Tiger Woods had a controversial reason for firing his ridiculously rich golf caddie
Steve Williams, who was Tiger Woods’ caddie at the height of his success, was fired for temporarily switching players. The New Zealand golf caddie backed Woods on various challenging courses around the world between 1999 and 2011, a crucial factor in Woods’ remarkable haul of 15 career major victories and a record 82 PGA Tour titles – nine more than golf titan Jack Nicklaus. This unprecedented winning streak earned Williams an estimated £15.7 million ($20 million), mainly from her salary and a share of Woods’ competitive income. With Williams, Woods won 64 tournaments on tour (13 of 15 majors), was named TOUR Player of the Year nine times, and secured a 281-week reign as world number one from June 2005 to October 2010. But those good times came to an abrupt end for Williams, who has already revealed the reason behind Woods’ relief from his duties: In a 2021 documentary about Woods, Williams said: “Following the Masters, Tiger took some time off from the game to refresh his mind and deal with a nagging injury. As Tiger Woods’ caddie and a great friend, I wanted to deeply respect what he went through, but we still didn’t know when he would play again.”
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He continued, “I was hoping that at any moment I’d get a call and be told, ‘I’m playing again next week, so get ready and come here.’ There was a lot of uncertainty. So when I got a call from a friend who was a caddie and asked if I could caddy for him, I reached out to Tiger and he said, “No problem.”
But things quickly changed, and Woods did a 180-degree turn and allegedly asked someone to call Williams and tell him that if he continued to serve other players, his job as a professional caddie would be over. Recalling the incident, Williams said: “But a few days before the tournament, Tiger changed his mind. \”He had his agent call and he said \’If you go and caddie for your friend, that will be the end of your time caddying for Tiger\’. I thought there was no way the guy is going to fire me. But a few days after the tournament, I called, saying that our time was over. I believe in my heart. I always used his blood to give 100 % for the tiger. He fired me with him from that. I thought that was very unusual.”
Adam Scott, Williams’s assistant during Woods’ absence from the 2011 U.S. Open, believes he lost more than just a professional relationship at that tournament. He added: “When he fired me, I thought he fired me as a golf caddie, not as a friend.” “Tiger was the best man at my wedding and I never thought we’d lose contact for the rest of our lives. It never even crossed my mind. To this day, I think it’s a tough pill to swallow. The person you spent 13 years with, giving all your time and effort to, and this guy can’t even talk to you.
After the split, Williams worked with Scott until 2017, then briefly caddied for Jason Day in 2019. He will team up again with Scott from 2022 to 2023. Woods, meanwhile, has not won a major title since winning the Masters in 2019.
