For his cover story Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Alan Shipnuck talked to everybody — it seems — who was involved in Tiger Woods‘ career, from fellow PGA Tour players who witnessed his majesty to his coaches and more. Not surprisingly, former Woods coach Hank Haney plays a large role in analyzing Tiger for Shipnuck’s purpose. What is that purpose? It’s right there in the title. Shipnuck wants to answer: What Happened to Tiger Woods? It’s the Most Vexing Question in Sports.
Setting aside other vexing sports questions like the NFL concussion health measures and why the New York Knicks haven’t won an NBA championship since Richard Nixon was president, Shipnuck is onto something. Now eight years removed from Woods’ last major — with countless imminent-return-to-greatness narratives squelched — each spring people wonder: where did Tiger Woods go? Haney offered one simple answer that Shipnuck says others also believe, too. Shipnuck and Haney think that, “Tiger Woods, at some point around the mid-2000s, was tired of being Tiger Woods.”