After resigning as Tiger Woods\u2019 swing coach, Hank Haney said that it was strictly his decision and told Golf.com that \u201cTiger won\u2019t spin it any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, Woods wrote on his website that \u201cHank Haney and I have agreed that he will no longer be my coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
If not backspin, that\u2019s at least some sidespin, no?<\/p>\n
The story behind the Haney resignation story is that it was probably a case of, \u201cYou can\u2019t fire me, I quit.\u201d (Or \u201cYou can\u2019t quit me, I\u2019m fired,\u201d as the old joke goes.)<\/p>\n
There have been rumors and reports of Woods sending out feelers to other teachers, and not having a lot of communication with Haney, so this may well have been a case of seeing the writing on the wall and making the first move. Not being called on to come to the Players Championship to help Woods sort things out after the missed-cut debacle at Quail Hollow was one sign.<\/p>\n
So, Haney decided to call it quits himself, though Woods couldn\u2019t quite bring himself to phrase it exactly that way.<\/p>\n
A few days earlier, Woods couldn\u2019t bring himself to say that anything was bothering him physically, saying that he felt \u201cabsolutely 100 percent.\u201d Two days after that, he withdrew from the Players Championship during the fourth round with a neck injury that he said had been bothering him for some time (which he later specified as since two weeks before the Masters).<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, he revealed that he was bothered by an Achilles injury in 2009, something he had not mentioned previously.<\/p>\n
Woods has been taken to task by some for a credibility gap on his physical condition, but I can understand where he\u2019s coming from on injuries. Talking about playing with an injury sounds like you\u2019re making excuses, so it\u2019s not unusual for a golfer to keep an injury quiet. Anthony Kim played with a bad thumb for months before anyone found out about it.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t defend him all the way, though. He didn\u2019t have to emphatically state that he was 100 percent. That just looked silly (or worse) when the neck problem became bad enough to cause him to ride off the course in the middle of a round.<\/p>\n
The neck woes probably explain Woods\u2019 odd performance at the Players, where he struck the ball well enough most of the time\u2014he hit 14 greens in regulation in both the first and second rounds\u2014but hit a number of awful shots. Some of them were so bad that you don\u2019t expect a pro to hit them, let alone the No. 1-ranked player in the world.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a rundown of Woods\u2019 \u201cworst hits\u201d from the Players.<\/p>\n
First round<\/strong> Second round<\/strong> Third round<\/strong> Fourth round<\/strong> Due to the neck injury, we don\u2019t know when we will see Woods again. Presumably, he won\u2019t come back until he\u2019s healthy. So, we might not see this kind of display again. But if he plays in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and uncorks these kind of shots, they will be even more costly than they were at TPC Sawgrass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\n1st hole\u2014tee shot into the native area to the left
\n7th hole\u2014popped up 3-wood off the tee goes only 190 yards, leaving 242 yards to the hole on the par four
\n12th hole\u2014tee shot into native area to the left
\n16th hole\u2014second shot to the par five ends up 47 yards to the left of the hole
\n18th hole\u2014tee shot into the water on the left<\/p>\n
\n1st hole\u2014tee shot into the native area to the right
\n11th hole\u2014tee shot into the native area to the right
\n14th hole\u2014drive travels only 233 yards and goes so far to the right that it ends up in a water hazard on an adjacent hole that isn\u2019t supposed to be in play, leaving 257 yards to the hole on the par four<\/p>\n
\nHe hit only 10 greens in this round, though he didn\u2019t hit as many terrible shots
\n18th hole\u2014popped up 3-wood off the tee goes only 221 yards, leaving 234 yards to the hole on the par four<\/p>\n
\n1st hole\u2014drive misses fairway by 20-25 yards on the left
\n5th hole\u2014drive into the water on the right
\n7th hole\u2014drive into native area to the right (next-to-last shot of the day)<\/p>\n