Steve Williams worked with Tiger Woods at the height of the golfing great’s success, but the New Zealand native got the boot for temporarily switching allegiance when the American was injured
Steve Williams caddied for Tiger Woods during the height of the superstar’s success but was sacked for temporarily jumping ship to another player.
The New Zealand native accompanied Woods on some of the world’s most challenging courses between 1999 and 2011, undoubtedly an asset to Wood’s 15 major career wins and record 82 PGA Tour titles – nine ahead of legend Jack Nicklaus. For his efforts, Williams became one of the world’s most notable caddies in golfing history, racking up a reported net worth of £15.7million ($20m) following the unprecedented string of success – largely part to his salary and percentage of Woods’ winnings.
With Williams at his side, Woods would win 64 of his tour victories, 13 of his 15 majors, nine Tour Player of the Year awards, and spend 281 weeks at World No. 1 between June 2005 and October 2010. But the good times would soon come to an end for Williams, who has previously opened up about the reason that he was sacked by Woods.
Speaking in the Woods documentary of 2021, Williams said: “After the Masters, Tiger took a little bit of a break away from the game just to get his mind fresh as well as to deal with some niggling injuries. As a caddie of Tiger Woods and a great friend of his I wanted to deeply respect what he was going through but I still didn’t know when he would be playing again.”
He added: “I was just expecting a phone call at any moment to say ‘I’m playing again next week, get your s*** together and get over here’. There was a lot of uncertainty. So when a friend I had caddied for before called me and asked me if I could caddie for him, I ran that by Tiger and he said absolutely no problem.”
However, Woods is said to have changed his mind on the situation soon after, calling Williams to say that if he caddied for someone else then it would be the end of their professional relationship. Williams explained: “But a couple of 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 couple of days after the tournament I got the phone call to say our time had ended.
“I believe in my own heart I gave 100 per cent when I was caddying for Tiger the entire time I was with him and for him to fire me over that kind of thing. I found that pretty unusual.” Adam Scott would be the man Williams caddied for in the incident, filling in at the 2011 US Open while Woods was sidelined.
For teaming up with Scott, Williams also noted how he hadn’t just lost an employer, but had also lost a long-time friend. He added: “When he fired me, I thought he was firing me as a golf caddie and not as a friend. Tiger was the best man at my wedding, I didn’t think we’d have no communication for the rest of our lives. That just didn’t even enter my mind. To this day I find that a hard pill to swallow. Someone you spend 13 years with, with all your time and all your effort, and the guy can’t even speak to you.”
Williams would work with Scott until 2017, before caddying for Jason Day briefly in 2019. He would take to the courses with Scott again between 2022 and 2023. Woods, meanwhile, hasn’t won a major title since the 2019 Masters tournament.
