CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The thousands of spectators who followed Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning during their pro-am round Wednesday morning at the Quail Hollow Club did not include Hank Haney.
That could cause the conspiracy theorists to conclude that Woods' instructor of the past five years might soon have more time to spend with Charles Barkley.
Not true.
Despite a few tense moments at the Masters a few weeks ago -- leading to some conjecture about Haney's future with Woods -- and Haney's absence this week, there is nothing to it.
"It has nothing to do with Henry,'' Woods said of the frustration he felt at the Masters, where he tied for sixth, four shots out of a playoff won by Angel Cabrera.
"I didn't hit the ball the way I wanted to, and I didn't make any putts. I felt like that every day. It was [holes] 17 and 18 that hurt. I didn't finish off my rounds the last couple of days, and it cost me a chance to win the golf tournament.''
The fact that Haney is not at this week's Quail Hollow Championship is also of no significance. Reached earlier this week in Dallas, Haney said he spent time over the weekend working with Woods in Orlando and, depending on circumstances, might hook up with him next week at the Players Championship.
Travis Lindquist/Getty Images
Don't fret. Renowned coach Hank Haney will continue to be by Tiger Woods' side.
Haney typically spends the week prior to and the week of a major championship with Woods. Other work may be done away from a tournament site, as was the case recently, and it is common for Haney to skip events. For example, Haney was at Doral for only a day because he had another commitment there; and he was not at Bay Hill.
"I worked with him Saturday and Sunday, and he was hitting it really good,'' Haney said. "I feel very good about how he is going to do this week. But you never know. If you tell me where he is going to finish in putting, I'll tell you where I think he'll finish in the tournament.''
The reference, of course, was to Woods' lackluster putting at the Masters. Woods averaged 1.69 putts per green in regulation to rank tied for 45th out of 50 players who made the cut. Woods also had a poor putting week at Doral, where he tied for ninth but ranked 42nd in putting.
At the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Woods was first in the field in putting and he won the tournament.
It might be too simple to suggest that any deficiency in Woods' results boils down to putting, but it does put things in perspective, certainly in relation to his swing and Haney's influence.
Haney does himself little good trying to plead his case, so he refrains from doing so. He is aware that some observers noticed Woods giving him an earful on the driving range at Augusta National following a second-round 72 in which he bogeyed the 18th hole.
And when Woods finished the tournament with consecutive bogeys, he was tense in his comments afterward and referred to using a "Band-Aid'' swing in the final round. All of which led to the speculation about Haney.
"Usually you just leave me alone, let me vent for a while and then I'll be ready for focus on what I need to do to get ready for the next day,'' said Woods, who is making his first start since the Masters at Quail Hollow, where he won two years ago. "It's happened before, he's [Haney] seen it before; [caddie] Stevie [Williams] has seen it. You've got to vent.
"We don't get a chance to do that because we come off the green, we do media right away. You're constantly on, and I just need to vent for just a little bit. Give me five minutes, 10 minutes, and once that's over, it's 'What do we need to do to get ready to win this golf tournament the next day?'''
It is true that Woods dearly wanted to win the Masters and is annoyed at his inability to do so since 2005, considering he finished in the top three the following three years and sixth in 2009. A total of 12 shots over four years kept him out of a playoff each time.
And yet, when Woods tees it up Thursday at Quail Hollow, it will be just his 13th stroke-play round since returning from an eight-month layoff following knee surgery.
"The level of scrutiny that Tiger is under is unprecedented in sports,'' Haney said. "The expectations are just enormous. His greatness has created those expectations. He has only played in three [stroke-play] events. This was a pretty darn big injury and layoff. I don't think anybody would deny that. I just think he needs more play and more tournaments. People want to rush to judgment, and I guess it's understandable.''
Manning understands a thing or two about expectations and marvels at how Woods deals with them. The Indianapolis Colts quarterback has personal experience going back to his days as a prep phenom in New Orleans and son of a quarterback legend.
Those expectations followed Manning to the University of Tennessee and to the NFL, where his Colts won Super Bowl XLI during the 2006 season, and he was named league MVP last season.
"[Woods] does a great job, and there is no harder critic on him than himself,'' said Manning, who played with Woods and Quail Hollow member John Harris. "He has high goals and high expectations, and his ability to focus and block out any type of distractions is impressive. His physical abilities are obviously more popular, but his mental preparation and focus, I think, is what really separates him.''
Woods has shown an ability to play at the highest level again in relatively short order. After winning the U.S. Open in June and then undergoing ACL surgery, Woods did not work on his golf swing in earnest until January.
And yet, he has three top-10 finishes in his three stroke-play events, including a victory. Not bad, even for the No. 1 player in the world.
"It's just the nature of how I am," Woods said. "You want to try and win every event you play in, and obviously I haven't done that this year, but I've had some success this year. Sometimes it's hard to look at it that way.''
