benefit if this is a hit.” Nobody would have thought that there would be a day when golf would be played indoors, with such life-like technology that it would not even feel that way. If this concept is a hit, it could open a lot of doors for the sport, curbing many issues such as bad weather.
I’ve got high hopes for this deal, golf could really benefit if this is a hit. https://t.co/crla0hd9mi
— Hank Haney (@HankHaney) November 30, 2024
Well, all these praises coming from him are indeed weird to hear. This is because his rift is not limited to one of the founders of TGL. He has also had bad terms with Rory McIlroy, although he has never even coached the Northern Irishman.
Hank Haney criticized Rory McIlroy’s caddie
Rory McIlroy lost his fifth major to Bryson DeChambeau this year at the US Open. While he believes he could have played better, the golf world believes that his caddie could have chimed in with better suggestions, which would have secured him the trophy. The Northern Irishman used a 7-iron to make putts on the sixteenth and eighteenth holes. This was what cost him the victory, per the experts.
According to Haney, only choosing the right putter would have done the trick. “Wrong club, wrong shot, bad plan.” Hank Haney had only six words reserved for Rory McIlroy’s drive on the 15th. He also weighed in and suggested that using an 8-iron for the shots would have helped him to stop the ball on the green and, well, give him the one stroke he needed to at least tie with the LIV golfer.
“I will say this: if Steve Williams was Rory’s caddie, I can promise you he would have never hit a perfect-flight 7 iron that rolled over the green on 15 into a terrible lie,” said Haney. Well, as it turns out, this did indeed enrage Rory McIlroy, and he defended his caddie and best friend, Harry Diamond, saying that he has always been there on the field in all his good times and the bad, unlike people making comments (pointing to Hank Haney) on his game. “At the end of the day, they are not there. They are in the arena. They are not the ones hitting the shots and making the decisions. Someone said to me once, if you would never take advice from these people, you would never take their criticisms, either. I certainly wouldn’t go to Hank Haney for advice,” said McIlroy.
But the hatchet was buried when Haney took back his comments, saying, “No, I think his caddie is great for him. I never said he wasn’t great for Rory, I said they made a mistake on #15 at the US Open. I actually am actually a big fan of friend caddie’s, anyone can make a mistake.”
