Steve Williams acknowledged his reaction to Adam Scott’s victory at the Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday was “a bit over the top.”
A day later, the caddie had had time to reflect on a media performance calculated to embarrass his ex-boss, Tiger Woods, and that was criticized by many who felt Williams overshadowed Scott’s achievement.
“Looking back on it, I was a bit over the top,” he told FOXSports.com from Atlanta, where he and Scott were preparing for this week’s PGA Championship.
“I had a lot of anger in me about what happened (with Woods) and it all came out.”
After Scott won, Williams called it “the most satisfying win of my career,” which includes 13 major championships among 72 victories worldwide with Woods during their 12 years together.
He also disputed Woods’ version of how he was fired. Woods said he’d done in face-to-face while Williams said it was done callously over the phone.
But on Monday the New Zealander put an end to the public spat.
“I said what I said but I’m not going to say any more about Tiger,” he said.
Williams felt he was unjustly fired by Woods last month after he agreed to caddie for Scott while Woods was recovering from injuries to his left leg. He was particularly upset when Woods accused him of being disloyal by working with Scott, given that Williams felt he’d stood by the 14-time major champion in the wake of the sex scandal that so engulfed him.
Williams said last week was emotional because he knew Woods would be returning to golf at Firestone Country Club. He was determined to prove Woods wrong for firing him.
“I had a lot of emotions going on all week. You hear people say, ’How good are you now that you're not caddying for Tiger,’ things like that, and it makes you want to prove yourself.
“And when we were coming down the stretch and all those people were calling out my name, I mean I’ve never experienced anything like that, and when Adam won, all of a sudden, all that emotion, it all poured out.
“But, look, it’s time to move on. The Tiger thing is over.”
