Woods’ ex-caddie Williams: Tiger sometimes treated me like a ‘slave’
In a new book due out Monday, Tiger Woods’ former caddie, Steve Williams, details the waning years of his relationship with the 14-time major champion, including how his ex-boss made him feel on the course.
In an excerpt of the new book, “Out of the Rough,” posted on the New Zealand-based site, stuff.co.nz, Williams, along with co-author Michael Donaldson, said that he felt disrespected by Woods’ on-course outbursts and behavior. Williams said he brought his concerns to light in a one-on-one conversation with Woods in 2010, months after Woods was involved in the now-infamous low-speed car crash outside his Orlando home during Thanksgiving 2009.
I was adamant that some of his behaviour on the course had to change. He was well known for his bad temper and, while that wasn’t pleasant to witness, you could live with it because it ended as quickly as it started. But he had other bad habits that upset me. I wanted him to prove to me he could change his behaviour and show me – and the game of golf – more respect.
One thing that really pissed me off was how he would flippantly toss a club in the general direction of the bag, expecting me to go over and pick it up. I felt uneasy about bending down to pick up his discarded club – it was like I was his slave. The other thing that disgusted me was his habit of spitting at the hole if he missed a putt. Tiger listened to what I had to say, the air was cleared and we got on with it – his goal was to be the best player in history and my goal was to keep working as best I could to help make that happen.
Though many readers will agree with Williams’ assessment of Woods’ on-course club throwing, spitting and cursing, the caddie’s use of the word “slave” is going to draw criticism.
At a November 2011 function held during the week of the WGC-HSBC Champions, Williams, who had been fired by Woods four months prior, received a light-hearted award for best celebration of the year after his new boss, Aussie Adam Scott, won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August. Williams celebrated like he had won the Masters himself, even holding court for some post-tournament comments to the media. It was over the top. Asked at the ceremony in China why he was so emotional in his celebration, Williams said of Woods, “I wanted to shove it up that black arsehole.”
Williams quickly apologized after the event, though he suggested others had said more insensitive things during what he perceived to be an “off the record” event. For his part, Woods offered a measured response, saying his former looper was “definitely not a racist.”
“It was a wrong thing to say,” Woods said at the time. “We’re moving forward. It was hurtful certainly, but life goes forward. It is a comment that shouldn’t have been made and he certainly wishes he didn’t make it.”
Willliams’ open-and-honest conversation with Woods was precipitated by the National Enquirer’s November 2009 report that Woods had flown New York night club host Rachel Uchitel to Australia during the week of the Australian Masters. Williams said it was that week that he learned of Woods’ marital infidelity.
Before the final round at Kingston Heath, Williams showed up to Woods’ room, in the same hotel as the Kiwi, to get Woods’ clubs and prepare to leave for the course. Williams said Woods took a worrying amount of time to come to the door, some 15 minutes, and, when he did answer, Woods seemed out of sorts. Woods called an audible and said he would take a helicopter from host Kingston Heath to an airport to take his private jet home instead of the original plan of returning to the hotel to gather his things.
Woods won the tournament, but the enjoyment didn’t last long.
But the joy of winning dissipated in the strangest fashion. No sooner had Tiger fulfilled his media obligations than he fled to the airport in a chopper, leaving me to head back to the hotel on my own. As I was driving, I got a text from Mark Steinberg which read, ‘There is a story coming out tomorrow. Absolutely no truth to it. Don’t speak to anybody.’
Williams insists he never knew of Woods’ affairs, suggesting in the excerpt that he didn’t know because only a few of Woods’ closest friends and advisors were aware. Williams, subjected to unwanted criticism by fans because of his association with Woods, wanted to be cleared by Woods’ people of any knowledge of his cheating but never received it.
After Woods’ crash, Williams didn’t hear from his boss for another four months. Their relationship ended contentiously in June 2011, shortly after Williams worked for Scott on a temporary basis at the U.S. Open.
