{"id":1436,"date":"2006-07-28T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-07-28T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/uncategorized\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams\/"},"modified":"2006-07-28T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-07-28T14:00:00","slug":"nine_holes_with_steve_williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/profiles\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams","title":{"rendered":"Nine Holes with Steve Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/b\/imgs\/profiles\/pf_title.gif\" height=\"97\" width=\" 125\" alt=\"ProFiles\" \/>Steve (or Stevie) Williams is Tiger&#8217;s fiercely loyal and dedicated caddy. Precious few can understand what goes on behind the ropes in Tiger&#8217;s life and Williams is one of them. Williams must be similar to the guys that were taming the &#8220;Wild West&#8221; because he comes across as a cowboy. He marches to the beat of his own drum while working hard for the boss.<\/p>\n<p>Join me for a quick nine holes with the camera-snatching, club-pulling, car-racing boy from New Zealand.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<strong>Hole One<\/strong><br \/>\nWilliams played to a two handicap by age 13 and yet came to love carrying the bag more than playing. Originally he toted bags to get better at the game.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hole Two<\/strong><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Woods and Williams at the 2006 British Open\" src=\"\/b\/imgs\/pga\/woods_williams.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"182\" class=\"bordered\" \/>&#8220;There was only one subject in school that I was good at &#8211; mathematics &#8211; and I figured out that I had saved about $20,000 by the time I was 15, doing all sorts of odd jobs, including caddying.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Having already made a considerable fortune for a teen at odd jobs he set out to caddy on the European Tour.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hole Three<\/strong><br \/>\nAn avid car racer, Williams balances racing cars and carting Tiger&#8217;s bag. &#8220;I treat each of them seriously,&#8221; said Williams. &#8220;I love to caddie and I love to race cars, and I give each of them my undivided attention when I&#8217;m doing them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hole Four<\/strong><br \/>\nInjured in a car accident in January of 2005 there was some speculation that <a href=\"http:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/pga\/help_wanted_tigers_caddy_williams_injured_in_car_crash\/\" title=\"Help Wanted?\">Williams and Woods relationship was strained<\/a>. The speculation was wrong.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hole Five<\/strong><br \/>\nAt the 2004 U.S. Open Williams kicked a camera out of the hands of a New York Daily News photographer. He thought he was taking pictures of Woods&#8217; swing during warm up. He grabbed a camera away from an off-duty police officer on Sunday of the same event. Back in 2002 he took a camera out of a spectators hands and allowed it to tumble into a pond. Classic.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hole Six<\/strong><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Steve Williams takes a camera\" src=\"\/b\/imgs\/pga\/steve_williams_camera.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"311\" class=\"bordered\" \/>Williams was caddying for Raymond Floyd on the Champions Tour (then called the Senior Tour) when Butch Harmon contacted him about caddying for Tiger.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Butch gave me Tiger&#8217;s phone number, and I called him,&#8221; said Williams. &#8220;After Doral, I drove up to Orlando to see him. I already knew him a bit. We talked about what he likes and what he doesn&#8217;t like, and we made a deal.&#8221; It was a job every caddy on Tour would have loved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hole Seven<\/strong><br \/>\nBefore Woods, Williams caddied for Greg Norman. &#8220;I basically got fired because I got too close to him and his family,&#8221; said Williams. &#8220;Maybe I chatted back at him too much and shouldn&#8217;t have. He won the Chunichi Crowns in Japan in 1989 with me on the bag. Next week, he fired me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Turned out right in the end. Norman even tried to get him back, admitting he made a mistake letting Williams go. Things turned out well for Williams in the end.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hole Eight<\/strong><br \/>\nWilliams insisted wearing shorts at the 2004 Ryder Cup earning him the nickname &#8220;Rosa Parks.&#8221; &#8220;Being from New Zealand, Stevie wasn&#8217;t sure who that was,&#8221; Chris Riley&#8217;s caddy John Wood said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hole Nine<\/strong><br \/>\nThe image of Tiger embracing Steve on the final hole of the British Open this year will certainly become another of the defining moments in Tiger&#8217;s legacy. With &#8220;Pops&#8221; not there to give Tiger a bear hug, Tiger turned to the one who has become a close confidant: caddy Steve Williams.<\/p>\n<p>Steve Williams is certainly a character. If he&#8217;s not caddying, he&#8217;s bungee jumping, or racing. Visit his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kiwicaddy.com\/\" title=\"The Official Steve Williams Website\" class=\"external external_icon\">website<\/a> for further reading.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"credit\">Photo Credit: &copy; <a href=\"http:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/golf\/pga\/photo?slug=80ab3624f65d4c888358ce311000839a.britain_golf_british_open_hoy192&#38;prov=ap\" title=\"Yahoo Golf\">AP Photo\/Matt Dunham<\/a>, &copy; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sportsshooter.com\/news\/1211\" title=\"Williams snags a camera\" class=\"external external_icon\">Sportsshooter.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Step in to the life of Tiger Woods&#8217; caddy Steve Williams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-profiles"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nine Holes with Steve Williams (ProFiles) - The Sand Trap .com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/profiles\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Nine Holes with Steve Williams (ProFiles) - The Sand Trap .com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Step in to the life of Tiger Woods&#039; caddy Steve Williams.