Hank Haney defends previous comments “I knew you’d win”

Hank Haney tweeted about Lee6’s win… and he really shouldn’t have

When Jeongeun Lee6 claimed the Women’s U.S Open on Sunday, the irony was not lost on anyone: Earlier in the week, Tiger Woods’ former coach Hank Haney declared mockingly on his radio show that a Korean, probably named Lee, would win the Women’s U.S. Open

He’d shown he has little knowledge of the women’s game on Wednesday’s SiriusXM Haney show with Steve Johnson, having only discovered the major was on that week and having no idea where the tournament was being played, going on to say that he could only name six players. 

Even more ironic, champion Jeongeun decided a while ago to add the ‘6’ to her last name because she IS the sixth player named ‘Lee’ to be playing on Tour.

“I couldn’t name you six players on the LPGA Tour,” Haney said, as he ‘predicted’ the winner. “Maybe I could. Well … I’d go with Lee. If I didn’t have to name a first name, I’d get a bunch of them right.”

He was slammed by players and pundits – including Tiger Woods and Michelle Wie – in addition to being suspended from the radio show. 

“He deserved it,” Woods said of Haney’s suspension from the radio show. “Just can’t look at life like that. And he obviously said what he meant, and he got what he deserved.”

He later apologised for his insensitivity and regret over offending anyone. 

“This morning I made some comments about women’s professional golf and its players that were insensitive and that I regret,” Haney had said at the time. 

But as soon as Lee6 had her hands on the trophy, he couldn’t resist taking to twitter to explain that his comments had actually come from statistics and facts – despite making it clear on the previous show he didn’t know the tournament was taking place, and couldn’t name six players on tour. 

Perhaps not realising that it belittles what it means to win a major, but certainly realising that her victory – for him at least – potentially vidicated his comments, Haney first decided to defend his previous comments as he claimed he knew she would win. 

He then went on to congratulation Jeongeun Lee6 in a now deleted tweet, because he spelt her first name wrong. And blamed it on auto-correct. 

There were some supporters, but for the most part, the bigger response was that when it comes to twitter and making comments about women’s golf, he really just shouldn’t have.