Stevie Williams Interview about Tiger Woods

[iacas]

I normally don't like to post these PR emails, but here's this one.

You can click the links because I can't embed the videos. Share your thoughts on what Stevie has to say here.

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Steve Williams: “ In Depth with Graham Bensinger”

Graham Bensinger travels to Auckland, New Zealand to sit down with Tiger Woods’ former caddy Steve Williams for his first extensive interview since being fired by Tiger. Fired by Tiger in July, Williams opens up about Tiger’s scandal, the fallout, the circumstances leading up to his firing, and his most memorable moments working with Tiger. Williams also speaks about his career as a caddy starting at a very young age, his love for auto racing and his significant charitable contributions. “ In Depth with Graham Bensinger” with Steve Williams premieres November 15 ^th on Yahoo! Sports, on regional sports television networks across the U.S. (check local listings) and on international television thru Setanta Sports.

Highlights From Episode :

· Steve Williams tells Bensinger that Tiger Woods will never break Jack Nicklaus’ all-time major record.

Bensinger: Jack Nicklaus won 18 majors in his career. He holds that record for most major victories. Tiger has won 14 majors. You told me you don't believe Tiger will catch or pass Nicklaus. Why do you think that is?

Williams: Well, if you look at it in the perspective that he has to have a career sort of equal to Phil Mickelson from here on in. Phil is a fantastic player and he has had four majors, the next best um number of major championships won besides Tiger in the time frame that Tiger has been playing on the tour, so he [Tiger] has to sort of replicate that kind of career um down the road here.
Link to watch: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth#news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth/27250066

· Steve Williams reflects back on twelve years with Tiger Woods:

Bensinger : After all of this, how well do you believe you knew Tiger?

Williams: Well not very well obviously. I mean that sort of goes without saying. You know I mean I guess I thought I knew him well and didn't.

Williams went on to say their relationship changed very quickly once they resumed working together following Tiger’s scandal: “ ... there's no question that it was a difficult time and um you know our relationship obviously deteriorated very quickly .”
Link to watch: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth#news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth/27249660

· Steve Williams says when the scandal came out, it was the most difficult time of his life: “ I just didn't like having my name associated with it. …that sort of activity is not something um that I have anything to do with .”

Williams told Bensinger he understands why people believe he knew all along about Tiger’s infidelities: “[If] somebody said to me, ‘you know, Steve, this particular player has done these activities um… Would the caddy know?’ Given the fact of the amount of time that I spent with Tiger and how close we were..... it would be very difficult not to know and I agree with that.”

Williams says had he known about Tiger’s infidelities…he would not have hesitated to tell Tiger what he thought: “ I don't agree with that sort of behavior. I mean I would have been strongly giving my piece of advice .”
Link to watch: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth#news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth/27249659

· Steve Williams says he never asked Tiger anything about the 2009 car accident outside Tiger’s home early in the morning after Thanksgiving: “ I've never asked Tiger….. I don't need to know and don't want to know. ”
Link to watch: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth#news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth/27250279

· Steve Williams and his wife are close to Tiger Woods’ ex-wife Elin Nordegren: “I don't change my opinion of her because she’s not with Tiger anymore. A great person and um they have two lovely children….. whilst the parents are not together, you know they are a great family and she is a lovely person.”

Link to watch: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth/27260895

· Steve Williams admits he had an inkling that things were not going well with Tiger before he was fired. “...we didn't click when we both got back together back in April at Augusta… you know we certainly didn't click like we used to so, you always know things are going to come to an end at some time …”

Bensinger asks Steve Williams why he and Tiger have a different take on what happened when Williams was fired.

Bensinger: You said he fired you on the phone, he said he fired you in person. Why would Tiger lie?

Williams: I have my take on how it unfolded and he has his take on how it unfolded and that's how I will leave it.