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/imgs\/profiles\/pf_title.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@the_sand_trap\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@the_sand_trap\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeff Smith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/profiles\\\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/profiles\\\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeff Smith\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/593a79572380b35b33e9f725609f228a\"},\"headline\":\"Nine Holes with Steve Williams\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-07-28T14:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/profiles\\\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams\"},\"wordCount\":610,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"ProFiles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/profiles\\\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/profiles\\\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/profiles\\\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams\",\"name\":\"Nine Holes with Steve Williams (ProFiles) - The Sand Trap .com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-07-28T14:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/profiles\\\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/profiles\\\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/profiles\\\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nine Holes with Steve Williams\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Sand Trap .com\",\"description\":\"Golf News, Reviews, and Commentary\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Sand Trap .com\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/imgs\\\/cropped-tst_color-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/imgs\\\/cropped-tst_color-1.png\",\"width\":240,\"height\":65,\"caption\":\"The Sand Trap .com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/thesandtrapgolf\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/the_sand_trap\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/TheSandTrapGolf\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/593a79572380b35b33e9f725609f228a\",\"name\":\"Jeff Smith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/62b3d78dbf1e856eaf3841aa7b7b84bf72ae020ecc97e2031dbe4e106d9594ba?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/62b3d78dbf1e856eaf3841aa7b7b84bf72ae020ecc97e2031dbe4e106d9594ba?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/62b3d78dbf1e856eaf3841aa7b7b84bf72ae020ecc97e2031dbe4e106d9594ba?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Jeff Smith\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/u\\\/7\\\/muskegman\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/author\\\/muskegman\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nine Holes with Steve Williams (ProFiles) - The Sand Trap .com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/profiles\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Nine Holes with Steve Williams (ProFiles) - The Sand Trap .com","twitter_description":"Step in to the life of Tiger Woods' caddy Steve Williams.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/imgs\/profiles\/pf_title.gif","twitter_creator":"@the_sand_trap","twitter_site":"@the_sand_trap","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeff Smith","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/profiles\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/profiles\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams"},"author":{"name":"Jeff Smith","@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/#\/schema\/person\/593a79572380b35b33e9f725609f228a"},"headline":"Nine Holes with Steve Williams","datePublished":"2006-07-28T14:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/profiles\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams"},"wordCount":610,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/#organization"},"articleSection":["ProFiles"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/profiles\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/profiles\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams","url":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/profiles\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams","name":"Nine Holes with Steve Williams (ProFiles) - The Sand Trap .com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-07-28T14:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/profiles\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/profiles\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/profiles\/nine_holes_with_steve_williams#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nine Holes with Steve Williams"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/","name":"The Sand Trap .com","description":"Golf News, Reviews, and Commentary","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/#organization","name":"The Sand Trap .com","url":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/imgs\/cropped-tst_color-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/imgs\/cropped-tst_color-1.png","width":240,"height":65,"caption":"The Sand Trap .com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thesandtrapgolf\/","https:\/\/x.com\/the_sand_trap","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/TheSandTrapGolf"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/#\/schema\/person\/593a79572380b35b33e9f725609f228a","name":"Jeff Smith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62b3d78dbf1e856eaf3841aa7b7b84bf72ae020ecc97e2031dbe4e106d9594ba?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62b3d78dbf1e856eaf3841aa7b7b84bf72ae020ecc97e2031dbe4e106d9594ba?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62b3d78dbf1e856eaf3841aa7b7b84bf72ae020ecc97e2031dbe4e106d9594ba?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Jeff Smith"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/u\/7\/muskegman"],"url":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/author\/muskegman"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1q2tI-na","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}