LAST WEEK WE found out that Hank Haney claims Tiger might have actually suffered his damaging ACL injury while training in a Navy SEAL Kill House in 2007.

Now, we have fresh details of Tiger’s bizarre military obsession from Haney’s “The Big Miss.”

The books claims Tiger went on a three-day parachuting excursion, got shot with a rubber bullet, and employed a “weird” ex-military guy who claimed he could communicate with Tiger’s dead father.

The highlights:

• Tiger befriended an unnamed ex-SEAL and hired him as a bodyguard. Haney said Tiger’s ex-caddie Steve Williams thought the guy was “weird,” and they didn’t like his influence on Tiger. The guy also allegedly told Williams that Tiger’s dead father Earl was “speaking to him on a regular basis and giving him instructions on how to help Tiger.”
• Tiger went on six SEAL excursions in 2007. He came back from one trip to a Kill House with an enormous bruise from getting shot in the thigh with a rubber bullet. Another three-day trip involved jumping out of a plane up to 10 times a day.
• Tiger claims he can hold his breath for four minutes using a “lung packing” technique.
• Tiger once demonstrated a hold for Haney, grabbing him and saying “From here, I could kill you in about two seconds.” Haney says it was creepy.
• Tiger was “seriously” considering trying to become a SEAL. When Haney challenged him and asked him if he cared about throwing his career away, Tiger allegedly said, “No. I’m satisfied with what I’ve done in my career.”

All of these gory details make Haney come across as a bit of a gossip-monger (or a tattletale, opportunist, etc.)

Tiger’s military obsession sounds extreme and weird, but you have to realised it’s being filtered through Haney’s golf-centric lens. In reality, it could have been more of a hobby than a fixation.

But the volume and specificity of the anecdotes suggests there’s some merit to the claims.

- Tony Manfred

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