After Their Ugly Split, Tiger Woods’ Abnormal Personality and Harsh Defense Mechanism Was Exposed by His Long-Time Caddie Steve Williams in His Autobiography

A coach plays a significant role in the life of an athlete. The direction and improvements a coach and trainer make are often what help boost their careers. It’s safe to say that a great coach makes successful players more often than not. There aren’t many golf trainers who can compete with Butch Harmon. The coaching legend was one of the main reasons why Tiger Woods had an explosive start to his career.

Woods had been trained by Harmon since he was 16 and saw incredible results. The golf world saw an unstoppable duo in them and was taken by surprise in 2002 when Tiger let Butch go. Many wondered if Woods thought he had learned all he could from Harmon, but that wasn’t the case at all.

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In his book, ‘Out of the Rough,’ on page 112, Woods’ ex-caddie, Steve Williams, revealed what went down between Harmon and the golf great. It was an unfortunate case where personal principles collided and Woods took a decision based on them.

Harmon had helped Woods win eight of his majors, and gained significant popularity from it. Unlike Woods, who was a private person, Harmon was very open and outgoing. He would often talk to the media and press about his life and work. And since their lives were intertwined, this meant Harmon quite often spoke of Woods and their work together.

How did Tiger Woods deal with conflict?

His statements to the media, which usually went like, “When I was with Tiger… When I did this with Tiger… I was practicing with Tiger the other day…” had begun to bother Woods a lot. The 15-time major winner felt like Harmon was using his name to sell himself. But instead of confronting Butch about it, Woods began giving him the silent treatment.

That was how Woods handled conflict, according to Williams. He cut off all contact and communication with those who irritated him. It was a game, as Williams explained, to see how long the other person could deal with being stonewalled.

It took Harmon more than a year to realize things with the golf pro were off. And when he did, he confronted Tiger about it. But all that resentment couldn’t have been good for their conversation, and the dynamic duo split up in August 2002.

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Had Woods opened up to Harmon before, could things have been a little different? Or was Woods better off without Harmon? Let us know what you think in the comments below.