This space has been occasionally used to call out the golf media, most notably for the overreactions spewed across the Internet about the life and struggles of Tiger Woods. I've posted opinions on both sides of the argument, desperately hoping for a return to golf-god-status and tearing him down for some poor decisions. The focus this time isn't so much on what the media did, but how legendary golf coach Hank Haney used Jim Rome's nationally syndicated talk show to talk about nothing.

You see, Haney has a book coming out later this month about his working and personal relationship with Tiger Woods. Woods has basically denounced the existence of this publication as money-seeking and filled with falsehoods. Problem is, we've only had one excerpt to judge and base decisions on. The topic in question is whether or not Woods actually wanted to quit golf to train to be a NAVY Seal. Haney says he did, Tiger says he didn't. It's one of those situations...

Haney went on the Jim Rome Show on Thursday, March 1st knowing full well Rome was going to ask him about the exceprt and try to get more information from Haney about the book. Haney wanted no part of it and deflected questions for the entire interview. I'm not judging the interviewing practices of Rome in this case because if you've got a book coming out, and you just released an excerpt of it, why would you go on a show and refuse to talk about it? It doesn't make sense and it's a waste of time for all parties involved.

Had Haney prefaced the interview by saying he would talk about anything but the book and the conversation steered to what's going on in the golf world, there is a reasonable chance the interview would have been another solid spot from Haney in The Jungle. But, that didn't happen and it's still puzzling to me.

Haney openly said that maybe he should come back at another time to talk about the book, but why take the interview in the first place if that's going to be your approach? Sounds to me like his agent got in his ear and told him it would be "bad for business" to make the book the topic of conversation. I'm just not sure what the conversation was going to be about if the book wasn't involved at this time, though.

I like Haney and think he does a great job interacting with fans on Twitter, but this was a really bad play. It certainly didn't sell any books and round up a bunch of pre-orders.

Perhaps the worst part of the interview, though, wasn't even the refusal to talk about "The Big Miss." Rome asked Haney about Tiger's focused goal to beat Jack Nicklaus' major record and Haney replied with - and I'm paraphrasing here - "When did Tiger ever say that was his ultimate goal... I've never read that or seen it quoted." Really? Come on. It's everywhere. Later in the show Rome brought up a bunch of articles with direct quotes from Tiger stating that it was a huge goal for him to overtake Nicklaus' record. Proof... in print. Something tells me Haney was rattled and tried desperately to steer the conversation away from his book in that case.

The Big Miss. Nothing can describe that interview better.

1. HP Byron Nelson Championship Update - Jeff Overton, -6, takes first round lead.

Leaderboard  |  Round 2 Tee Times  |  Round 1 Recap

2. Senior PGA Championship Update - Kiyoshi Mirota, -6, leads after weather-delayed Round 1.

Leaderboard  |  Round 2 Tee Times  | Round 1 Recap


3. If you're into the FedEx Cup, you can follow live projected scoring throughout the Byron Nelson here.

4. Sergio Garcia is battling an injury to his left ring finger, but managed to shoot an opening round 66 at the HPBNC. Garcia needs to move into the top 50 in the world rankings to qualify for thhe U.S. Open. Should he fail to do so, he said he will play the 36-hole qualifier in Memphis on June 6 to try and keep his consecutive major championships played record (47) in tact. [Tour Report]

5. Not a day goes by without some mention of Tiger Woods. His long-time agent Mark Steinberg has left IMG and the company has said Woods can go with his agent if he pleases. Of course, Woods used his usual media dance-around by stating he's committed to both IMG and his agent, but obviously he can't have it both ways. I can't imagine this really hurting Woods either way, but it will be interesting to see which way Steinberg goes in this situation. He can open his own firm if he believes his name carries enough clout for such a bold move, or he may sign with another powerhouse firm like CAA.

If Steinberg heads to CAA and Woods joins him, he'll be amongst stars like LeBron James, Derek Jeter, Ryan Howard, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Cristiano Rinaldo, David Beckham, Jim Rome and many others. Only a true clone would plug Rome into that list, so give me my Jungle cred. [Tour Insider]

6. A Q&A with Scotty Cameron. If you're terrible at putting, don't blame him. Cameron makes some of the most innovative and good looking putters in the golf world. [Golf.com]

7. The Hooked on Golf Blog is live at the HPBNC and posting some nice behind the scenes stuff including photos and media tidbits. Check it out: http://www.hookedongolfblog.com/

8. Jason Sobel of the Golf Channel tweeted this morning that John Daly withdrew from the BMW PGA Championship with a hip injury. Too bad.

If you follow Daly and Hank Haney on Twitter, there's been a pretty strong push from fans for Daly to become the next golfer on The Haney Project. The show has featured Charles Barkley and Rush Limbaugh in the past. I'm not sure how much it will Daly - his problem seems to be between the ears - but it would make for great television. Daly has already stated he's up for it, so we'll what happens. 

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Recently, Hank Haney resigned as Tiger Woods swing coach. Personally I think it's a great thing for Tiger. I never thought his swing was all that great with Haney as his teacher. Now how much of that was his injury and how much was Haney, we'll never know. Accurate information from the Tiger camp is hard to come by regarding the true extent of his injuries. But overall the head movement and the collapsing left leg lead to him driving the ball terribly. His raw talent with irons, wedges, and his great putting is what allowed him to perform at a really high level while driving the ball so badly. His recent lack of playing time has lead to him not being as sharp in all facets of the game, but his horribly bad driving puts tremendous pressure on his short game and putting, and when you drive it bad, if you putt it bad, look out for the big number.

The thought I have is, it's not entirely out of the realm of possiblity that he will never be the player he used to be. If he can't find a way to stabilize his left knee so he doesn't have this major collapse with his lower body, I don't see him driving the ball well anytime soon. Of course he has a lot of issues off the course, but there are some problems in his golf swing, serious problems, that need to be addressed by someone else.

I'm not sure where he goes from here, I'm betting on Sean Foley but we'll have to wait and see....

-Hurricane Dan