Hank Haney goes all-in to respond to criticism from Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods spoke for a lot of people in his criticism of Hank Haney, and Haney ramped up the beef on Tuesday.

Ahead of this past weekend’s U.S. Women’s Open, Hank Haney offered some disparaging comments about Koreans on the LPGA Tour. He has been suspended from his show on Sirius XM,  and on Friday Tiger Woods said his former coach deserved the suspension.

Haney did apologize for his comments, later in the show on the same day and also on Twitter. He had said his knowledge of the LPGA isn’t great and couldn’t name six players on that tour, but if he went with the last name “Lee” without having to use a first name he’d have a good chance.

Woods spoke for most people in saying Haney deserved a suspension. The two worked together from 2004-2010, before Haney resigned as Woods’ coach. Woods won 31 PGA Tour events and six majors over his run working with Haney. In 2012 Haney wrote a book, The Big Miss, which detailed his time with Woods while also delving into the golfer’s personal life. At the time Woods said he felt the book was “unprofessional,” and “very disappointing.”

Haney could just take his suspension, and any criticism from Woods or anyone else, and step out of the limelight for a while. But after Jeongeun Lee won the Women’s Open on Sunday, Haney practically doubled-down.

Then, he specifically responded to Woods’ criticism via Twitter Tuesday afternoon.

"Amazing how Tiger Woods now has become the moral authority on issues pertaining to women, I spent six great years coaching Tiger, and not one time did he ever hear me utter one sexist or racist word. Now, in addition to being a 15-time major champion, I guess he thinks he’s also a mind reader."

Woods’ high-profile scandal in 2009, during which multiple extramarital affairs were uncovered, led to his divorce from Elin Nordegren in 2010. A public response from Woods to Haney’s Tuesday tweet is not coming, but what has been a long-percolating beef briefly came to light again.