Late in June, Hughes Norton, Tiger Woods‘s former agent, appeared on Golf’s SubPar podcast and gave an account of how he was fired from his job abruptly on a phone call without any explanation or closure from Woods. While Norton reflected on Woods’s pattern of handling professional relationships, he recalled how Steve Williams endured a lot too, during his time on Woods’s bag, and should have been treated better. Now, Williams appeared on the same podcast a few days ago and recalled an incident where he caddied for Tiger Woods, despite having broken ribs.

Steve Williams was involved in a horrific car crash in 2005 and was advised by doctors not to swim or fly until he was fully recovered. But Williams, being stubborn and committed to Woods, continued to live life normally. “Yeah, look, I mean, you know, when you are committed to do something, you tell someone you’re going to be somewhere. Um, I’m extremely hard-headed and, you know, I didn’t feel like it was that big. I had some broken ribs and so forth and that, but it was quite an amazing thing cuz I was told you can’t fly and you can’t swim,” he confessed.

He even admitted to having gone for a swim, which helped him relieve the pressure from the broken rib. But Williams stuck to his commitment to Woods and didn’t miss being on his bag the next week. “Um, but yeah, like you know, like when you commit to caddy for somebody, uh, and you know, particularly it’s Tiger. I didn’t you know, in the entire time I caddied for Tiger, I only missed one tournament. It was the Presidents Cup when, um my son was born and one other time. So only two times,” Williams revealed that from 1999-2011, he only missed being on Tiger’s bag twice. That’s dedication exemplified!

But Williams never let Woods know of the injury, “So, um, you know I couldn’t tell Tiger I had an accident racing, and he be ‘Hey Steve, you got some dangerous activity. Maybe you shouldn’t be a racing mechanic for me.’ Maybe he thought that, maybe he didn’t.” It was his personal opinion that he wouldn’t want to distract Woods from his achievements, and preferred not to let him know.

Their relationship, too, ended abruptly in 2011, like Norton’s, when Williams decided to caddy for Adam Scott when Woods was on a hiatus because of an injury.

The complex partnership of Tiger Woods and Steve Williams

Tiger Woods and Steve Williams shared one of the most successful partnerships in golf history, but their relationship was far from simple. Williams, the no-nonsense New Zealander, began caddying for Woods in 1999 and quickly became a fixture by his side during some of the most dominant years the sport has ever seen.

Together, they won 13 major championships and redefined what a golfer-caddie duo could achieve. Williams was known for his intense loyalty and fierce protectiveness of Woods, and he was more than just a caddie. He was a good friend and confidant to Woods. But that loyalty sometimes came at a cost, both physically and emotionally, as revealed in his recent admission in his new book, ‘Together We Roared,’ which was released this year.

Despite their success, cracks in the relationship eventually showed. After Woods’s scandal in 2009 and subsequent break from the game, Williams worked briefly with Adam Scott, something that didn’t sit well with Woods. In 2011, Tiger Woods let Williams go, a move the caddie later described as feeling betrayed after years of unwavering commitment. Reflecting, Williams admitted that while he regretted the abrupt end, he knew things would never be the same: “Looking back, I regret that a little bit, but I knew following his return from the extended break, after the scandal, it just wasn’t the same as before.” 

Their bond, once built on mutual trust and shared glory, had unraveled. Yet even years later, Williams speaks of his time with Woods with a mix of pride and pain, reflecting a partnership that brought out the best and the worst.