Tiger Woods’ former caddie has revealed what the former world No.1 “never, ever” did during his record-breaking career.
Steve Williams carried Tiger’s bag for 13 of his 15 major titles, and later helped Adam Scott become the first Australian to win the Masters title.
In a 13-part podcast series with golf journalist Evin Priest, Williams has given unprecedented insights into his time with Woods.
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The 46-year-old has won 82 PGA Tour events, level with Sam Snead’s all-time record. Woods’ total prizemoney on the tour is just over $167 million, which perhaps explains an unusual habit that Williams noted.
“One of the things I admire most about Tiger — I admired a lot of things about him — but one thing I absolutely admired about Tiger is that at the completion of a tournament you’d go into the scorer’s hut and you sign your scorecard and you hand it in,” Williams said on the Chasing Majors podcast.
“They always have a sheet with the prizemoney allocation for everybody so you can look up on the screen to see how you finished and look down and see how much you won.
“Tiger never, ever took a look at that. He played to win trophies and create records, not for prize money.”
Woods won nine times in the 2000 season, which is generally regarded as one of the best ever, as well as eight times in both 1999 and 2006. Those three seasons alone would put him in the top 30 of all time.
His emergence in the late 1990s was the catalyst for huge growth in PGA Tour prizemoney. In 1995, Greg Norman was the leading money winner on tour with earnings of $2.2 million. By comparison, Jon Rahm topped the money list last year with $10.7 million.
“He’s the only player I’ve ever caddied for, the only player I’ve ever seen who never, ever looked at that sheet,” Williams added.
“OK, you could argue he didn’t need to look at that sheet, but every player looks at that sheet, and he never did.
“Whenever he got offers to go and play overseas, prizemoney had no bearing on his decision.”
Williams highlighted a particular aspect of Woods’ mindset that set him apart from the rest.
“When he was going overseas to play in an event as an invited player, he had a goal of never finishing outside the top 10,” Williams said.
“He ground it out a lot of weeks, sometimes it’s hard to go and play overseas, the jet-lag might get you, the course might not suit you, the different grasses.
“In all the time I caddied for him he never finished outside the top-10 (overseas).
“That’s huge kudos to the man.”
Chasing Majors is hosted by golf journalist Evin Priest. The first series is co-hosted by Steve Williams, covering the 13 major titles he won with Tiger Woods. The first four episodes are available now via Spotify or Apple.
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