Bensinger presses Steve Williams about holding any grudges with Tiger after the firing. Williams replies, “ I just felt the timing was a little unusual .”
Link to watch: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth#news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth/27249881

· Steve Williams talks about the satisfaction of winning the tournament while caddying for Adam Scott at Firestone and acknowledges the comments he made after the win suggested he still had animosity towards Tiger.  Williams also speaks about Tiger Woods congratulating him after the win: “ He sent me a text after Adam won…I really respected that…you know things move on and um you know we'll see what happens in the future .”
Link to watch: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth/27249881

· Steve Williams talks about how intimidating Tiger Woods was on the course when he was playing at his peak, but says things are not the same anymore: “ Right now Tiger doesn't have that intimidation factor so that, that's part of his artillery that's not there anymore.”
Link to watch: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth#news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth/27250179

· Steve Williams talks about what it was like to work with Tiger Woods and says his determination is top notch: “… You know the desire and the will to win. I have never come across anybody that just hates to lose. I mean running second is just ain’t an option. He just didn't like that .”
Link to watch: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth/27260892

Steve Williams episode promo: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth/27231668

Generic series promo: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth#news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth/25257956

Series’ website: http://www.GrahamBensinger.com/

Broadcast schedule: http://grahambensinger.com/index_watch.html

[iacas]

FWIW, I watched the first segment, and I think that line of reasoning is stupid. Tiger needs to have a Phil Mickelson "career" from here on out? No he doesn't. Phil Mickelson's "career" included, what, 15 years of not getting it done in the majors? That's a stupid thing to say.

Yes, he needs "four more" which is how many Phil has, but to say that he needs "an entire career" is not the same at all. If Tiger gets to 17 are we going to say that he needs "Darren Clarke's entire career just to tie Jack?" No.

[k14]

Originally Posted by iacas

FWIW, I watched the first segment, and I think that line of reasoning is stupid. Tiger needs to have a Phil Mickelson "career" from here on out? No he doesn't. Phil Mickelson's "career" included, what, 15 years of not getting it done in the majors? That's a stupid thing to say.

Yes, he needs "four more" which is how many Phil has, but to say that he needs "an entire career" is not the same at all. If Tiger gets to 17 are we going to say that he needs "Darren Clarke's entire career just to tie Jack?" No.

He isn't saying he needs a Phil Mickelson career he is saying he needs one sort of like his career, using an example to state it is possible. I think it is referring to the age Tiger is now and saying how even though he is into his 30's it is still possible because other guys have done it. Seems logical to me.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by k14

He isn't saying he needs a Phil Mickelson career he is saying he needs one sort of like his career, using an example to state it is possible. I think it is referring to the age Tiger is now and saying how even though he is into his 30's it is still possible because other guys have done it. Seems logical to me.

Sure, except your answer to the "will he catch Jack" using that logic is yes, but Stevie very much seemed to be saying "no."

I think it's just silly to compare a guy with 14 to a guy who had 0 by about the same age. I agree it would more support a "yes" declaration than a "no" but Stevie basically said "no." The headline for that section was "Steve Williams tells Bensinger that Tiger Woods will never break Jack Nicklaus’ all-time major record" (emphasis added).

[k14]

Originally Posted by iacas

Sure, except your answer to the "will he catch Jack" using that logic is yes, but Stevie very much seemed to be saying "no."

I think it's just silly to compare a guy with 14 to a guy who had 0 by about the same age. I agree it would more support a "yes" declaration than a "no" but Stevie basically said "no." The headline for that section was "Steve Williams tells Bensinger that Tiger Woods will never break Jack Nicklaus’ all-time major record" (emphasis added).

Oh sorry, I thought Steve was just saying it is plausible. Should read better next time

[newtogolf]

Stevie is like a jilted ex, he's hurt and upset thatTiger fired him.  He's at best going to be indifferent but more likely to take cheap shots when asked anything about Tiger.  It's fair for him to have an opinion on Tigers ability to beat Jack's record, but the explanation made no sense to me.  What does Phil's success have to do with Tiger, two totally different guys, and while I like Phil a lot, Phil at his best was never as good as Tiger at his best.

