Could Sean Foley Replace Hank Haney as Tiger's Teacher?

Last weekend, Waggle Room was the first to contact Tiger Woods' (at least publicly) swing coach Hank Haney about the report from Sports by Brooks that he was out as Tiger's coach.  Haney responded with a denial of the report.  On Tuesday, Woods himself affirmed that he and Haney were still working together.

On the grounds of TPC Sawgrass, both reporters and players are calling that a facade for what is really happening: a drawn out break-up of the duo that has been working together since late 2003. 

Stephanie Wei has a post this morning indicating that the speculation about who would replace Haney may center around Sean Foley, the Canadian-born swing coach who currently has studs Sean O'Hair and Hunter Mahan in his stable.  Curiously enough, Woods played a practice round with both of them yesterday at Sawgrass.

This is not the first time that Foley's name has been mentioned to replace Haney.  In 2007, Haney was then also rumored to be on the outs with Tiger.  Foley spoke candidly about his desire to work with Tiger then, fueling the notion that he would eventually work with Woods.

In an interview with Lorne Rubenstein of the Canadian Globe and Mail paper, Foley said, "I think I could inspire him to do amazing things, given his money and intellect.  I don’t see why I should paint a small picture for myself. I believe it will happen."

There are some caution flags to the rumor, though.  Tiger has had a friendship with O'Hair that makes them frequent practice partners.  For Foley to be there for that practice round could be purely incidental.  Once more, O'Hair gave Woods credit during the Tour Championship for helping him with his putting last summer.  Woods, therefore, has filled some gap that Foley can not do for O'Hair. 

Foley also said in an interview with golf.com that he would not want to teach a swing suited to Woods' athleticism and power. 

"Give me Jim Furyk or Steve Stricker because they are pretty normal — not crazy-athletic people — who have become top-five players in the world."

Conflicting signals aside, Foley is considered a loose cannon.  He speaks his mind frequently and with little tact.  Somebody like that does not exactly fit well within Team Tiger.  Then again, Steve Williams has managed to keep his job to this point.

Tiger Woods places considerable stock in the recommendations of his close friends on Tour.  The relationship with Hank Haney largely began because of Haney's relationship with neighbor and BFF Mark O'Meara.  Sean O'Hair is pretty close to Woods and perhaps a recommendation of that kind has some serious clout with Tiger.

Either way, it does seem like the prevailing sentiment is that Hank Haney is out, or soon will be, and that he is shopping around for help.  He may even be turning to players for cues on how to fix his mechanics.  The AP's Doug Ferguson told us yesterday that Woods was very intrigued by Dustin Johnson on the range yesterday - curious about how he develops such power.  Perhaps Woods is looking for the power that he lost and is forcing into every swing like a square peg in a round hole.