During the Initial Days of Their 13-Year Long Relationship Steve Williams Found Tiger Woods ‘Overrated’

Tiger Woods hired Steve Williams as his caddie after he parted ways with Mike ‘Fluff’ Cowan. Since then, the two have posed a big threat to the rest of the professional golfing world, as the duo continued to win event after event until they split in 2011. Looking back at his achievements with the golfer, Williams feels proud to be his caddie. However, did you know the New Zealander didn’t have a good impression of Woods when they started playing together?

Williams wrote a book in 2015 titled, ‘Out of the Rough,’ in which he explained his experience of assisting players like Woods. And the book’s fifth chapter, ‘Earning My Stripes,’ disclosed the first event he caddied for Woods and how it turned out. 

The golfer couldn’t impress his caddie at the first event they played together

The 1999 Bay Hill Invitational, the present Arnold Palmer Invitational, was the first tournament Woods had Williams on his bag. And according to Williams, the golfer couldn’t impress him as he played the worst there. 

“‘Mate, I don’t know what all the fuss is about – you’re overrated,'” the caddie wrote what he told Woods then. “‘That’s probably the worst shot I’ve seen from a golf professional from that sort of a distance,'” he added. 

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Notably, the American golfer had to hit only 115 yards to make it to the green on the 13th hole at Bay Hill. According to Williams, any golfer could have easily made that shot. However, Woods hit it “30 yards long and 30 yards left” with his sand wedge, which made the caddie second guess whether he was caddying for the G.O.A.T.

How did Tiger Woods react to Williams’ banter?

It was the first time Steve Williams and Woods played together. And he didn’t stop himself from being blunt to the golfer for a bad shot. Usually, players would fire their caddies for such behaviors. However, Woods didn’t do it. 

“Tiger, he loved that,” Williams said in an exclusive interview while describing how the golfer reacted to him after such harsh remarks. “He probably used those sorts of comments as motivation,” he added. 

It is not clear whether Tiger Woods took Williams’ banter as motivation or not. But, he made sure not to let his caddie down ever since then. The duo went on to win 63 PGA Tour titles, including 13 majors, until they split in 2011. 

Tiger Woods played not-so-well at the first tournament Steve Williams assisted him. Although the New Zealander was harsh with him, the golfer took it in the sportsmanship spirit and won as many events as possible with Williams.

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