Tiger Woods’ former caddie, Steve Williams, has disclosed that the golfing legend consistently expressed gratitude following every round they shared together during their partnership from 1999 to 2011. Williams accompanied Woods through 13 of his major championship triumphs.
During an appearance on the Tee It Up podcast in November, Williams disclosed how the American’s courteous gesture initially caught him off guard. “The thing that stood out for me more than anything when I first went to caddie for Tiger is that after every single round, good or bad, indifferent, whatever, ‘Thanks for your help today, Steve'”, Williams said.
“A lot of times when you are carrying for guys, and things don’t go well, and you have a bad day, they’d rather not see you. They don’t want to talk to you. But he was remarkable.”
He continued: “Every day, he thanked me for the job. And as a young guy under the pressure, that was the first. I couldn’t believe it.”
The New Zealand-born caddie assumed the position as Woods’ bagman three years after the American turned professional. Together, the duo secured 63 PGA Tour victories.
Although their collaboration was predominantly successful, the partnership concluded three years following Woods’ final major triumph at the 2008 US Open, when the golfer chose to separate from his loyal caddie. Despite their fruitful partnership, tensions occasionally surfaced between the pair.
Williams has subsequently revealed how he delivered an extraordinarily rare public rebuke to Woods during their time working together on the course. The caddie shared details of an unusual heated exchange at the prestigious Augusta National during GOLF’s Subpar podcast.
“It was at the Masters,” Williams said. “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.
“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.”
After parting ways with Woods, Williams went on to caddie for Adam Scott across two separate periods totalling seven years. He also had shorter stints carrying the bag for LPGA player Danielle Kang and Jason Day.