Hank Haney files lawsuit against PGA Tour after radio show firing

Hank Haney is taking on the PGA Tour.

The former golf coach and current on-air personality filed a lawsuit against the PGA Tour, Inc. Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Haney is seeking damages for harm he says the PGA Tour caused by allegedly interfering with his show on SiriusXM's PGA Tour Radio station.

In his lawsuit, Haney claims the PGA Tour had "long-standing animus" toward him dating from a desire to "settle an old score" relating to his 2012 book, The Big Miss, about his relationship with Tiger Woods, whom he coached for six years.

The complaint alleges the PGA Tour forced its Superstores and other shops to cancel orders of Haney's book, directed the Golf Channel in 2013 to discontinue Haney's TV show, the "Haney Project," and later convinced sponsors to discontinue relationships with Haney.

As a matter of practice, the PGA TOUR does not comment on pending litigation.

After a controversy surrounding the U.S. Women's Open, Haney was originally suspended, then dismissed at the PGA Tour's instruction, from his show with Steve Johnson due to insensitive comments about the potential winner of the Open:

Johnson: "This week is the 74th U.S. Women's Open, Hank."

Haney: "Oh it is? I'm gonna predict a Korean."

Johnson, laughing: "OK, that's a pretty safe bet."

Haney: "I couldn't name you six players on the LPGA Tour. Maybe I could. Well … I'd go with Lee. If I didn't have to name a first name, I'd get a bunch of them right."

Haney, who instructed over 200 tour professionals throughout his career, immediately publicly apologized and his lawsuit states SiriusXM accepted the apology for his remarks and agreed there would be minimal, if any, consequences.

The lawsuit claims that his dismissal "cost [Haney] advertising revenues that would have amounted to millions of dollars over the life of the agreement." As part of his agreement with Sirius, which was signed in November 2017 and was set to continue until Feb. 15, 2021, Haney received $250,000 per year plus a percentage of the advertising revenue generated by the program.

He made $463,931 from net advertising revenue for the year ending Dec. 31, 2018, according to the lawsuit. For the four months ending April 30, 2019, he earned $364,141 from net advertising revenue.

Callaway, one of Haney's largest collaborators, declined to renew its agreement with Haney when it expired in December 2019. The lawsuit states Callaway "felt compelled to decline a renewal because of the loss of Haney's position broadcasting with Sirius XM. Had Haney been allowed to complete the term of the Agreement, Callaway would have renewed its collaboration agreement with Haney."

Since his dismissal, Haney has a new podcast on iHeart Radio.