Shortly after Tiger Woods missed the cut at the British Open, it began. The talk that Hank Haney, Woods' swing coach since 2004, needed to go. It happens almost every time Woods doesn't win, even though Tiger's major championship winning percentage is slightly higher with Haney (.300) than Butch Harmon (.286). But that's part of the deal when working with the world's best golfer: instant celebrity at the expense of klieg-light scrutiny. Yesterday, as Woods prepared for a three-tournament stretch in as many weeks (culminating in the PGA Championship), Haney spoke about the expectations that come with being a part of Team Tiger. Via ESPN.com's Bob Harig:
"It's a hard game," Haney said after spending the weekend working with the world's No. 1 player in Orlando. "The margin for error is so slight. Even when you're Tiger, it's not like you're just so much better than everyone else that you can just pitch shots away and still do OK. It doesn't work like that. I guess I'm surprised it hasn't happen more. You don't have to have much to have an off week."
And that's the thing: Tiger has missed two cuts in major championships in his career. By comparison, Jack Nicklaus missed four cuts from 1962 to 1982. We should be marveling at the fact that Tiger is so consistent that even when he's off, he's better than most of the field. The rare times that he's not consistent are newsworthy, but not to the point that it requires Haney losing his job.
Sometimes Tiger just plays poorly. It does happen.
"I had a bad stretch, and you can't have bad stretches and make it into championships," Woods said. "You just can't afford to do it and not only make the cut, but expect to win a golf tournament. And I didn't keep it together during that stretch. I didn't make any birdies during that stretch to turn it around, and I made two doubles, and you can't afford to do that, and it cost me."
Of course, this is what happens when you dominate golf for more than a decade: play poorly for a couple days and it's national news. Well, until Tiger wins, which, if history is any indication, will happen sometime over the next three weeks, perhaps multiple times.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Exactly, he is not a robot, that's the problem, he has looked so stiff and mechanical lately it is scary. The worst thing in professional is to think to much about mechanics while trying to perform. Tiger at times seems like he's on the range trying to work on something. I said all along that whatever swing plane he is working on is causing to much thinking when he brings it to the course. He has to relax and just let it happen.
It'd be cool to see what Tiger's swing looks like on a golf swing analyzer. Swing tempo, angle of attack, club head speed... all that.
I'd want to compare his swing against my swing and see how they differ.