Tiger Woods' former instructor, Hank Haney, saw his former student put three in the drink from 102 yards on Monday at Congressional C.C. just like everyone else. And from what he saw and heard, Haney believes, like many, that we're not going to see Woods back on the PGA Tour in 2016.
“It just looks to me like it’s going to be a while and maybe next year because there’s nothing that we’re hearing that tells us that Tiger is anywhere near ready to come back," Haney said Tuesday on "Hank Haney Radio" on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio. "The chance that he has to play great is better if he starts off next year and really gives himself plenty of time to just heal, to get his game going, and then take a run at it next year if he’s ready to do that.”
After fielding questions from the media about his health and potential return as part of Quicken Loans National media day, Woods stepped up to his a shot as part of a stunt to promote a new charitable initiative from Quicken Loans. The first ball went in the water, and, perhaps out of pride, Woods instinctively tried to hit another. It went in the water in the fly, too. Woods said that was enough for him, but he was goaded into hitting a third that hit the bank guarding the 10th hole at Congressional before rolling back into the water.
Woods also said that he still doesn't know when he'll be able to return to competitive golf, suggesting it could be in a week or a year -- hence the thinking about 2017.
Despite all that, Haney still believes the 40-year-old Woods has one more good run in him.
“I don’t doubt that there’s time to still see greatness," he said. "I have a hard time believing that we won’t still see greatness. But I don’t think we’re going to see that greatness this year because I think the clock is ticking and it has ticked its way down where this year because this is a tough schedule with everything packed in with the Olympics and everything, I don’t think it’s going to happen this year.”
