Tiger Woods is learning that hell hath no fury like a caddie scorned.
The scandal-ridden, injury-plagued Woods may soon be crying again — but not the joyous type of tears from victory — after his fired caddie Steve Williams soon whacks him with the equivalent of a 5-iron golf club: he’s coming out with a tell-all book.
Williams, who has already tossed some verbal darts in his former boss’ direction after the shocking and unceremonious dismissal this past week, shared with a hometown New Zealand television station that he plans to produce a tell-all book about his career. The book, of course, will be highly anticipated because it will include an “interesting” chapter on his image-embattled ex-boss.
“It will be just one of those interesting chapters in the book,” Williams said. “You learn a lot from reading biographies. I’m a big reader of those. Mine won’t be any different.”
Woods’ praise of Williams on his website, even as he escorted Williams out of his life, did not sit well with the man many call the greatest caddie of their lifetime.
“I’m not disappointed that I got fired, just disappointed in the tim[ing]of it, given how loyal I’ve been to him,” Williams said, winding up to take some hard swings at Woods. “That obviously didn’t mean much to him.”
Ouch. Even I felt that one. Williams wasn’t done spilling the contents of his soul, which are hot right now, and he went in hard on Woods in another interview. “I’m a stickler for loyalty. I stuck with Tiger through a difficult period when a lot of people thought that I should have left his side when things were not going the way they should have been going,” he said.
The two were once inseparable and even took part in each other’s weddings — though both are divorced now. Today, Williams is brimming with feelings of betrayal and resentment after their 12-year relationship produced 13 majors and most of Tiger’s colossal number of PGA Tour victories. That’s understandable.
But to come out with a tell-all book that continues to disparage the already bruised and battered golf legend would only serve to tarnish Williams and make other golfers wary of hiring him for fear that he’d divulge their private affairs. Besides it is easy, as we have seen, to kick a man when he is already on the ground, as many fellow players and golf pundits have done. It would not be a good look.
–terry shropshire
