Tiger Woods ex-coach Hank Haney left shocked by Gary Player's take about The Masters at Augusta
Nine-time major champion Gary Player made some headlines with his recent comments on The Masters, which is set to be played next week at the illustrious Augusta National Golf Club. Tiger Woods' former coach Hank Haney reacted to the viral comments on X on Thursday.
Player, now age 89, won himself three green jackets back in his day. The feisty South African recently ranked The Masters as the last of the four major championships in terms of their greatness as tournaments. Golf Digest shared Player's comments on their X account.
"The [British] Open is by far the greatest tournament on the planet. I rate The Open at one, the U.S. Open at two, PGA [Championship] three, and Augusta four," Gary Player said.
The post from Golf Digest has over 382,000 views on X and more than 400 replies in the comment section. On Thursday, Tiger Woods' former golf coach, Hank Haney, quoted the post by Golf Digest on X and responded to Gary Player's comments.
"Omg, this is quite a take," Haney's reply reads.
Haney has over 146,000 followers on his X account. In 2022, he posted twice on X suggesting that The Masters is the best golf tournament.
"The Masters is the greatest, even w the recorded fake bird noises lol," Haney posted on X in April of 2022.
On that same day, Haney made another similar post.
"Nothing like the Masters, not even close."
Hank Haney was Tiger Woods' coach when he won the 2005 Masters Tournament, which is most remembered for his iconic chip-in for birdie on the par-three 16th hole in the final round. Tiger ultimately won the tournament in a playoff to capture his first major title since 2002.
Here are the top players in the field for The Masters and what they aim to accomplish
The best golfers in the world from both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf will set out to capture a green jacket in less than a week.
Rory McIlroy, who is second in the Official World Golf Rankings, will tee it up at Augusta for the 17th time in his career next week. McIlroy is still in search of his first green jacket and looks to complete the career grand slam.
The only golfer to take more attempts to attain his first green jacket is Sergio Garcia. Garcia won the tournament in his 19th time playing in it in 2017.
Scottie Scheffler aims to defend his title after winning his second Masters last April. He won his first in 2022. Scheffler is searching for his first PGA Tour win since last year's Tour Championship.
Both Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka have played well at Augusta National in the past and are in search of their first victory at the esteemed venue. The two tied for second place in 2019, one shot behind winner Tiger Woods. Koepka also entered the final round in 2023 with a two shot lead but ulitmately lost to Jon Rahm, finishing in second place.
With The Masters less than a week away, spring is on the horizon in northern Georgia.