Renowned golf instructor Hank Haney got a surprising wake-up call at 6am. The voice on the other end belonged to his most renowned pupil, Tiger Woods, who is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. Tiger wanted to know what the game plan was.
Woods underwent surgery on April 15, two days after he finished second in the Masters. It's the third time the knee has been scoped. The only thing Haney knows for sure is, Tiger won't compete again until he believes he's ready.
Haney explained. "He's kind of pointing toward playing in the open. Just so long as he can prepare like he normally prepares. That's all he cares about. The guy works so hard, it's incredible.”
"Rehab takes a lot of work. But that's not something that's difficult for him. He'll go above and beyond anything anyone else could possibly do to get ready.”
Tiger has won 13 majors, second on the all-time list, five behind Jack Nicklaus, the man he's been chasing since he was a kid growing up in Southern California. He has won nine of the last 12 times he's played. To go with two seconds and a fifth.
"He's the most coachable student I've ever had," Haney stressed. "I've never seen anyone who wants to learn more. He could care less about anything that he's already done. All he knows is, what are we doing today to get better than yesterday. And what are we going to work on tomorrow. That's the way he is, every single day. It's an absolute challenge. My job is to just try and point him in the right direction. He'll figure it out from there."
"That's what great ones do. With Michael Jordan, if a guy would say he was going to shut him down, he'd go for 60 points. If nobody said anything, he'd just go for 30. So whenever anyone says something I make sure Tiger knows about it.”
"For Tiger, this is just another hill to climb. He likes to climb hills, heck he likes to climb mountains. That's what he does. That's why he's Tiger Woods."
