By Sarah Valenzuela
New York Daily News
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Michelle Wie took to Twitter to immediately call out remarks made by well-known golf instructor Hank Haney. After Haney was rebuked for his disrespectful remarks about women and Asian golfers, he quickly apologized for what he said.
New York Daily News
Michelle Wie said ‘not today Satan,’ to remarks Hank Haney — a golf instructor famed for working with Tiger Woods and Mark O’Meara — made earlier Wednesday morning on his PGA Tour show on Sirius XM.
Haney essentially said the equivalent of a combination of ‘all you Asian people look alike’ and ‘women in golf, who?’ when discussing his lack of player knowledge when it comes to the LPGA Tour and the upcoming U.S. Women’s Open
“I’m gonna predict a Korean (to win)… I couldn’t name ya like uh six players on the LPGA Tour. Nah, maybe I could. I’d go with Li, if I didn’t have to name a first name I’d get a bunch of them right. … Honestly, Michelle Wie’s hurt. I don’t know ’em,” Haney said while chuckling through the 45 seconds that segued into an admission he didn’t even know where the 74th U.S. Women’s Open was even being played, but then ‘ooh-ed’ when he was told it’d be held at the Country Club of Charleston. As if it was some kind of treat for women to be able to play a major tournament at someplace as ‘prestigious’ as Charleston.
Wie took to Twitter to denounce the remarks:
“Shame on you @HankHaney…” Wie wrote in one tweet, followed by, “As a Korean American female golfer, these comments that @HankHaney made disappoint and anger me on so many different levels. Racism and sexism are no laughing matter Hank….shame on you. I don’t ever do this, but this must be called out.”
Yes, many of the LPGA Tour’s top performing players are Asian, but as a coach and an expert in the sport, the amount of disrespect Haney spouted in less than a minute’s worth of discussion, was despicable and Wie, like many of the other female and POC athletes demanding respect from their male and non POC counterparts, was not having it.
“Too many of these girls, Korean or not, have worked countless hours and sacrificed so much to play in the US Open this week. There are so many amazing players in the field. Let’s celebrate them….Not mock them. @HankHaney,” Wie tweeted.
Wie, 29 — who became the youngest player to qualify for the USGA amateur championship when she was 10, was the 2009 rookie of the year and the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open winner — has been absent most of this year trying to recover and return from her various hand and wrist injuries. She withdrew from the upcoming U.S. Women’s Open to tend to her still troublesome wrist.
Haney, who is 63 years old, obviously received more than just Wie’s three tweets and a little afternoon, he apologized for his careless words:
“This morning I made some comments about women’s professional golf and its players that were insensitive and that I regret. In an effort to make a point about the overwhelming success of Korean players on the tour I offended people and I am sorry. I have the highest respect for the women who have worked so hard to reach the pinnacle of their sport and I never meant to take away from their abilities and accomplishment. I’ve worked in this game with men and women players from many different cultures and I look forward to continuing to do so.”
