Despite His Long Lasting Rivalry with Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia, Tiger Woods Was Called ‘Overrated’ by One of His Closest Allies

Not many golfers possess the winning mindset as that of the great Tiger Woods. The swashbuckling golfer hasn’t won fifteen major championships solely because of his talent and work ethics. An elite mentality was also responsible for his great success on the course.

However, there are times when even the biggest of golfers go through a poor outing. While an off-day for Woods is rare, his former kit man Steve Williams witnessed it first-hand during their maiden competition as player-caddie.

The Kiwi ended up calling Woods “overrated”. Let’s find out more.

Why did Steve Williams call Tiger Woods “overrated”?

The incident occurred in the 1999 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where Woods joined hands with Williams to begin their hugely successful journey together. But it began on a rough patch, with the talented golfer unable to make his shots count.

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While Woods kept himself in the fight, a pathetic score of 290 at the end of four rounds placed him in 56th place. As Williams highlighted in his book ‘Out of the Rough’, the situation was dire and needed intervention.

Still early in his relationship with Woods, Williams decided to make an attempt to break the ice with a controversial comment. “I figured it was time to break the ice and have a bit of banter. Before I knew it, I was telling Tiger Woods he was overrated.

“Luckily, he understood my sense of humor or it could have been the shortest caddying gig of my career. Every time we came to that hole over the next 10 years we’d laugh at the memory of that moment,” he recalled in his book.

How did Tiger Woods react to Steve Williams’ comment?

Don’t think Woods was offended. Priding himself as the best golfer on the planet, Woods at that time had a solitary major championship under his belt and was competing with the likes of Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia.

Yet, Woods made a wise move to stick with the daring Williams. It bore immediate fruit, as the legendary golfer dominated the professional circuit in the early noughties. He eventually racked up thirteen major championships with the Kiwi caddie beside him — only two less than his overall haul.

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