Veteran caddie Steve Williams reveals his humiliating split with Tiger Woods after the golf superstar’s affair was exposed – and how the fallout followed him to Australia.

Veteran caddie STEVE WILLIAMS rode the rollercoaster of success with Tiger Woods until the golf legend’s affair and off-course antics brought things crashing down and took their relationship to its lowest point, as related in memoir Together We Roared.

Steve Williams was cutting the grass at his home west of Auckland on Friday, November 27, 2009. His headphones were in, listening to the radio when breaking news came through:

His boss, golf superstar Tiger Woods, had been rushed to hospital in the US after crashing an SUV into a fire hydrant and then into a tree near his home at Isleworth, Florida.

“What the f——k?” Williams shouted over the grass slasher.

At the end of 2009, Woods was embroiled in an off-course, extramarital scandal that engulfed his personal life, career and global news headlines for months on end. It also significantly impacted the nature of his working relationship with veteran caddie Williams and ultimately fast-tracked the end of their incredible partnership.

Exposed … the dramatic revelation of Tiger Woods’ affair made headlines around the globe. Here the golf star is pictured with wife Elin, three years before the scandal.
Perhaps the most peculiar aspect of Woods’s 2009 season was the auspicious start to it. For a while, it appeared Woods would brush aside the eight months he had lost previously to knee surgery and continue the soaring trajectory of his quest for major championship wins.

In all, Woods’s 2009 season included seven victories and three second-place finishes from 19 official events – mind-boggling results considering what was happening away from golf.

In mid-November, US tabloid the National Enquirer had been trailing a story that claimed Woods was having an affair with New York nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel. The newspaper had followed Woods to Melbourne because reporters had learned Uchitel had also travelled to Australia. Woods won the Masters on November 15. That afternoon, he curiously changed plans and told Williams he would be getting a helicopter out of the course and would be on a plane back to the US immediately. Williams would have to find his own way back to the hotel. Woods’ agent Mark Steinberg then texted Williams, alerting him that a story would be coming out, but offered few details.

Ten days later, the National Enquirer story was published, but it gained little traction. Many thought it to be tabloid waffle. But early on Friday morning, November 27, Woods crashed his SUV. That breaking news story was followed by silence and mystery as to the cause of the crash, and it kicked off the entire scandal. One by one, women came forward alleging they’d had affairs with Woods. From Thanksgiving night onward, Woods was embroiled in one of the most publicised scandals in sports history.

Affair … Rachel Uchitel, pictured in 2011, became a household name after the Woods scandal.
Williams did not find out until after the SUV crash, but he was not worried about any of the details of the scandal.

“Firstly, I was concerned for my friend; I could not have cared less about any of the details other than his wellbeing,” Williams says. As anxious as he was for Woods’s health, Williams knew his world would have been spiralling downward. He waited to hear from Woods rather than reach out and a few days went by before he received an email from the embattled superstar. “Tiger described that he was going through a tough situation and that he’d soon be in touch,” Williams recalls. Four months went by before Williams heard from him again. Still, despite being upset at what Woods had put his wife Elin through, Williams was going to stick by a friend who needed help.

In the meantime, Williams was hounded by media relentlessly about his supposed

involvement. Williams’s family was hassled by phone, text and email. At times, he would go to the grocery store and random people would wrongly accuse him of being a liar or an enabler. At one of Williams’s race car meets at his local speedway in Auckland, he was booed by the crowd while son Jett, four at the time, sat next to him.

Jett also came home from school one day and asked his father why he was on the news so often. During a family holiday to Australia in February 2010, Williams was harassed by media at the beach and a subsequent photo of him walking across the road, shirtless after a swim, appeared in print the following day.

“I could understand how people thought I was involved because of the time I spent with Tiger, but I never heard anything about his private life outside of his marriage and kids,” Williams says.

Woods knew precisely how old-school Williams’s values were; he knew his caddie would have been repulsed at what had been going on. Williams was glad that at least his own wife Kirsty and Elin supported him throughout the saga. “Both Elin and I understood that Tiger knew very well Steve was the kind of guy who would have told Elin if he had known,” Kirsty said.

Before the storm … Woods, Elin and their daughter Sam on November 21, 2009, at a college football game in Stanford, California.
Robert Allenby, Woods’ neighbour who was spending time in his hometown of Melbourne after the Australian Masters before returning to the US, says Williams was blindsided.

He called Allenby and asked the four-time PGA Tour winner whether he had any idea of the affairs. Allenby said no. “I never knew that part of him and I guarantee Stevie didn’t know, either,” Allenby says.

One woman claimed to have met Williams in Las Vegas, where she had allegedly been with Woods. That story was picked up by radio stations in New Zealand. “I’d only ever been to Vegas twice, once to caddie in a tournament for Tiger and another to support his Tiger Jam [charity] event. I’d never met any woman claiming to be with Tiger,” Williams says. Williams wanted Woods’s management to issue a statement absolving the caddie of any knowledge, but they wouldn’t single out one person from the team as innocent. Williams believed that was because it would prompt follow-up questions about whether any of the team did know. He felt humiliated and as though Woods’s management team had hung him out to dry. “It was an extremely tough time for me and my family,” Williams says.

Several of Woods’ major sponsors ended their business relationships with Woods.

Nike stuck with him. Woods took an indefinite break from golf on December 11, and in February 2010 he delivered an apology at PGA Tour headquarters at Ponte Vedra Beach.

