Steve Williams: Tiger Woods & I Will Stay Together

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealander Steve Williams doesn't believe his job as Tiger Woods' caddie is under any threat, despite media speculation about their 11-year association and concern over the champion golfer's form.

Williams told New Zealand radio Wednesday that he and Woods remain close friends and there is no possibility their working relationship is about to end.

"I'm sure if there was going to be some sort of parting of the ways, I'd be the first to know," he said. "From my point of view, I don't see any chance of that happening."

Williams said Woods had no plans to change his key personnel, though he has struggled to regain form after taking a break from the PGA Tour amid revelations of marital infidelities.

"People speculate. He's not playing well and his results aren't what we're used to," Williams said in the radio interview. "Tiger and I are very good friends and we've been through a tough time, there's no question about that.

"I'm fully supportive of the guy and he's been great through this whole situation with me."

Williams expressed confidence in the ability of Woods' new swing coach Sean Foley to revive his game.

"He hasn't decided if that's the coach who's going to be with him, but I really like what this new guy had to say and what his theories are," Williams said. "If Tiger decides to stick with Sean, I believe he'll get better. It might take a little while."

Woods finished 28th at last week's PGA Championship in Wisconsin, a week after posting the worst 72-hole total of his career – 18 over par – at the Bridgestone Invitational event in Ohio. Williams said nobody should rush to the conclusion Woods was losing his ability or his aura.

"At the end of the day, Tiger Woods is Tiger Woods," Williams said. "He's won 14 majors and 71 PGA Tour events. Regardless of what's gone on, you can't take that away from the guy.

"Tiger knows how to win and people know that he knows how to win. When he gets back in the situation where he's playing well again and he's in contention to win, he'll get the job done."

Williams said Woods remained hopeful of being selected by captain Corey Pavin in the U.S. team for the Ryder Cup.

"It's one of the biggest events in the world and anybody that's played in it before, always has the desire to play in it again," Williams said. "We've got a couple more weeks to show him (Pavin) that he's playing better."

Comments

[roger37]

12:34 AM on 08/20/2010

Uh, don't be too surprised if this cold fish dumps your butt in a New York minute.

[swanie]

11:18 PM on 08/19/2010

Stevie speaks, and surprise,surprise, HE SAYS NOTHING ! ! !

He can't, as that would cost him his free lunch, as Tiger would certainly fire him, and that would put Stevie in a very bad predicament.

./

[Dr Confuso]

09:10 PM on 08/19/2010

Hey Steve..How do you know he hasn't been playing some midnight golf with another caddy? Just sayin...

[onlyThis]

10:11 AM on 08/19/2010

He's still a money maker for the PGA. People used to watch him to see him win. Now alot watch to see him lose.

[ralle]

03:31 PM on 08/19/2010

Wrong! The ratings have gone south like Tiger's game. If he starts winning again, watch the ratings start to rise again.

[onlyThis]

10:06 AM on 08/19/2010

In other words - leave my sugar daddy alone!

[suntzu]

05:42 AM on 08/19/2010

I am not a golfer but even I know that golf is essentially a mental game, at least when you get to the level of the top pros. Woods is suffering from a mental lapse due in part to his off-the-course problems. Until he works through that, changing swing coaches may help but it may not bring him back to championship form. Corny as this sounds, he needs mental therapy to get his game back. Plus some karma to overcome. After all, he does claim to be Buddhist.

[Iammadashell]

06:45 AM on 08/19/2010

You are correct ;just to add he needs to forget what he was and play the game and the courses not the hype.The game of golf is that six space betweens ones ears.

[MochasMom]

11:52 AM on 08/19/2010

100% correct. Golf is played in the space between your ears, it's 98% mental and 2% physical. If you can't get out of your own head, you cannot and will not perform. Simple as that.

[mp60mp32]

11:09 PM on 08/18/2010

Tiger will be fine and will win a major again next year....if he gets himself back in shape. He looks like he has lost muscle in the midst of his troubles and part of that is probably throwing things off with the swing. As a result his confidence is low. He needs to work with a new coach since "Mr. Hankey" left him and ratted on him about the dirt in his life.

[dwannii chiszzlly]

08:54 PM on 08/18/2010

I guessing that stating that tiger should fire steve and hire a pimp is offensive, sorry for
that but TIGER need to get his GAME back and it's not on the golf course.Go take out the driver
hit a bucket of muligans.

[habeass]

10:19 PM on 08/18/2010

Is English your first language?

[dwannii chiszzlly]

10:46 PM on 08/18/2010

They have meds for your OCD , but I haven't found the pill for poor grammer.

[emncaity]

07:39 PM on 08/18/2010

As much of a complete boor as Williams can be, nothing about this situation and Tiger's play is Williams' fault, and firing him would do nothing.

