FLAG WAVING Woods topped Chris DiMarco on the first playoff hole at the 2005 Masters.
“STEVE, IT’S TIGER! PLEASE DON’T HANG UP!” THE EXASPERATED VOICE SAID. “I’VE SPLIT WITH MY CADDIE.”
Williams felt the drive into Isleworth had a sense of both grandeur and seriousness, but he had to suppress a laugh moments later when Woods, 23, answered the door in Nike gym apparel and invit- ed Williams inside but said he was finishing a war mission on a video game. Williams sat quietly for five minutes on the golfer’s couch, thinking how strange the situation was. He was about to be interviewed for a job with
an athlete many were predicting would single- handedly change the game of golf and become a cultural force unto himself. That much seemed likely when he’d won the 1997 Masters by 12 shots and broken down everything from scoring records to racial barriers in a globally celebrated moment. But here that superstar was, leaning half off the couch and tapping away furiously on a control- ler during a first-person shooter game. Williams, 35, had been an amateur caddie since childhood and a globe-trotting professional bagman since 1978. But he hadn’t seen anything like this. Wil- liams was fascinated that Woods, young, famous and as talented as a golfer could be, was playing video games. One link Williams could make be- tween the video games and golf was the intensity Woods was showing the TV; his small talk could not break Woods’ focus. Woods eventually turned
the TV off and explained to Williams that he was looking for a new, full-time caddie. “Tiger said, in no uncer- tain terms, that he was go- ing to break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major wins, and
LIKEMINDED COMPETITORS
Williams raced stock cars at the highest level in New Zealand.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 99
JUNE 2025
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