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The 2012 PGA Tour season begins Friday on the Plantation Course at Kapalua in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Golf Channel has exclusive, four-round coverage of the event. The first three rounds, Friday-Sunday, are on-air 6-10 p.m. ET, with "Golf Central Pre-Game" beginning at 3:30 p.m. Monday's final round is scheduled for 4-8 p.m. ET, with "Pre-Game" at 3 p.m.

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Hank Haney has written a book about the six years he spent as Tiger Woods’ swing coach, a volatile time in which Woods went from winning nearly half of his tournaments to a scandal that derailed his pursuit of golf history.

Without giving away any details until “The Big Miss” goes on sale in the spring, Haney believes the book will be hard to put down.

“I get asked all the time about Tiger, what it was like to work with him,” Haney said in a telephone interview. “I felt like I had a front row seat to golf history. It just kind of chronicles a little bit of what I went through, what I dealt with, how I coached and the observations I made.

“I think there’s a lot of things that people are going to find interesting.”

Haney began working with Woods at the Bay Hill Invitational in 2004. They parted ways a month after the 2010 Masters, where Woods made his return to golf after being exposed for multiple extramarital affairs that shattered his image and led to divorce.

Most of the people involved with Woods have signed a nondisclosure agreement. Haney said he signed no such thing – “I didn’t even have a contract,” he said – although he said the book was not intended to “take jabs at anyone.”

Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent at Excel Sports Management, said he was aware of the book but that Woods had not seen any excerpts and would have no comment.

Haney was asked whether he thought Woods will like it.

“If he reads it, I don’t think it will be a book that bothers him. It’s hard to say,” Haney said. “I think anybody who reads it will think it’s interesting, very fair and honest, and that’s what I wanted to do. I was on that job for six years. There were 110 days a year I was with him. I stayed at his house for close to 30 days a year. You make a lot of observations.”

The book will be released by Crown Archetype, part of the Crown Publishing Group at Random House, Inc. It is scheduled to be published March 27 – one week before the Masters – and issued simultaneously in print and digital formats in the United States and Canada.

Haney wrote the book with Jaime Diaz of Golf Digest, whose coverage dates to when Woods was a teenager and Diaz played golf with Woods and his father. Diaz also spoke at the memorial service for Earl Woods.

He said the title was collaboration.

“It has multiple meanings,” Haney said. “`The Big Miss’ was golf jargon. The big miss of a drive, obviously that’s been part of his game. The big miss of an opportunity? That’s really where we got the idea. It was a missed opportunity that Tiger and I had that we experienced working together. That all comes out in the book.”

Haney was the second of three coaches Woods has used as a professional, though he was part of the most interesting times. He caught more criticism than any coach, even though Woods won 29 times and six majors during their six years.

“I think the period of time that I dealt with Tiger was much more unique, in terms of having the scandal, Torrey Pines with the broken leg at the U.S. Open, other things, too,” Haney said. “It was a totally different time.”

Woods went nine months without winning after going to work with Haney. Starting with the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan at the end of the 2005 season, however, Woods won 46 percent of the tournaments he played worldwide.

During their six years together, Woods got married and had two children. His father died in May 2006, and Woods missed the cut in a major for the first time at the U.S. Open a month later.

As for the serial adultery, Haney said he didn’t know about it and doesn’t delve into that chapter of Woods’ life in the book, except for his return from the scandal after going nearly five months without competition.

“It’s something you can’t NOT talk about it,” Haney said. “My last tournament was the Masters, and that was his first tournament back from the scandal. I didn’t know anything about the girls. That’s not something I could specifically comment on. Everything I comment on is what I observed and the facts I knew. I didn’t know anything about that.

“But I did know about how he interacted with me about that, what my observations were and other areas in terms of how I dealt with and the aftermath.”

The most compelling win under Haney came at the 2008 U.S. Open, when Woods learned he had a double stress fracture in his left leg, along with shredded ligaments in his left knee. Despite not competing for two months, he won in a playoff over Rocco Mediate.

Haney recalled doctors telling Woods before that U.S. Open that he needed to spend three weeks on crutches, followed by three weeks of rest. Haney says Woods told the doctors, “I’m playing the U.S. Open, and I’m going to win.”

Pressed for examples of his observations in the book, Haney declined, not even to mention his favorite moment or the low point in his coaching relationship with Woods.

Haney said he knew all along he would be writing a book.

He worked primarily with Mark O’Meara, which is how he got to know Woods. Haney said from the day he first went to work with Woods, he knew that would be his last pro client.

