Golf World Monday - July 25, 2011

williams’ dismissal

steve williams being fired by tiger woods was, and wasn’t, shocking. on one hand, it’s hard to envision woods no longer going into battle with williams, a warrior who seemed as comfortable and eager in the arena as any champion. it was williams who raymond floyd memorably described as the only caddie he ever had who never choked. on the 72nd hole of the 2008 u.s. open, the new Zealander urged woods to fly a high-risk nuked lob wedge out of the rough from 101 yards rather than try to bounce in a punched sand wedge— and it will go down as one of the great caddie calls of all time. such moments were why, through their 13 major championship victories together, it was williams who woods seemed to treat with the most respect among those in his inner circle. on the other hand, players have been firing seemingly indispensible caddies forever. woods might have had many reasons to end the relationship, but the fact is, he didn’t need one—although accusing williams of disloyalty for accepting work from adam scott while woods was indefinitely absent seems rich. clearly the on-course chemistry between them changed after the scandal, in large part because the married williams was hurt when woods didn’t make a greater effort post-scandal to protect him from being labeled an enabler. perhaps, as John cook said of woods’ decision, it was simply “time.” so much has changed. with everything tiger woods so unbelievably upside-down, even steve williams seems like just another part of the wreckage.—Jaime Diaz