Tiger Woods’ former coach says LIV Golf is good for the sport, calling out “corrupt media” for their prejudice
Tiger Woods’ former coach, Hank Haney, has made headlines in the golf world several times due to controversial statements. This Saturday, June 22, he did it again, this time owing to his opinion about LIV Golf.
Hank Haney lashed out at what he called the “corrupt golf media” through his X (formerly Twitter) account. He wrote,
“The Corrupt Golf Media couldn’t care less about what’s good for the game of golf, all they care about is making sure the LIV players pay their ‘consequences’.”
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This post by Haney is part of a series of his comments on the topic of golfer’s eligibility for the Olympics. Haney opined that it is unfair that Bryson DeChambeau was not included in the American team.
“Not sure I follow the logic of why an American shouldn’t be able to represent his country in the Olympic’s because he is playing on the @livgolf_league. Also not sure how this is a good thing for the game of golf but some people are convinced it is.”
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Olympic golf qualification is defined by the world ranking. Each country can include up to two players but can go up to four if all are in the Top 15 of the world ranking. The Olympic field is capped at 60 players.
Despite recently winning the U.S. Open and finishing in the Top 10s at the Masters and PGA Championship, Bryson DeChambeau fell short of the world ranking points needed to make the U.S. Olympic team, as LIV events do not count towards OWGR points.
The U.S. Olympic team is comprised of Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, and Collin Morikawa. Several LIV Golf players will represent their respective countries at the Olympic Games.
This is not the first time Hank Haney has been under the spotlight for his controversial statements. In May 2019, his comments about the LPGA Tour were considered racist and sexist at the time, leading to his suspension from the show he hosted on the SiriusXM PGA Tour radio station.
What results did Tiger Woods have with Hank Haney as his coach?
Hank Haney has had a prestigious career as a golf coach, with several awards received for his professional achievements. Among them is being inducted into the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame in 2019.
However, one of the highlights of his career was being Tiger Woods’ coach. The relationship between the two began in 2004 and lasted for six seasons, during which they enjoyed considerable success.
Between 2004 and 2010, Tiger Woods won 31 PGA Tour events, including six majors. In addition, he finished 15 times in second place and six times in third place. His Top 10s for the period totaled 72.
In addition to his five major championship victories, between 2004 and 2010 Tiger Woods finished in 13 other Top 10s and five of them were second places. In the same period, he remained 289 weeks as the top-ranked golfer in the world, 281 of them consecutively, from 2005-2010.
