July 20, 2011, was a shocking day in the golf world! No, nothing grave happened in broad view, but Tiger Woods suddenly fired his caddie and friend Steve Williams. Williams was with Woods for 12 years, and all the shared wins, laughter, and proud moments were made in just a split second. Not just the good moments, but the duo was also together when Woods’s personal life went haywire and he went through a very public and messy divorce. This is what made the split even harder to digest. But what exactly happened so that the decorated golfer had to take this step?
Woods had withdrawn from the 2011 AT&T National due to his leg injury and was taking time off to rest. This allowed Adam Scott to have Williams as his caddie for the tournament. Williams has made quite a name for himself in his career, caddying for legends like Tiger Woods and Greg Norman. But that was what sparked this fire. According to CBS Sports, Williams asked Woods before caddying for Scott at the U.S. Open and Open Championship.
Initially, the 82-time PGA Tour winner was fine with it. “I phoned Tiger about it, and he said, ‘No problem’” said Williams. However, that wasn’t exactly the case because, after some thought, Woods altered his decision. But Williams still went because he was a man of his word.“Well, I’d already told Adam I would be there. I wasn’t prepared to ring Adam up and say I couldn’t do it. I’m a man of my word,” said Williams. But what he didn’t know was that this would be the end of his journey with Woods, personal or professional.
“I had no idea I was going to get fired over it,” said Williams. After the US Open that year, Williams was fired by Woods, “I was told (by Tiger) after U.S. Open that I no longer had a job and it’s as simple as that.”
USA Today via Reuters
After that, Williams started working with Adam Scott and called his four-shot victory at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational the most satisfying moment of his career. Golfers like Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke thought Williams was just taking a jab at Woods with this statement. “I just didn’t see the point of putting him on TV,” said Westwood, referring to the interview where Williams praised Scott’s win.
At that time, Clarke believed Williams should’ve kept it quiet for a while. “Adam obviously played fantastic golf, and I think if it had been my caddie, he might have kept it a little bit quieter,” said Clarke. However, despite all this criticism, Williams turned out to be a blessing for Scott.
Steve Williams helped Scott after getting fired by Woods
Like a bunch of golfers already believe, Steve Williams is a great caddy. After his 2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational win, Adam ended up as a runner-up at the 2012 Open Championship. And after that, there was no stopping the duo. Scott won his first major at the 2013 Masters by crushing Angel Cabrera in a brutal playoff. The ironic part is that Woods ranked T4 in the same event.
And in a surprising turn of events, Scott pushed Woods off the world’s No. 1 position in 2014 after Woods had it for 683 weeks during his career. However, as with everything great, Williams and Scott’s partnership also came to an end in 2017, as Scott wanted a full-time caddie from 2018 onwards. They are occasionally seen together now and then. The last time Williams caddied for Scott was at the 2023 Masters Tournament from which Woods withdrew on early Saturday citing ankle pain.
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