In fact, other than the fact that Tiger and his sponsors set him up for all this noise by posing him as this completely invincible player (which was never true to begin with), the greatest player ever (not true, and certainly not proven), on and on, he's really not playing all that badly. He made the cut at Firestone, which makes it NOT his worst performance ever, although of course he did hit it sideways a lot; but in other tournaments this year he's been in the mix. It's not like he went out and shot 78 four times at the PGA. Too many people--including a gaggle of id!ot sportswriters who know appallingly little about golf--are getting way too worked up about all this, because they seem not to understand just how fine a line there is between winning pro tournaments and finishing somewhere in the top half of the field. Usually, it feels about the same, except for two or three putts a day, or the occasional blow-up hole. It's not a lot of difference. He's not that far off.

[Doug Z]

08:58 AM on 08/19/2010

I agree with most of your points. However, there wasn't a cut at Firestone so he was guaranteed 4 rounds. I believe given his past performances at the Firestone course compared to this year, makes it his worst effort in his career. It looked like he gave up mentally after the 2nd round.

[emncaity]

03:13 AM on 08/20/2010

You might have a point--and if you're right about the no-cut at Firestone, I guess I wasn't paying enough attention. Thanks for the correction, really. I think it was a minor point anyway, since it's not like he's missed all that many cuts in his career anyway--so yeah, it was a really bad effort by his standards, especially as soft as the course was playing (normally a really good thing for him).

[emncaity]

03:13 AM on 08/20/2010

One of the only real thin spots in his record--well, maybe THE only one--is that I'm still trying to think of a single time he won a tournament, particularly a single major, where there was a lot of wind and the course was playing fast. Under conditions where his errors are magnified, it's tough for him, because he's not one of those who's comfortable with the fairways-and-greens control game if it means he has to find a way to throttle back. (That one British Open a few years ago was an exception re fast conditions, but the wind didn't blow.) Some of that is just being a SoCal player; they've had reputations for decades as being good when the weather's perfect and the wind is minimal, but they have trouble with big conditions. And it's true that given how many people live there, how many good courses are there, and how much junior competition there is and has been for 50 years or more, it's pretty amazing how few really great players came from there--none of the greatest players in any era, in fact. (I'm from there originally, and I can tell you it was a bit of adjustment as a teenager playing tournaments in Texas wind.) Nicklaus from Ohio; Palmer from PA; Watson from KC; Hogan and Nelson from Texas; Snead from West Virginia; on and on. Paradise climates do not make for tough players. Anyway...

[dwill123]

06:52 PM on 08/18/2010

Abbott and Costello
Laurel and Hardy
George and Gracie
and
STEVE and TIGER

[ECB]

06:51 PM on 08/18/2010

Why would Steve leave or why would Tiger want him to do so ? This is just the weekly fix for the Tiger haters.

[D8TA]

06:21 PM on 08/18/2010

Soooo...um, should I be using a 9 iron when I'm 110 yards away from the 9th hole of Sawgrass?

[cookerman45]

07:40 PM on 08/18/2010

no, Tiger should......you need a seven.

[emncaity]

07:40 PM on 08/18/2010

Depends. What's the wind doing? What are the other conditions?

[Richbruin]

03:40 PM on 08/18/2010

It seems Tiger and Stevie are a good match as they are both of questionable character....I've been a fan and still enjoy watching Tiger when he's on the leaderboard. But I think his best golf is behind him. His length advantage is gone as too many young guys can bomb it and he just isn't as intimidating as he used to be...Jack's record may hold up afterall.

[Winthorpe]

07:34 PM on 08/18/2010

Steve is of questionable character... based on what?

[cookerman45]

07:41 PM on 08/18/2010

based on "I" have "0" fans and need attention.

[Carsy]

06:15 PM on 08/19/2010

I think a lot of people didn't like him after his comments made about Phil Michelson in Dec 2008 that made their way into the press. He called Phil a p**** and the press was all over it. I don't think Phil cared what Tiger's caddy had to say about him.

[MacManLB]

01:48 PM on 08/18/2010

This is the same dude who said he didn't know Tiger was doing a different white woman everyday. Yeah, right!

[Winthorpe]

02:44 PM on 08/18/2010

Maybe he didn't know their races?

So, you would have thrown your friend and employer under the bus in that situation?

[Seafarer61]

03:34 PM on 08/18/2010

Maybe if Tiger had replaced his driver cover with a "Cheet-ah" one, Williams might have figured it out. Nonetheless, I think anyone with a brain knows he was simply covering for his employer, who I might add...pays EXTREMELY well.

[Littlewords]

01:25 PM on 08/18/2010

I keep picturing from the old Seinfeld episode where Kramer keeps taking real-time legal counsel during his court case from his golf caddy...the case scene did not go well for Kramer. :)

[aceshigh]

02:16 PM on 08/18/2010

That was a great episode.

"Make her try on the bra!"

Jackie Chiles for the win!

[Seafarer61]

03:32 PM on 08/18/2010

"Who told you to put on the balm..." Another Jackie classic.