“What I did was not acceptable,” a sombre Woods said.

On Friday, April 2, 2010, Williams boarded a plane from Auckland to the US, returning to work as Woods’s caddie for the first time in five months. He worried that the job would never be the same. Although Williams and Woods had written over email, and then spoke on the phone on March 23, this was the first time they’d seen each other in person since the Australian Masters. “He was hitting the ball well; it was clear he’d been practising hard,” Williams recalls.

Back on track? … Steve Williams with Woods before teeing off at the first hole during the opening round of the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, April 8, 2010.
Woods seemed his ordinary self, and there was no discussion of what had happened.

Williams had been saving several issues to raise with Woods but the opportunity to talk privately did not arrive until they drove from Isleworth to Orlando airport on Sunday, April 4, to fly to Augusta for the Masters.

Williams let Woods have it.

He laid down the law, wanting to convey what it was like to be connected to the subject. “Some people might not have had that talk with Tiger; it was deep and there were some pretty strong words exchanged,” Williams says. He described what had occurred in New Zealand and how humiliating it had been. “Tiger’s reaction was simply to listen and he was a little downtrodden because I think he appreciated the honesty, but when I look back all these years later, maybe I was too hard on him,” Williams says. After all, Woods’s family had also been through a lot. They’d watched as his scandal appeared on the front cover of the New York Post for 21 consecutive days and as he’d entered a rehabilitation centre in Mississippi after Christmas. Elin and the children had moved into another home near Isleworth. After the car ride, Woods and Williams closed that topic.

Still, Williams felt a paradigm shift in his working relationship with Woods at Augusta and in the weeks after it. “As much as I tried to see Tiger as the same person and put everything behind us, I guess we were never quite on the same page again,” Williams says.

Woods missed the cut in his next start at Quail Hollow, where Williams felt there was a significant change in Woods’s attitude toward him. He was short and irritable with his caddie and Williams could sense it was only a matter of time before they’d part ways.

Friendship heading for a crash … Woods and Williams with a V8 Supercar car in Auckland, April 2006. Woods had gone to NZ for a charity race day with his caddie.

‘HE WOULD BE SACKED’

The first six months of 2011 showed flashes of Woods’s former brilliance, but he was hampered by injuries. On June 8, Woods released a statement saying that, due to a left knee and Achilles injury suffered during the 2011 Masters, he would have to sit out the US Open.

Australian golfer Adam Scott was quickly on the phone to Williams, asking him to caddie as a one-off at Congressional. Williams says he ran the idea past Woods. Woods didn’t immediately see an issue and allowed it. But Steinberg called Williams and asked, “Do you really think it’s a good idea to caddie for Adam?” Williams did go on to caddie for Scott, who missed the cut.

On June 23, Woods announced he would not play in the AT & T National based on “doctor’s orders.” Again, Scott called Williams and again, the caddie ran it by Woods. Woods offered an alternative to Williams: they could travel to Aronimink together and he and Williams could watch the tournament together, with Williams’s guests. Williams rejected the offer. He wanted his friends to see him caddie in person. Woods eventually agreed, but soon called Williams back and said, “Actually, I’d rather you didn’t caddie for Adam.” It left Williams furious.

Williams recalls that Kirsty condemned the idea of caddieing for Scott. She believed it would indeed trigger Woods to fire him.

But Williams didn’t think the matter was serious enough for that. He then had a back-and-forth conversation with Steinberg, who reiterated that “Tiger is going to be disappointed if you caddie for Adam” in Philadelphia. Although Steinberg didn’t explicitly say the words, it became obvious to Williams he would be sacked. Bitter and stubborn about the saga, Williams decided to caddie for Scott anyway, who tied third.

New opportunities … Williams talks to Adam Scott during the final round of the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines, Gold Coast on December 4, 2016.
On Sunday, July 3, Woods was on the grounds at Aronimink, attending as tournament host but not playing. Steinberg approached Williams, who came off the course after Scott shot 68 to tie for third. Steinberg asked Williams to meet Woods in the boardroom to talk.

Williams walked to the boardroom, running his list of grievances over and over in his mind so he could verbalise them concisely and impactfully. He felt Woods was being selfish by trying to stop him from caddieing while he was out injured. As Williams opened the door to the stately room, he saw Woods leaned back in a chair. His body language, Williams felt, was aloof and dismissive.

Williams instantly decided he wasn’t going to argue with Woods and bit his tongue. He felt Woods was also holding back, telling Williams that, because he’d disregarded his wishes, he was letting him go. He wished him luck. Williams walked over and shook Woods’s hand awkwardly. Woods ended the exchange by noting he was going to skip the Open Championship, due to injury, and that he wouldn’t make a statement about their split until after the UK major to avoid throwing Scott into a storm of questions.

Williams spun around and walked out of the boardroom. He was angry and felt a lack of closure, as though things were still bottled up. It was a bitter pill for Williams to swallow, after investing so much of his life into working for the star for 12 years.

“Even though I knew it was coming, it was devastating,” Williams says. “We both had a goal and we lived and breathed it. I thought about that goal every day. It was disappointing because I was not going to be part of that pinnacle if he went on to achieve it.”

Together again … the dream was over, but Steve Williams eventually reconciled with Tiger Woods, as he relates elsewhere in Together We Roared.