Tiger Woods: Hank Haney Book Another Distraction Heading into Masters

So much for Tiger Woods waltzing into the 2012 Master with a clear mind and a full heart, much less a clean slate.

According to The Associated Press, Hank Haney, in conjunction with Jaime Diaz, will put out a "tell-some" book about Tiger entitled The Big Miss on March 27, just one week prior to the start of the annual tournament at Augusta National in Georgia.

Haney served as Woods' swing coach from 2004 to 2010, during which time Tiger won 29 tournaments, including six majors.

Oh, and Haney was around for that business about Tiger's marriage and his game falling apart amidst rampant infidelity and physical injury, though Haney claims he knew nothing about Woods' weakness for womanizing.

Haney was with and around Woods more than anyone outside his family during those six years. Said Haney:

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"I was on that job for six years. There were 110 days a year I was with him. I stayed at his house for close to 30 days a year. You make a lot of observations."

A lot of observations, eh? And yet:

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As for the serial adultery, Haney said he didn't know about it and doesn't delve into that chapter of Woods' life in the book, except for his return from the scandal after going nearly five months without competition.

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Riiiiight.

Even if Haney is true to his word, there should be plenty of interesting material, dirt or otherwise, that Tiger's people may or may not find particularly flattering:

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I think the period of time that I dealt with Tiger was much more unique, in terms of having the scandal, Torrey Pines with the broken leg at the U.S. Open, other things, too. It was a totally different time.

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That period of time also includes a nine-month window at the outset during which Tiger failed to win a single tournament, thereby fueling weekly rants by Jay Mariotti about Woods being in a "slump". 

Of course, if Woods and his handlers didn't want Haney to publish anything, they probably should've kept him under wraps when they had the opportunity:

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Most of the people involved with Woods have signed a nondisclosure agreement. Haney said he signed no such thing -- "I didn't even have a contract," he said -- although he said the book was not intended to "take jabs at anyone."

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In any case, Woods can't be too happy about the timing of the book's release. As if Tiger wasn't going to have enough on his plate already—between gunning for his first win in a major tournament since that triumph at the 2008 US Open, trying to prove that he really is back and answering stupid questions about ex-wife Elin's curious real estate decisions—now he'll have to reserve a few more steely stares for those intrepid reporters who graze over every word of Haney's book with a fine-toothed comb, looking for damning revelations.

In other words, it should be another interesting weekend at Augusta for Tiger Woods in which Hank Haney plays a part.

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