Tiger Woods and Steve Williams

This came up on the old place from a comment Kwini made. I questioned how much of Tiger's troubles could possibly be attributed to the charming Mr Williams.

NedB-H asked the very valid question about who Stevie worked for before the gig with Tiger and was he as unpleasant then?

I have no idea who Steve worked with before Tiger but he has that air about him of a person who was unpleasant from the day he was born.

Anyone know whose bag he was on pre-Tiger and if he was as nasty then as he is now?

Anyone else wonder if some of Tiger's problems may be down to the close association with this nasty piece of work?

Here is a bit of info on everyone's favourite caddy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Williams_%28caddy%29

He's worked mainly for Greg Norman, Ian Baker-Finch and Ray Floyd

I suspect that the whole time Tiger was away from golf, Williams was on a retainer otherwise he'd have walked. I get the feeling that Tiger has dug himself a big hole and now that his game has collapsed, he's not getting any sympathy from anywhere in the sport. He announces his plans just before deadline, which actually hurts the sponsors of an event, as nobody knows if he's in or out, so TV cannot advertise the fact (Besides the few big ones already booked) Theres players at the top of the invitation reserve list who don't know if they'll be playing untill Tiger decides which means that they cannot book a place elsehwere if Tiger arrives. Sean Foley has a plan for his swing, but Tiger only uses the bits that he likes, so no wonder we're seeing a man who's half got it and looks lost at times. Williams isn't a nice bloke and thinks he's also a superstar and has his own web-site ffs. There are plenty of top caddies around, but Tiger has stuck with this bloke for over 10-years. Fluff is still enjoying much success and good on him. Butch is still the main man and would sort this fiasco out in no time, but Tiger being Tiger will go his own route until he realises that he needs a massive rethink on his golfing life.

I've no idea if Williams is a good caddy or not, but we know there are some great caddys out there with vast experience. Williams did a bit for Norman in Asia and Australia and moved onto his bag full time in the States for a few years. he was binned and could only get the bag of Ray Floyd who was just ending his carreer and moving to the seniors. I suspect he likes having the scraps from Tigers table and doing his butlering as well. Clear out required Tiger and rethink needed. Butch in and LJ on the bag

Doc... An interesting thought but I'm not sure that Tiger could handle my own brand of

"Stop being a Muppet and just hit the thing at the flag you dopey strippermolester"

LondonJonnyO wrote:Doc... An interesting thought but I'm not sure that Tiger could handle my own brand of

"Stop being a Muppet and just hit the thing at the flag you dopey strippermolester"

Do I detect a hint of jealousy?

Why is Steve Williams unpleasant then? What's he done?

Nope. Been there done that.

Actually a guy I work with was taken to the club in NY where Tiger was caught out. He was taken there by a company he was working with who used to be a sponsor of Mr Woods.... It was all very dodgy.

Have to admit Steve Williams does come across as though he thinks he is the golfing superstar and Tigers there just to do what he tells him!
AS for Tiger I think the suggestion of a rethink is a totally good idea, ditch Foley, forget stack and tilt, forget everything he has worked on this last year as it clearly is taking him further away from the end goal. Go back to Butch who I would say could have Tiger firing in a matter of weeks, it's no suprise we see Butch's pupils regularly challenging in the Tour events and Majors.

Change Caddy to someone who is understated and works as a bag man and not as there own celebrity non-entity!

Out of interest what happened to all the cool smilies i've only been off for a day!

The trouble with T Dubya is that his pride won't let him go back to Butch Harmon. I always thought that Fluff was an excellent bagman for Woods. Butch would probably tell him like it is....... far from being a calming influence on the bag our antipidean 'friend' winds Tigger up and what he should be doing is calming him down imho....

I know there is a lot of bad press for SW - never met the guy so find it difficult to comment, but try this piece of circumstantial evidence. His best mate on the caddying scene is Fanny Sunneson - probably one of the most popular caddies and personalities in the game. Suggests to me he ain't all bad and may be getting a bad press somewhat unfairly? Just a thought!

Fellas...
Whilst there's no doubt that Mr Williams is piece of work, He is an immense caddy and is one of the few people in the world that Tiger actually seems to respect. Can you honestly see anyone else carrying his bag and telling him he's wrong about something? His brief from day one has been to keep people (photographers/fans) out of Tiger's face whilst he's playing. I suspect his tough nut persona started out as a but of an affectation but has now morphed into something more deep rooted but never the less it works extremely well. The crowds following Tiger are huge and have a large proportion of people who don't really know the standard golf ettiquete about keeping still, quiet etc...a big part of Mr Williams' job is to make sure 'his guy' doesn't get put off by an ill judged camera shutter or unfortunate bodily function...if people are too scared of Mr Williams to so much as breath too loudly then he's doing his job.

Also, Isn't he the highest earning new zealand 'sportsman' in the world?

sejorge wrote:Also, Isn't he the highest earning new zealand 'sportsman' in the world?

Depends if you count the backhanders the All Blacks players received over the "amateur" years

Steve Williams is a sportsman in his own right as some kind of rally driver I believe... but his earnings were, in the majority, derived from the success of Mr W. I shall refer to him as Mr W now as I see him in the same way as Mr T... bit of a legend but now earning his crust from getting his nuts out.

As for the highest earning sportsman in NZ. I think Michael Campbell took that honour after his US Open didn't he?

LondonJonnyO wrote:As for the highest earning sportsman in NZ. I think Michael Campbell took that honour after his US Open didn't he?

Michael Campbell...one of my all time favourite golf swings. His demise is trully sad.

LondonJonnyO wrote:...as I see him in the same way as Mr T... bit of a legend but now earning his crust from getting his nuts out...

:606laugh: Ah, they day has just got a lot better