He took notes and kept his observations in diaries, then waited to find the right publisher and someone – Diaz – to help him with the book. Haney said he hasn’t seen the finished product, but “we’re very close.”

“It was an incredible opportunity,” Haney said. “We had a great run and I enjoyed it, but a lot of things happened in six years that made it feel a little longer. I had a lot of great observations from being in the position I was in.”

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Steve Stricker took a big step toward booking another trip to Maui with a 10-under 63 to build a five-shot lead Saturday through two rounds at the Tournament of Champions.

Stricker played his final five holes in 5 under, including a 3-wood to 12 feet for eagle on the 15th hole that gave him some separation from Webb Simpson and the eagle-eagle finish by Kevin Na.

Stricker was at 15-under 131 and will be paired Sunday with Simpson, who shot 68.

Na was not even part of the picture until holing a 5-iron from 221 yards for eagle on the 17th, and then hitting 3-wood to 10 feet for eagle on the final hole.

This is Stricker’s fourth straight trip to Kapalua, the longest streak of anyone in the field.

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Steve Stricker took a big step toward booking another trip to Maui with a 10-under 63 to build a five-shot lead Saturday through two rounds at the Tournament of Champions.

Stricker played his final five holes in 5 under, including a 3-wood to 12 feet for eagle on the 15th hole that gave him some separation from Webb Simpson and the eagle-eagle finish by Kevin Na.

Stricker was at 15-under 131 and will be paired Sunday with Simpson, who shot 68.

Na was not even part of the picture until holing a 5-iron from 221 yards for eagle on the 17th, and then hitting 3-wood to 10 feet for eagle on the final hole.

This is Stricker’s fourth straight trip to Kapalua, the longest streak of anyone in the field.

The 2012 PGA Tour season begins Friday on the Plantation Course at Kapalua in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Golf Channel has exclusive, four-round coverage of the event. The first three rounds, Friday-Sunday, are on-air 6-10 p.m. ET, with "Golf Central Pre-Game" beginning at 3:30 p.m. Monday's final round is scheduled for 4-8 p.m. ET, with "Pre-Game" at 3 p.m.

The 2012 PGA Tour season begins Friday on the Plantation Course at Kapalua in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Golf Channel has exclusive, four-round coverage of the event. The first three rounds, Friday-Sunday, are on-air 6-10 p.m. ET, with "Golf Central Pre-Game" beginning at 3:30 p.m. Monday's final round is scheduled for 4-8 p.m. ET, with "Pre-Game" at 3 p.m.

Rory Sabbatini was assessed a two-stroke penalty for showing up late to his second-round tee time at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions on Saturday.

Sabbatini was set to begin his second round with Sean O'Hair at 4:35 p.m. ET, but did not appear.

After shooting even-par 73 on Friday, the Honda Classic winner had the penalty assessed on the par-4 opening hole. Sabbatini made five on the hole, leading to a triple-bogey 7 on the scorecard that left him 3 over for the tournament.

Sabbatini and his playing partner have a history together. The two got into a heated verbal altercation at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans last year.

The 2012 PGA Tour season begins Friday on the Plantation Course at Kapalua in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Golf Channel has exclusive, four-round coverage of the event. The first three rounds, Friday-Sunday, are on-air 6-10 p.m. ET, with "Golf Central Pre-Game" beginning at 3:30 p.m. Monday's final round is scheduled for 4-8 p.m. ET, with "Pre-Game" at 3 p.m.

Everyone could use a mulligan now and again, right? A chance to replay one shot, maybe a tournament do-over, perhaps even press the reset button for the year. GolfChannel.com senior writers Jason Sobel, Randall Mell and Rex Hoggard offer up to whom they would like to extend a mulligan in 2011?

By JASON SOBEL

If Rory McIlroy ever needed a mulligan, it was on the 10^th tee at this year’s Masters.

Now this question can be interpreted many different ways; we can issue a mulligan for the entire season or one tournament or even an off-course comment. I’m going to use my mully quite literally and let one player replace a single shot with another one.

Nobody needed a do-over more than McIlroy, who held a four-stroke lead to start Sunday and was still one up through nine at Augusta National, then hit a dastardly pull hook that landed in a place near some cabins that most observers never even knew were in play.

You know the rest of the story. The 22-year-old stumbled to triple-bogey on that hole, struggled on the next three and posted a final-round 80 – a full 10 shots behind winner Charl Schwartzel.

