Haney's work with Tiger pays off

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland ( AP) -- Hank Haney never asked to be in the spotlight.

This was one time he didn't mind it.

Tiger Woods took the claret jug through a side door to begin a long list of obligations as the British Open champion. Haney, who had quietly watched his pupil from behind the ropes at St. Andrews, tried to leave the interview area unnoticed when he suddenly found himself surrounded by reporters.

Only this time, the Dallas-based swing coach didn't feel as though he was being grilled on the witness stand.

The questions shifted from "What on earth have you done?" to "How did you do it?" And now that Woods has won two of the first three majors, "How close is he to fully grasping the swing changes?"

"He's not going to ever be satisfied with getting there," Haney said. "He's not looking for 'getting there.' He's looking for getting better. That's what he looks for every day."

Whatever it is, Woods appears to have found it.

The guy who went 10 majors without a victory -- matching the longest drought of his career -- again seems to own them. He won the Masters by hitting his two best shots of the day on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. He combined his best ball-striking with his worst putting at the U.S. Open and finished second.

Then, he became the first wire-to-wire winner at the British Open in 32 years, opening with a 66 and leading over the final 63 holes with utter control over the Old Course.

Asked on the BBC if he had a message for those who questioned why he would change a swing that made him No. 1 in the world by a mile, Woods said it was nothing he could repeat on air, even in Britain