Steve Williams now believes he should have ended his caddie-player relationship with Tiger Woodsafter his last win at the 2009 JBWere Masters.
“I think everything you do in life, you’d like to go out on a high as opposed to a low,” Williams said in an interview with the Web-based In Depth with Graham Bensinger.
“Looking back, perhaps after Tiger competed down here in Austarlia at the Australian Masters, it was a very memorable win. I really enjoyed that tournament. That was the last event he played before all the events transpired. Perhaps I should have, you know, left him then.”
Williams admits he did not have the prescience after that last win in Australia to know what would follow.
“I didn’t know all was going to happen, obviously. I didn’t know what was about to unfold. Looking back, my gut feeling at some time said that was a good way to finish,” he said.
The Kiwi admitted the chemistry which made his partnership with Woods so effective had dissipated when the 14-time major winner returned after his public scandal at the 2010 Masters.
“When we got back together at Augusta, we certainly didn’t click like we used to,” he said.
In an interview with the New Zealand Herald Sun in July, Williams said he wished their relationship had ended sooner.
“Realistically I could look back, and I’ve wasted the last two years of my life because he’s played infrequently, he’s been injured and played poorly,” he said.
Asked before using a racial epithet to describe Woods at the WGC-HSBC Champions how their relationship will be moving forward, Williams was uncertain.
“Time will tell. It’s a hard question to answer. Time will tell. We’ll see what transpires.”
