It’s no secret that Steve Williams played a crucial role in Tiger Woods’s success. Winning 15 majors, Williams was by Woods’s side for 13 of them! Throughout their time together, they indeed experienced a lot of highs and lows, but former LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman also had an influence on shaping Williams’s partnership with Woods. How?

Recently, Steve Williams was with Dom Harvey on his YouTube Channel. They discussed the kind of partnership Williams had during his time together with Greg Norman and Tiger Woods. Dom first asked Williams about the relationship he had with Woods. The caddie responded, “You know I kept the relationship between Tiger and I, particularly on the golf course as businesslike as it could be. And I spent, you know, a great time, a lot of time off the course with him in buildups to major championships.”

However, in Woods’s eye, their relationship wasn’t limited to the greens as he used to invite Williams’s wife and him to dinner. Meanwhile, the caddie used to resist because of his past with Greg Norman. Explaining his reason, Williams further added, “I didn’t wanna get too friendly with the guy because I wanted to make it, you know I made that mistake with Greg. I got too friendly with him.” Back in 1982, Steve Williams started working for Greg Norman.

At that time, Norman was competing in Asia and Australia, as well as PGA Tour events. During their time together, Norman won eight tournaments, including the 1986 Open Championship. However, he suddenly fired his caddie with reports claiming that Norman wanted a limited relationship with his caddie, but he got close. To avoid this, Williams was hesitant when he first became Tiger Woods’ caddie in 1999.

He had been the same to Adam Scott initially. Williams admitted that he struggled to let his guard down, approaching his early days with Scott as more of a business relationship than a close-knit team. The past may be gone, but its ripples affect the present in some lives. So, it happened, and the pattern repeated. Woods and Williams’s partnership ended abruptly with just a phone call. He acknowledged how caddies are always on the edge of bad surprises. “You know there is no definite time frame when you caddie for somebody, and you know when you split, that’s the way it is,” he said.

Steve Williams was together with Tiger Woods from 1999 to 2011. That’s a really long time. Woods was also in his prime at that time, and combined with Williams’s experience, they were unbeatable. During their time together, Woods claimed 13 out of 15 Major titles and more than 50 wins on the PGA Tour. Be it Woods or Greg Norman, Williams spent a significant time with both, so whose partnership does he cherish more?

With whom does Steve Williams share a better relationship?

If we compare only the titles, Tiger Woods easily takes the win. However, the caddie-golfer partnership isn’t limited to the greens only. Surprisingly, Williams had a mixed experience with both golfers. In his book “Out of The Rough, ” he revealed that Woods used to treat him like a ‘slave’ and added, “One thing that really pi**ed me off was how he would flippantly toss a club in the general direction of the bag, expecting me to go over and pick it up. I felt uneasy about bending down to pick up his discarded club, it was like I was his slave.”

In the same book, he also talked about his bad experience with Greg Norman and added “Greg, the competitor was never wrong. As a caddy, I give good yardage. I reckon in all my years of caddying, I can count on one hand how many yardages I got wrong, but if I gave the correct yardage and Greg picked the wrong club, it was my fault. And he wouldn’t just tell me I was wrong; he would go absolutely apesh*t at me.” 

Interestingly, Steve Williams expressed admiration for both as well. Last year, in an interview with Graham Bensinger, he talked about the importance of Greg Norman in his life. “I have a lot to thank Greg for,” he said. “He was the first main job ahead…first very high-profile player…he taught me the ropes,” he said.

He also took a U-turn on his rough stance on Tiger Woods, appreciating the golfer’s good rapport with the media.  So how do we compare? Considering he had good and bad times with both players, which partnership would you prefer? Drop your choices in the comments below.