Steve Williams (caddy)
Encyclopedia
New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...
(born 29 December 1963) is a New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
er who has served as caddy
Caddy
In golf, a caddy is the person who carries a player's bag and clubs, and gives insightful advice and moral support. A good caddy is aware of the challenges and obstacles of the golf course being played, along with the best strategy in playing it. This includes knowing overall yardage, pin...
for several top professional golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
ers, most recently with Adam Scott. Williams is most known for having served as Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...
' caddy from 1999 to 2011. Woods was the top-ranked
Official World Golf Rankings
The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of male professional golfers...
golfer in the world for much of Williams' tenure as caddy.
Career
Williams was born in WellingtonWellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
. He began his career of caddying at his home club at age 6. By age 10, he was frequently caddying 36 holes on weekend days and then practicing his golf game until dark, becoming a two-handicapper
Golf handicap
A handicap is a numerical measure of an amateur golfer's playing ability based on the tees played for a given course. It is used to calculate a net score from the number of strokes actually played, thus allowing players of different proficiency to play against each other on somewhat equal terms...
by age 13. However, as he reports on his official site, "by the age of thirteen I found myself enjoying caddying more than playing."
He received his first break as a caddy in 1976, when his father arranged for him to carry the bags of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n great Peter Thomson in the New Zealand Open
New Zealand Open
The BMW New Zealand Open is the leading men's golf tournament in New Zealand. In 2011, it will be hosted by The Clearwater Resort in Christchurch from 1–4 December. The tournament is being promoted by New Zealand Golf...
. Thomson, who finished third, was impressed with the young Williams, who became his regular caddy when he played in New Zealand. The teenaged Williams also traveled to Australia on school breaks to caddy in tournaments there. In 1979, before he turned 16, he left school and moved to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to become a caddy on the European Tour.
Williams spent much of the next decade caddying on almost all of the world's major professional tours
Professional golf tours
Professional golf tours are the means by which otherwise unconnected professional golf tournaments are organised into a regular schedule. There are separate tours for men and women, with each tour being based in a specific geographical region, although some of their tournaments may be held in other...
. He got steady work with several Australian pros, among them Ian Baker-Finch
Ian Baker-Finch
Ian Michael Baker-Finch is an Australian professional golfer, who is best known for winning The Open Championship in 1991.-Early years:...
. During this time, he met Greg Norman
Greg Norman
Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...
, and in 1982 became Norman's regular caddy in all his events in Asia and Australia, as well as some European events. In 1988, Williams moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to become Norman's full-time caddy. However, Norman would fire him in 1989. Williams admitted later that he had gotten too close personally to Norman. Nonetheless, the two remain good friends, and Norman later admitted he had made a mistake and tried to rehire him several years later. Williams would not long stay unemployed, as Raymond Floyd
Raymond Floyd
Raymond Loran "Ray" Floyd is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour....
hired him shortly after Norman let him go. He continued to carry Floyd's bag on both the regular
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
and senior
Champions Tour
The Champions Tour, a golf tour run by the PGA Tour, hosts a series of events annually in the United States and the United Kingdom for golfers 50 years of age and older. Many of the PGA Tour's most successful golfers have gone on to play on the Champions Tour.The Senior PGA Championship, founded in...
U.S. tours until 1999.
Tiger Woods
Early in the 1999 season at the Doral - Ryder Open, Tiger Woods' then-coach Butch HarmonButch Harmon
Claude "Butch" Harmon, Jr. is an American golf instructor and former professional player. He is the son of 1948 Masters Tournament champion Claude Harmon, Sr. and has been in the golf industry since 1965.-Early life:...
approached Williams, asking if he would be interested in caddying for Woods, who had just fired his original tour caddy, Mike "Fluff" Cowan
Mike Cowan
Michael Thomas "Fluff" Cowan is a golf caddy on the PGA Tour. He has caddied for Ed Sabo , Peter Jacobsen , Tiger Woods , and Jim Furyk . In 2003, he caddied for Michelle Wie for one tournament while Furyk was injured...
. Harmon had previously asked Raymond Floyd's permission to talk with Williams. After the event, Williams drove to Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
to interview with Woods, who hired him on the spot.
