An excerpt from ‘The Big Miss’: Tiger Woods wanted to be a Navy SEAL
According to an excerpt from Hank Haney’s upcoming book, The Big Miss, the former number one, Tiger Woods, once wanted to become a Navy SEAL and quit the game of golf forever.
The excerpt was released on Wednesday, February 29, 2012, at the GolfDigest’s iPad app, stating that Woods was serious about his intentions and had a clear plan about it.
According to Haney, Woods was heavily inspired by his father, Earl Woods, who was a Green Beret.
Therefore, he too wanted to be a part of a military unit that demands high level of physical as well as mental fitness.
Haney wrote in his book about Woods’ four-day special-ops training at Fort Bragg, NC, about how he did parachute jumps, four-mile runs in combat shoes and hand-to-hand combats while he was on the training.
However, Woods’ physical therapist, Keith Kleven, became extremely worried about his injured knee, as he was still in the process of recovery.
The excerpt also reveals that Tiger Woods used to wear Army boots while making runs in his Orlando-area home at Isleworth.
"I thought, wow, here is Tiger Woods, greatest athlete on the planet, maybe the greatest athlete ever, right in the middle of his prime, basically ready to leave it all behind for a military life," Haney said.
Meanwhile, when the excerpt got published, Woods's agent, Mark Steinberg, criticised what Haney has written in his book.
He said that the claimed that Haney made about the book being completely based on golf is wrong.
Haney has touched some of the areas that are totally unrelated to the game and based on falsification.
“Because of his father, it's no secret that Tiger has always had high respect for the military, so for Haney to twist that admiration into something negative is disrespectful,” he said.
He added, “The disruptive timing of this book shows that Haney's self-promotion is more important to him than any other person or tournament”.
According to Steinberg, whatever Haney wrote in his book violates the level of trust that a player has in his coach.
The book will officially go on sale a week before the Masters Tournament starts on April 5, 2012 at the Augusta National Golf Club.
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