Golf's Richest Caddy Sees The Game Differently

Williams may be the luckiest caddy in al of golf earning the money his does carrying Woods' clubs around and watching Tiger win as often as he does, but consider the pressure of having to club and advise one of the games greatest players as he strides into history.

From down under, BC Golf News presents the following feature from New Zealand and the Dominion Post.

By TOBY ROBSON
The Dominion Post
www.stuff.co.nz/

Steve Williams has heard it all in the nine years he's carried Tiger Woods' golf bag, but the question he's asked more frequently than any is why is the world's greatest golfer so darn inaccurate off the tee?

The truth is, Williams told The Dominion Post this week, that he isn't.

The PGA Tour's statistics list Eldrick Tiger Woods' driving accuracy at a lowly 58.93 per cent. That ranks the world's top player at 157th on the tour, just ahead of the hardly known Parker McLachlin.

Many club golfers would fancy their chances of hitting fairways more often than 60 per cent of the time, albeit about 100 metres behind Woods.

The suggestion drew a quiet chuckle down the line from Williams as he drove north from Blenheim this week after competing in the mini stocks at his North Island v South Island speedway series.

"The question I probably get asked the most is why Tiger doesn't hit enough fairways," the affable Kiwi said. "The stats probably say something like 55 per cent, but in my book it will be closer to 65 per cent or more.

"The PGA Tour keeps statistics - you can go on and get every player's stats and they are great and have their place - but we [he and Woods] have a different way of measuring things."

It turns out the only true reflection of how the world's greatest golfer is playing is in Williams' diligently kept hand-written notepads. "I always keep a very detailed log of every round we play," he said. "Stat-wise at the end of the day, end of the week, we know what we need to work on for the next round."

While most of us tut-tut at the TV screen when Woods misses a fairway or green, or ends up seemingly in trouble after unleashing his legendary tee shots, Williams is often recording a successful shot.

"For example, most of the courses we play will have a couple of driveable par 4s for Tiger. He might hit it in the greenside bunker, but it's a great shot, or he might hit a great tee shot that doesn't end up on the fairway and people think it's a missed fairway."

Similarly, Woods might cut a sharp dog-leg with his driver on a par 5 or long par 4. It won't end up on the fairway, but might give him an easier shot to the green.

The PGA might record a missed fairway, "but in my book it's a hit", said Williams. "Just like if he misses a green by two inches, but he knows he hit a great shot, so we count it as a green hit. While the PGA stats are accurate, it's not necessarily what we look at."

Whatever the truth about Woods' driving accuracy, Williams says the most interesting statistic relates to putting. When Woods doesn't three-putt over a 72-hole stretch, he will win the tournament 90 per cent of the time - and that's a goal they strive for.

Williams could be excused for switching off at what must be endless inquiries about life beside Woods, but he's happy to oblige even the most trivial questions.

Do you stay in the same hotel? Share a room? Drive to the course together every morning? "Every week is different, but at the majors we will always stay together, usually we will rent a house.

"We put a big emphasis on those four tournaments, so we need to be able to discuss the course and go over things thoroughly. We always have some kind of strategy, we don't just get up on the first tee and think, `What are we doing today?'

"I'm looking for signs as to how he's feeling, is he aggressive, is he swinging the club well, those sort of things. That's what influences my advice." And, yes, they often drive to the course together.

Williams will be back on his true home turf this week, organising a nine-hole charity tournament at Paraparaumu Beach today to raise funds for junior golf, primarily in smaller provinces.

Incredibly, he is on his first prolonged break from caddying in 30 years, but between speedway and working with the Steve Williams Foundation he's been keeping busy. "There's nothing more satisfying. You can't get a better feeling than being able to help people less fortunate than yourself, particularly children."

He recently gave $1 million to Auckland's Starship children's hospital to help rebuild the child cancer ward.