Hank Haney thinks Tiger Woods doesn’t prepare hard enough for major championships

Hank Haney is back at it again, and this time it’s Tiger Woods’ major preparation that is under scrutiny.

Haney, a former instructor of Woods and a man that wrote a book that jumped a little too deep into “off the record” talk between the two for my liking, talked with Robert Lusetich of Fox Sports about the way Tiger prepares for major championships, saying he thinks he could spend more time on the golf courses to really get himself ready for those tournaments.

“For whatever reason, Tiger doesn’t prepare for majors as hard as he could,” Haney said. “He plays the course in a rushed way maybe once or twice before the tournament week, then in the tournament week Tiger has gotten into a routine of playing nine-hole practice rounds on some days.”

Woods is five years removed from his last major championship win, and people continue to wonder what it is that holds Tiger back in these events compared to regular PGA Tour tournaments (Tiger has won seven times over the last 15 months in non-major events), but the way he practices and prepares has never seemed to come into question until now.

It is true that Tiger likes to take it easy with his practice rounds during tournament weeks, but one thing that Haney seems to forget is the fact that Tiger will fly in to places like Merion or Southern Hills weeks before the event actually kicks off to get in really good practice without the fans and other players around to distract him.

Haney went on to talk about Tiger’s quest for 18 majors, the mark set by Jack Nicklaus, becoming the first man ever to call winning a major championship “easy.”

“Tiger is having a real hard time winning the easiest major he is going to win — No. 15. No. 18 to tie Jack and 19 to beat Jack, those are going to be the hard ones.”

Maybe Haney should call Sergio Garcia, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood or Steve Stricker and ask just how “easy” it is to win a major championship.

Tiger’s next attempt at his 15th major win starts on July 18 at Muirfield, a place he is favored to win his fourth Claret Jug.

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Darius Rucker: Tiger Woods can’t sing
• One-armed man scores improbable hole-in-one
• Dad, son score aces on Father’s Day

Devil Ball Golf – Golf – Yahoo! Sports