In the 2006 Ryder Cup
2006 Ryder Cup
The 36th Ryder Cup Matches were held 22–24 September 2006 at the K Club, Straffan, Co. Kildare, Ireland. Team Europe won the competition by a score of 18½ to 9½ points, equalling their record winning margin of 2 years earlier. This was the first time Europe had achieved three successive victories...
singles match, Williams slipped while trying to clean Woods' 9 iron during the 7th hole, and ended up dropping it in the water. The club was later retrieved by a diver, and handed back to Woods on the 15th hole.
Woods and Williams' relationship extended beyond the golf course, as Woods attended Williams' wedding in New Zealand in 2005 and has attended many of Williams' dirt track races.
Williams has been known to aggressively defend Woods on the course from overbearing fans. At one event, he wrestled a $7,000 camera from a fan who clicked a picture of Woods during his backswing and threw it in a pond.
Woods announced on 20 July 2011 that Williams would no longer be his caddy. Williams had caddied for Adam Scott in the 2011 U.S. Open
2011 U.S. Open (golf)
The 2011 United States Open Championship, the 111th U.S. Open, was played June 16–19 at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. It was won by Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, who set 11 U.S. Open records on the weekend, including the lowest total 72-hole score and the lowest total under...
and 2011 Open Championship
2011 Open Championship
The 2011 Open Championship was the 140th Open Championship, played from July 14–17 at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent, England. Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland won the event by three strokes for his first major championship victory.-Venue:...
. Williams released the following statement on his official website:
"Following the completion of the AT&T National I am no longer caddying for Tiger after he informed me that he needed to make a change. After 13 years of loyal service needless to say this came as a shock. Given the circumstances of the past 18 months working through Tiger's scandal, a new coach and with it a major swing change and Tiger battling through injuries I am very disappointed to end our very successful partnership at this time. I have had the opportunity to work of late for Australian Adam Scott and will now caddy for him on a permanent basis. Having started my caddying career with Australian great Peter Thompson and working for Greg Norman in the '80s I am excited about the future working for another Australian."
After his win alongside Adam Scott at the 2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
The 2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational was a professional golf tournament contested from August 4–7, 2011 over the South Course at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio...
, Williams, in an interview with David Feherty on CBS, said "I’ve caddied for 33 years — 145 wins now — and that’s the best win I’ve ever had." The following day he expressed regret for the remarks, noting they were "over the top" and saying, "I had a lot of anger in me about what happened (with Woods) and it all came out." It is estimated he earned $12m working for Woods.
Controversy
During an event in New Zealand in December 2008, he made news for comments about Phil MickelsonPhil Mickelson
Philip Alfred Mickelson is an American professional golfer. He has won four major championships and a total of 39 events on the PGA Tour. He has reached a career high world ranking of 2nd in multiple years. He is nicknamed "Lefty" for his left-handed swing, even though he is otherwise right-handed...
. According to British newspaper The Guardian he said, "I wouldn't call Mickelson a great player, 'cause I hate the prick". In a next-day interview with another newspaper, the New Zealand-based Star Times, Williams also said, "I don't particularly like the guy. He pays me no respect at all and hence I don't pay him any respect. It's no secret we don't get along either."
On November 4, 2011, Williams made a comment that was perceived by some as being racist towards Tiger Woods. When asked about the comments he made after Adam Scott's win at Bridgestone, he replied: "It was my aim to shove it right up that black arsehole". Williams made an apology soon after. Tiger Woods then said Steve Williams is "certainly not racist."
Other interests
In 2001, Williams started a charitable foundation to assist junior golfers in his homeland. This charitable involvement was cited in his appointment as Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, announced on 4 June 2007 in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. In his free time, Williams also indulges a long-time passion for Speedway RacingDirt track racing in New Zealand
Speedway is a popular type of motorsport that takes place on oval tracks in New Zealand. A number of tracks throughout the country provide regular racing programs and sanctioned racing series...
, and races a Saloon car and a Super Saloon regularly during the speedway season.
He was the national Super Saloon car champion for 2005/2006. He won the coveted Saloon Car title for the 2009/2010 season.
Williams gave NZ$1 million to a cancer ward at Starship Children's Health
Starship Children's Health
Starship Children's Health, opened in 1991, is one of the first purpose-built children's hospitals in New Zealand, and the largest such facility in the country...
in 2008.