Hank Haney, the former swing coach for Tiger Woods, was suspended from his SiriusXM PGA Tour radio show on Thursday, one day after he dismissed women’s professional golf and mocked the ethnicity of many LPGA stars, according to The NYTimes.
On Wednesday, the day before the start of the United States Women’s Open in Charleston, S.C., Haney predicted during his show that “a Korean” would win and said that he couldn’t name six players on the tour but that he would get “a bunch of them right” if he guessed “Lee” and didn’t have to produce any first names.
The comments quickly drew criticism from several current and former players, including the Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie, one of the most prominent members of the L.P.G.A. tour. Wie wrote on Twitter: “As a Korean American female golfer, these comments that Hank Haney made disappoint and anger me on so many levels. Racism and sexism are no laughing matter Hank ... shame on you.”
Haney, best known for coaching Woods while he won 31 PGA Tour titles, including six majors, from 2004 and 2010, issued an apology later in the day through a text message to Golf Digest. He said he regretted his comments, describing them as “insensitive.”
The PGA Tour and SiriusXM jointly released a statement Thursday night announcing Haney’s suspension and saying that his comments did not represent their views. SiriusXM, the statement added, is reviewing Haney’s future status.
“I accept my suspension and apologize again,” Haney was quoted as saying in the release.
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