Tiger Woods’ old caddie Steve Williams, was dumped by Tiger over the summer. Williams wasn’t happy about it – and when the player he now works for, Adam Scott, won a tournament in August with Williams carrying his bags, Williams made no secret of just how delighted he was. This rubbed some people the wrong way. They thought Williams was overstepping his bounds by making himself the center of attention. Well, that was nothing.
Recently, Williams attended a dinner in Shanghai featuring “Caddie Awards” in various categories. The event doesn’t take itself too seriously; Williams won “best celebration” for his controversial gloating after Scott’s win in August. In the process of receiving the award, Williams was asked about that very public display of glee. Why’d he take such a not-too-subtle dig at Tiger, with whom he had so much success? And then, Williams said something it was a really, really bad idea to say:
“It was may aim to shove it right up that black arsehole.”
Yeah, he really said it. According to Oliver Brown of the Telegraph, the line “left the audience of players, caddies and sponsors aghast.” There’s been a bit of debate as to whether it was actually a racist comment on Williams’ part, but there’s no question he brought Tiger’s race into it needlessly – and that this continues a months-long pattern of spite toward Tiger. SportsGrid senior editor Dan Fogarty said back in August that if Williams kept this up, he was in danger of “looking petty.” Well, as far as pettiness goes, he’s outdone himself.
UPDATE: Williams has apologized, saying he “now realize[s] how [his] comments could be construed as racist,” but that he didn’t mean for them to be. Why do we get the feeling some people will need a bit more convincing?
