Just Think Out Loud - Will TW Swallow His Pride And Ask Stevie To Be On His Bag Again

Charlie Riedel/AP
Tiger Woods drop on the 15th hole at the Masters Friday leads to a two-shot penalty.

Steve Williams, the caddie for Masters champion Adam Scott, has told 3 News New Zealand his old boss, Tiger Woods, should have been disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard after his Dropgate incident on the 15th hole of Friday's round.
Williams insisted that Woods wasn't cheating when he took his drop two yards further back than was allowed. Still, he would have DQ'd him.
"Tiger certainly wasn't trying to gain anything on the field there. Obviously, he was frustrated. He mistook the rule between a red line and a yellow line. He didn't do that intentionally. It was a mistake," he said. "But in the fairness of the rules, he should have been disqualified. He signed a scorecard and left the course. He committed a penalty. If he had the chance to view it, he would have put two strokes on himself. He didn't get that chance but if the rules of golf were upheld, I believe he should have been disqualified."
The 3 News crew met Williams after he landed at the airport in Aukland. It was the first interview he granted since Scott defeated Angel Cabrera on the second playoff hole to win his first major. Williams caddied for Woods in three of his four Masters victories and for two of Greg Norman's three runnerup finishes.
Williams admitted he didn't know the details of rule 33-7, which reprieved Woods because he wasn't questioned about the drop before signing his scorecard, the Masters competition committee having viewed the tape and determined Woods had dropped close enough to the original spot.
He was much more interested in discussing Scott's victory, in which he played such a key role. After Scott, he had to be the second-happiest guy at Augusta National as darkness began to fall on the scene.
"To be part of someone's dream . . . Adam's dreamt of winning the Masters since he was a kid. Greg Norman was his idol. I caddied for Greg in a couple of heartbreaking losses at Augusta. He was aware of that," Williams said. "It's well documented Adam's not an emotional person and to see the emotions that poured out of him . . .  it was great to be a part of.
"Obviously I'm caddying for another player," Williams said when asked to compare this to Woods' wins. "As (someone) being touted as one of the best players in the world not having won a major . . . I guess one of the sole reasons I went to work for Adam was to help him get over that hump. To actually get over that line, what can I say?"
Scott gave Williams a lot of the credit for his winning putt on the 10th hole, which had was reading incorrectly until he called his caddie in.
Sometimes instinct is the best thing and I trust my instincts, I always have," he explained. "He asked me to read the putt and I was kind of shocked; he hadn't asked me all day. They're very difficult greens to read because everything is speed oriented. You don't often see players ask caddies to read putts at Augusta just because of the speed. But when he called me in he said, ‘I'm reading the putt one cup out to the right and I said, ‘Adam, this putt's fast and it breaks more than you think.'"

SUNNY SUNG/AP
Tiger Woods (l.) and Steve Williams celebrate Masters victory in 2001.
Williams had obviously been on that green countless times since he started to caddie for Norman in 1982.
"I didn't know for sure but having looked at it, I knew the green was quick one way and slow the other which means it breaks more one way than the other," he noted. "I knew that putt just broke more than it looks. Your instincts tell you and he holed it. When that putt was going down there and I'm standing to the right of him, I knew he had started it two cups out and that's when your heart flutters a little bit. Those are the moments you dream of. Those are the moments why you caddie."
Scott didn't mention it, but Williams also changed his club selection from an 8- to a 7-iron on the shot he hit into the green that set up the final 12-footer.
"I'd noticed when we got to the playoff hole it was colder than it was in regulation," Williams told 3 News. "The cloud ceiling was lower so it was really getting cold. He actually had less yardage and I told him it was not enough. I told him he needed seven, not eight. I said, ‘it's cold and really wet and you've got to get this ball up onto the green.'"
Williams said they didn't hit the wrong club once all week.
It was in stark contrast to Scott's finish at Royal Lytham at last year's British Open, where he lost a four-shot lead with four straight closing bogeys. It was hardly an example of player-caddie cooperation. Scott told Williams he didn't want any advice although Williams did tell him to stay short of the back bunker he hit into on 17. When Scott missed his final par putt on 18, giving Erne Els the claret jug, Williams looked as though he was in disbelief. He sped from the course as quickly as possible.
Williams wasn't asked about that day but he did recall how he gave Woods advice on the 71st hole at Medinah, where they won their first of 13 majors together, the 1999 PGA.
"Tiger had a nine-10-foot putt he asked me to read and I overruled his read as well," he said. "I 100 per cent assured him the read I was giving him was right and he holed that putt and that was the beginning of a successful relationship between myself and Tiger. That was another special moment in my career. He gave me a big photo of him holding the trophy ‘Nice read on 17.' That was special."
Williams told 3 News he only plans to caddie fulltime through the end of the 2014 season before staying home more to see his now seven-year-old son grow up.
"My family comes first now. Adam knows that," he said. "My next goal is to try to get Adam to a second major championship. Greatness is achieved in my eyes when you win two."


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