As for the rest of the interview it's interesting that he still contends to not know about Tigers extra-marital affairs but at least he acknowledges that it's pretty unbelievable that he didn't.

[zipazoid]

I could respect Stevie if he would have been nothing but grateful to Tiger for a real nice long successful run together. Regardless of how it ended, Tiger made Stevie a very rich and famous person. Far bigger stature than a caddie, honestly, deserves to be.

So what he has to say about Tiger, given his low-road, 'jilted lover' schtick he's been pulling, I could not care less about.

[mvmac]

I have to call bs on 2 things.

Williams not knowing about the years of Tiger having affairs

And not asking Tiger about the car accident on Thanksgiving.  Not even a "Dude, what happened?"

He's either lying or Tiger and Williams really had a distant relationship.  I know Tiger is a very private guy but you would think they would be much closer given how much time they spend together and all the victories they had.

[FLOG4]

We are talking about a caddie.  What other caddie has been interviewed and analyzed as much as Stevie.  My belief is he's a good guy down deep.  He's not perfect and was never trained to be the talking head.  New Zealand has a very high opinion of Stevie and has utilized him to do some commentary on the event at Cape Kidnappers and he does some promo stuff for the NZ tourist board.  He seems grounded.  Good stuff here.

I think what Stevie was saying about Phil was hey Tiger is starting from scratch moving forward. If he matches Phils performance at the age that Phil won his majors then Tiger stands a chance. But deep down he doesn't want Tiger to succeed.  He wants Adam to.

[newtogolf]

As he should, Adams success translates to dollars in Stevies pockets, nothing wrong with that.  He should recognize that he is now Scott's caddie and not a tour player or objective third party who should be participating in interviews focused completely about other tour players.

Originally Posted by FLOG4

I think what Stevie was saying about Phil was hey Tiger is starting from scratch moving forward. If he matches Phils performance at the age that Phil won his majors then Tiger stands a chance. But deep down he doesn't want Tiger to succeed.  He wants Adam to.

[majorchamp]

I agree with the above poster...he had to have an inkling that Tiger was doing stuff behind the scenes. I mean according to various sources, Tiger wasn't necessarily "private" about his affairs...often being within eyesight of many people as he went about hanging with various women. And given many on the Tour were aware of his behavior (and mind you, MANY tour players live similar lives behind the scenes...Tiger is just more high profile) its impossible Steve new "nothing".

The car accident will forever go down as a mystery. Truth is, Elin was probably angry and vengeful for learning about Tiger's affairs and acted as many women do when in that situation. Did she cause him physical harm? who knows. Did she probably beat the sh*t out of his car...yea.

one thing I think is complete BS is he has no problem tarnishing Tiger in the media, but will not elaborate about how he was fired..and how these 2 have complete DIFFERENT stories. there is a huge difference between a phone call and a sit down face to face lol.

Unless Tiger made a reference to a separation via a phone call, and it was interpreted as an official "your fired".

[FLOG4]

Two guys go to movies and later they chat about a scene.  The two have a totally different perspective of what that scene was.  I also  find that people say things at times without realizing they have.  Some times the mouth engages with our thoughts without cognitive acknowledgement of that circumstance.  For individuals to interpret what others meant or didn't mean. It's just a load of stuff............. Many years ago I had the pleasure of marshalling a PGA Tournament in Hartford. After the rounds the marshalls would have a little tailgating......There were two PGA players that showed up every year. I witnessed it 3 times. Let's just say they had a ship in every port. And in Hartford it was the same ship 3 times.  There's a code amongst professional athletes.  So some dufice reporter asks about things like this.....As Sergeant Shultz use to say" I know nothing, I see Nothing" Both Stevie and Tiger possess an edge to their persona.  Together that edge worked.  Apart it can and has created fireworks, But it is who they are. Tiger has taken high road, Stevie is I believe trying to figure out how to get off the track he's on and move to that high road.  This weekend should allowcate an opportunity for more fireworks or the chance for Stevie to find that highroad.