Two months later, McIlroy triumphed at the U.S. Open. It can be contended that he may not have found such success without first witnessing failure, but we can still wonder what might have been had he simply knocked one into the fairway on that hole. Perhaps he would have won each of the year’s first two major championships. For all the potential and accomplishments the world No. 2 has, the buzz surrounding him would be so much bigger with a green jacket in his closet.

So, yeah. That’s worth a mulligan.

By RANDALL MELL

Really wanted to give Rory McIlroy a mulligan for his tee shot at the 10^th hole in the final round of the Masters last spring, but Jason Sobel beat me to the punch.

Would love to give David Toms a mulligan for missing that 3-footer in the playoff at The Players Championship with his wife and two children watching behind the green, but he came out of that just fine, rebounding to win the Crowne Plaza Invitational the following week.

Tempted to give Bobby Gates a mulligan for missing that 6-foot par putt at the final hole of the season-ending Children’s Miracle Network Classic, a gut-wrenching miss that dropped him to 126^th on the money list, but he rebounded to win back his Tour card at Q-School last week.

So my mulligan goes to Patrick Cantlay for his play at the 15^th tee of the 33^rd hole of the U.S. Amateur final at Erin Hills this summer.

That’s where Cantlay blew a chance to punctuate a brilliant amateur season by winning the crown jewel in the amateur ranks.

At that wicked little par 4, just 252 yards, Cantlay tried to make the smart play after blowing a 3-wood over that green in the morning round and making bogey. In the afternoon, he plucked an 8-iron from his bag at the tee box to lay up. But he made a head-spinning mistake. He pulled his tee shot into a fairway bunker, then blasted his approach over the green and made bogey to lose the hole and eventually the championship to Kelly Kraft.

Cantlay was 1 up stepping to the 15^th tee after fighting back from 4 down. A come-from-behind victory would have been a memorable ending to a superb amateur run this year, but momentum swung so heavily after Cantlay's mistake.

With his brilliant play in PGA Tour events in 2011, with his 60 at the Travelers leading to one of four top-25 finishes, Cantlay desperately wanted the U.S. Amateur prize. Maybe Kraft would have won anyway, but a mulligan at the 15^th makes Cantlay awful tough to beat there. It gives him a chance to finish off an unforgettable amateur run.

By REX HOGGARD

By way of excuse or explanation, depending on one’s point of view in the hyper-polarized world of Tiger Woods, if anyone rates a “do-over” for 2011 it is the former world No. 1.

To recap, Woods spent prolonged parts of the year on crutches, in a boot, on the couch and, ultimately, learning the intricacies of a new swing with a ball count and assorted deadlines hanging over his head.

When Woods lashed at his second shot from under the Eisenhower tree (above) on Saturday at Augusta National he was still clinging to thoughts of contending. When he limped off TPC Sawgrass a month later after just nine holes he was facing the very real possibility that he was done for the season.

Woods would later call his decision to play The Players a mistake and when he tied for 37^th (WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and missed the cut (PGA Championship) in his first two starts back off the “DL” it would have been easy to consider 2011 a wash.

A solid finish – third-place at the Australian Open and his first victory in two years at his Chevron World Challenge – salvaged the season, but if anyone rates a mulligan it is Woods. Maybe he attempts a safer shot from under the Eisenhower tree, maybe he doesn’t push his luck at Sawgrass, maybe things work out differently.

Rory McIlroy believes the comparison Luke Donald made between him and Tiger Woods was misinterpreted. 

"I think what he said was maybe taken a little bit out of context," McIlroy said Thursday at the Dubai World Championship.

On Wednesday, Donald said he believed McIlroy was the greatest natural golf talent he had ever seen.

“I think Tiger’s work ethic has always been tremendous and his mindset as well. I think his mindset is what has separated him from the field when he was really at the top of his game. But in terms of talent, I think Rory has more talent," Donald said.

The world No. 1 immediately took flak for the comment, taking to Twitter to clarify his definition of talent and the comparison.

"Talent can only take you so far; you need the right attitude (mindset) and application to perform at the highest level ... never try to disrespect Tiger in any way. He is still the greatest player I have played with," Donald said.

McIlroy agreed with Donald's full assessment.

"Look, it's one thing to have talent but it's another to actually have the capability of turning that talent into something productive. I think what Luke was saying was maybe golf comes as easy to me as it does for Tiger," he said. 

"I'll never know, but, look, Tiger's won 90-whatever tournaments worldwide and 14 majors and that's definitely more of a talent than five wins and whatever it is.”

"There's different types of talent,” McIlroy continued. “You could say some of Luke's short-game shots out there today were unbelievable. He's definitely got more talent than me around the greens.”