Tiger Woods’ former caddie Steve Williams has backed him to overcome his latest injury setback and believes the five-time Masters champion’s career is “not done yet”.
Woods has played a limited schedule in recent years after a car crash in February 2021 left him with career-threatening leg and ankle injuries, making just 11 official starts over the past four seasons and completing 72 holes on just four occasions.
The former world No 1 will miss The Masters – live from April 10-13 on Sky Sports – after rupturing his Achilles, raising doubts over his participation in the rest of the majors this season and when he will be able to return to competitive action.
Williams caddied for him from 1999 to 2011, playing an important role in the ‘Tiger Slam’ and 13 of his 15 major victories, with the New Zealander still expecting Woods to try and challenge for majors again.
“Tiger’s still got a task at hand,” Williams told the Sky Sports Golf podcast. “Obviously he’s out injured with another setback, but I truly believe that he will not give the chance of winning another major away.
“He will want to still practice and get to the point where he feels he could stand on the tee and physically compete for 72 holes, knowing that he’s given every bit of practice he can do to get there and try and win one more major.
“He’s not done yet!”
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Williams had already been a caddie for over 20 years and worked for major winners Greg Norman and Raymond Floyd when he replaced Mike “Fluff” Cowan as Woods’ looper in March 1999, where it became clear where the future Grand Slam winner’s priorities stood.
“When I went to take the job with Tiger and talked to him about what his plan is and what his goals were, it was just overwhelming importance placed on the major championships,” Williams explained.
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“Following his victory at The Masters [1997], he hadn’t won another major championship when I stepped on the bag in 1999. With every major that passes by, it’s one less chance to win one and he’s not getting his career on the track that he wanted to get on. I could sense that straight away.”
The pair enjoyed major success later that year at the PGA Championship, where Williams’ decision to overrule Woods on the penultimate hole led them to see off the then-teenager Sergio Garcia at Medinah.
“Tiger read the putt and said that it’s outside the hole, but I assured him it was inside the hole – it was a big call,” Williams admitted. “It’s the first time we’ve had a chance to win a major. He’s actually faltering a little bit down the stretch and Sergio [Garcia]’s got the crowd behind him.
“He knocked that putt in and who knows where his career may have gone had he not knocked that putt in and gone on to beat Sergio. The second major I feel is the hardest one to win and you look at the number of great players, accomplished players that only won one major championship.
“Tiger obviously won that in 1999, so he’s not starting 2000 with that extra pressure of trying to win that second major and start this run. In a big moment, I overruled Tiger and I was correct and that’s where a huge amount of our trust that followed in the subsequent years was born.”
Woods won three of the four majors in 2000, including the US Open and The Open by a record-breaking margin, before winning The Masters the following April to hold all four majors simultaneously.
