Tiger Woods repeatedly denied to the press that he was parting ways with swing coach Hank Haney – “Hank and I talk every day, so nothing’s changed,” Woods said. “According to the press I’ve fired him five times by now.” – but Hank Haney is gone.
Waggle Room reported the news late last night. As usual, Ryan Ballangee is eagle-eyed and lightning quick.
In a release on his website which was supplied to Golf Channel, Haney said, “I have informed Tiger Woods this evening that I will no longer be his coach. I would like to thank Tiger for the opportunity that I have had to work with him over the past six-plus years. Tiger Woods has done the work to achieve a level of greatness that I believe the game of golf has never seen before and I will always appreciate the opportunity that I have had to contribute to his successes.
“I have also enjoyed the association that I have had with Tiger both on and off the golf course as I have had some incredible experiences.”
However some journalists who are distrustful of Woods, speculate this may be more manipulation by the World’s number one player. “Woods never lets anybody fire him, but in this case, if he let Hank go, he’d look terrible, especially after all the denials to the press,” said one sports journalist who covers the tour each week. “Woods treats the press like mushrooms: he feeds them turds and keeps them in the dark. He uses them to spread what P.R. he thinks he needs.”
Woods withdrew from the Players yesterday what he described as a bulging disc – and not what Win McMurry called it, a tongue twister that hit below the belt. Even Golf Channel broadcasters seemed to express frustration that Tiger is less than candid when answering questions of the press – both injury and non-injury related. In a press conference yesterday, Woods denied the neck pain was linked to his car crash of November 28.
Woods’s wife Elin is expected to file for divorce in her native Sweden – some say to allow the couple’s divorce papers to be confidential. Woods has hired a Florida family lawyer well-versed in mutlti-jurisdictional issues such as the UCCJA – the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act and its progeny – which govern the rules of custody and visitation at home and abroad, offering uniform rules world-wide. The signatories are mostly Westernized, non-Muslim nations.
