Had a say in how they’ve fared, too.
But there are two for which he will long be remembered. One came from the 60-degree wedge of Tiger Woods, the other the broomstick putter of Adam Scott, and both were made at the US Masters.
Let’s start with Woods, who won’t be at Augusta National next week on account of a ruptured achilles – despite declaring on social media on April Fool’s Day that he had made a miraculous recovery.
Williams also won’t be at the tournament starting next Friday morning, AEDT. Instead, he’ll be spruiking his fascinating book Together We Roared, written in conjunction with Golf Digest writer Evin Priest, about his time caddying for Woods from 1999 to 2011, which included 13 of Tiger’s 15 major titles.
The most memorable, perhaps, was the 2005 Masters when Woods performed a shot for the ages: a miracle chip shot on the 16th, which he duly cashed in with victory over Chris DiMarco on the first playoff hole.
Expect endless replays next week on the 20th anniversary of the iconic Masters moment. Oh my goodness!
“Tiger had hit a tee-shot so far left and so aggressively that the part of the 16th green where he was I had never seen in 18 years of caddying at Augusta National,” Williams told me earlier this week.
“He was obsessed on the walk to the green and he kept asking me, ‘Stevie, what’s over there?’ I told Tiger, ‘I have no f..king clue, mate. I’ve never been over there’.”
Woods’ ball was right on the edge of the rough to the right of the green, 6m from the cup.
The slope of the green towards the bunker was the trickiest factor. Hitting the wrong spot could blow his chances of claiming a fourth green jacket.
“For the pitch shot, he picked an old pitch mark to land the ball on,” Williams said.
“He landed it exactly on that – exactly on the mark he wanted. The rest is history.”
With a packed gallery hemming the fairways and green, Woods’ shot pitched, turned at right angles, then slowly trickled towards the hole, the crowd willing it along. The ball stopped on the edge of the cup, the Nike swoosh on show for a second before … it … fell … in.
“It was a one-in-a-million shot, but Tiger always pulled those out of the hat at the right moment,” Williams said. “It’s what made him so great.”
When the pair split in 2011, it was one of the biggest fallouts in world golf. After Woods withdrew from the US Open because of injury, Williams agreed to caddy for Adam Scott.
They have barely talked since, although Williams has said their last encounter two years ago was cordial. Williams doesn’t pull punches in his book but still shows great respect and admiration for the former world No.1.
The upshot for Australian fans was it led Williams to Scott.
“He desperately wanted to win a major and become the player he knew he could be,” Williams said.
In 2013, Scott had his chance.
Walking down the hill on the par-four 10th and in fading light, Scott was determined to end the tournament that night on the second playoff hole with Argentine Angel Cabrera. Williams recalls the story:
“Adam hit an aggressive approach shot to the green when he chose to take a six-iron all the way to the back of the pin because he wanted to force a birdie and end the playoff with darkness closing in. It was one of the most perfect shots I’ve ever seen in my career because he chose a tree for a target and deliberately hit a three-quarter-length shot with fade spin and landed it exactly where he wanted.
“When it came to reading the putt, because it was dark, Adam couldn’t see how much it was breaking and he thought it was one cup. But I knew based on my years of experience that it was two-and-a-half cups of break.
“I told him. ‘One cup is not even f..king close. Trust me, it’s two-and-a-half cups’.”
Scott drained the putt, his bending back and raised arms in celebration representing the entire nation’s relief.
“It was an incredible read,” Scott said recently. “That’s why you have someone like Steve Williams on your bag.”
Marked my words
As foreshadowed in this space last week, former Labor powerbroker Mark Arbib was on Wednesday confirmed as the next Australian Olympic Committee chief executive.
At his media conference, Arbib argued that the biggest threats to Olympic sports in the lead-up to the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games were the NRL and the AFL, because they have deeper pockets than any other sports.
Ironically, Arbib almost joined the NRL last year, but the deal fell over when the newly created role he was stepping into was abolished.
He’s far better suited to taking charge of the AOC in the lead-up to the Brisbane Games.
Arbib showed his hand at his first media conference, declaring that “philanthropy” was the best way to fund pathways for Olympic sports.
The country’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has poured millions into swimming and other sports in recent years, but Arbib clearly wants to tap other very wealthy and generous people for help.
It’s hard to compete with the likes of Team USA, which last month received a $US100m ($158m) donation from philanthropist and hedge fund boss Ross Stevens to pay Olympic and Paralympic athletes $US200,000 when they retire from sport.
But Arbib is a well-connected and convincing operator, according to those who have worked with him. Channel 9’s Damian Ryan amusingly called him a “henchman” at Wednesday’s presser.
Arbib also set up the Packer Family Foundation during his time working for James Packer.
So, if you’re worth $50m or more and love the ’lympics, please give generously.
Stadium wars 2.0
Speaking of spending money, nothing fires up people more than talk during a cost-of-living and housing crisis about how much lavish sporting stadiums are going to cost.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli might have solved the riddle of what the AFL and cricket can get out of the Brisbane Games with a $3.8bn, 63,000-seat stadium at Victoria Park, but there’s always another billion-dollar stadium in desperate need of being built somewhere in the country.
The Tasmanian government is bending itself into a pretzel over whether to build a $1bn, 23,000-seat stadium with a roof at Macquarie Point. (A billion?! Are the seats made of gold?)
AFL chief executive AndrewDillon could not have been clearer this week: no stadium, no Tasmania Devils football side in 2028. Meanwhile, Cricket Australia doesn’t like the roof because of the weird shadows it will cast during matches.
CA boss Todd Greenberg has been on the hunt for new stadiums of late. Minutes after the Victoria Park stadium was announced, he was putting pressure on the NSW government about replacing the Bill O’Reilly and Brewongle Stands at the SCG.
His comments were welcomed by some of his former directors on the Venues NSW board, who understand a knock down and rebuild of the archaic stands is well overdue.
But at what cost? The early estimate is $750m, although there’s an argument for spending more to take out the Victor Trumper Stand and turn the SCG into the world-class venue it’s meant to be.
Alas, NSW Premier Chris Minns is unlikely to throw any money at new stadiums after he told South Sydney chief executive Blake Solly and chairman Nick Pappas on Wednesday that a major refurbishment of Accor Stadium in Olympic Park wouldn’t happen in this term.
Accordingly, Souths argue they should have access to the three-year-old $828m Allianz Stadium. Right on the cue, the Roosters have told them to rack off because it’s their home ground.
The cash-strapped Rabbitohs moved to Telstra Stadium (as it was known then) because it needed the money: the deal was far superior to the offer from the SCG Trust.
When it extended its deal in 2016 out to 2030, it did so in the middle of Sydney’s “stadium wars” over which rundown old stadium was going to be rebuilt and which one was going to be refurbished.
Allianz Stadium at Moore Park was knocked down and a fancier one replaced it, but the refurbishment of Accor Stadium never happened because of Covid-19.
The Baird then Berejiklian governments of the day wanted Souths and Canterbury locked in as long-term tenants at Accor so they could mount the case for the much-promised stadium plan.
Indeed, the state government declared no less than four times they were redeveloping Accor – including with a media release that included much detail – but it never happened.
Souths claim they signed an “amending agreement” in late 2021 that stated Venues NSW would use “reasonable endeavours” to upgrade the stadium.
The Roosters tell you this isn’t the case, which has prompted Souths to rightfully ask … how do they know the intimate details of Souths’ stadium deal?
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