Tiger Woods won all but two of his 15 majors with Steve Williams as his caddie, but even during their successful partnership, there was a time which saw them clash on the golf course
Steve Williams was the caddie for Tiger Woods for 12 years(Image: PA)
Legendary caddie Steve Williams revealed that he once handed Tiger Woods a very public dressing down on the golf course.
The New Zealander caddied for the golf icon for 12 years from 1999 to 2011 as Williams, 61, witnessed Woods capture 13 of his 15 majors while working alongside him. However, their successful partnership came to an end three years after Woods’ last major triumph in what was the U.S. Open in 2008 after opting to sack his long-time caddie.
Widely considered the greatest golf and caddie duo in the history of golf, Williams and Woods rarely engaged in severe arguments throughout the years but the former recently opened up on the one occasion it did occur.
Appearing on a episode of GOLF’s Subpar podcast earlier this week, he was asked to reveal the worst dispute he had with Woods to which he began to tell the story: “It was at the Masters, I’d been out on the course early in the morning and knew where the tee placement was on the third hole.
“They’d moved the tee right up to the very front of which I’d never seen before. Easy to knock it on the green. He made a 4-4 start, it was automatic in my mind that he needed to hit a driver there. I couldn’t talk him into it and I did.
“He hit the worst shot he’s ever hit over the trees in the right [and] took a bogey which basically took him out of the tournament because the scoring average might have been 3.5 or 6 on that hole on that day.
Steve Williams admitted he and Tiger Woods only had one major argument in 12 years(Image: XXXXXXX/Youtube)
“He didn’t say a word to me for the next five holes and going up the ninth hole, I dressed him down and gave him a speech he’d never heard before and that was the first and only major argument that we ever had.”
On the topic of Woods, the caddie was asked who the iconic golfer believed was his main rival and it was a surprising name that Williams offered up. “David Duval, unparalleled,” he said.
“He thought that David had what it took to compete week in and week out and challenge him for number one supremacy.
“He was the guy, but it was a very short-lived time. David had that wonderful patch where he got the number one in the world, captured the Open Championship, and then he made a drastic change with his body.
Woods won 13 of his 15 majors working with the New Zealander(Image: Daily Mirror)
“And hence, he lost feel with his golf swing in there, and it took him a long time to get it going again. But he was the guy that he had the most respect for and the guy that he thought could challenge him.”
After the end of his working relationship with Woods in 2011, Williams spent seven years as Adam Scott’s caddie in two different stints, as well spending several months alongside Danielle Kang and Jason Day.
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