You might know Steve Williams as a former caddie for Tiger Woods. He was on Woods’s bag from 1999 to 2011. During their time together, Woods won 63 PGA Tour events and 13 major championships. Despite the success, Williams wasn’t treated well. We are not saying this, as Williams himself did in his book. The tale of his firing conveys a similar sentiment. However, even before 1999, Williams had a similar unfortunate experience with Greg Norman.
Williams became bagman for Norman back in 1982 while he was competing in Asia and Australia, as well as PGA Tour events. One might think a caddie and a golfer need to have a good relationship with the greens, but that’s not how their relationship was. Williams talked about it in his memoir, “Out of the Rough,” which was released back in 2015.
He said, “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.”
Even though Norman was tough on his caddie during their time on the course, it was that very relationship that allowed Williams to gain a deeper understanding of golf as a whole. “I have a lot to thank for Greg,” he said. “He was the first main job ahead…first very high-profile player…he taught me the ropes,” said Williams in an interview with Graham Bensinger a while ago. Could it be that Norman was concerned about Williams and didn’t want any mistakes to happen? Only he knows the answer now.
As rough as their relationship was, Williams and Norman were together until 1989. During their time together, Norman won eight tournaments, including the 1986 Open Championship. A decade later, he took a job as Tiger Woods’s caddie and met the same fate as Woods, who treated him like a slave.’ While talking about it, Williams said, “One thing that really pissed 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.”
Norman also talked about how Woods treated Williams and said, “I knew what Steve was like, but Tiger put him in a box.” Tiger Woods ended up firing Williams after he chose to caddy for Adam Scott, despite agreeing to it before. While it might look like Norman and Williams had a rough relationship on the greens, things were different off the greens.Greg Norman was “a wonderful guy” when not competing
Norman’s attitude towards Williams was strict on the greens, and it was completely different off of it. Even Williams was shocked to witness how Norman behaved with him while they were not playing. In the same book, he said, “He was a wonderful guy. He was considerate and supportive to me and my family, and a true mate,” while describing Greg Norman’s nature.
Not only that, Norman even described Williams as a brother and said, “We became like brothers—I’d never had a younger brother, and he was like a kid brother to me. My kids nicknamed him the Polar Bear because he would go swimming in the ocean in the middle of winter. They just loved him and grew up with him around.” During the off-season, Williams often used to stay at Norman’s home. They even used to go to concerts together to hang out.
Interestingly, Woods’s behavior was also somewhat the same sometimes. Woods even gifted Steve Williams 10 vehicles that he won at tournaments. Williams’s net worth now stands at $12 million, thanks to his illustrious career as a bagman and as an author.
Who do you think Steve Williams had a better relationship with, Tiger Woods or Greg Norman? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!
