Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were never good friends. But now Woods’ caddie, Steve Williams, has made the situation a lot more awkward.
At a charity event in New Zealand, Williams said that it was no surprise that Woods and Mickelson didn’t get along, and that he “wouldn’t call Mickelson a great player … because I hate the [jerk],” according to a New Zealand newspaper, the Taranaki Daily News.
Mickelson caught wind of the quote that was published Saturday, and released a statement yesterday.
“After seeing Steve Williams’ comments all I could think of was how lucky I am to have a class act like Bones on my bag and representing me,” Mickelson said, referring to his long-time caddie, Jim MacKay, nicknamed “Bones”.
Woods released a statement today admonishing his caddie’s comments.
“I was disappointed to read the comments attributed to Steve Williams about Phil Mickelson, a player that I respect,” Woods said in a statement Monday. “It was inappropriate. The matter has been discussed and dealt with.”
Williams, who has been on Woods’ bag for 13 of his 14 major championships, later said that he did not intend for his comments to get out, and that he didn’t say any of these things “to a media person.”
“I visit a lot of golf clubs and do a lot of speaking for charity and that is one of the questions I get asked the most: What is Tiger’s relationship like with Phil Mickelson?” Williams said. “I was simply honest and said they don’t get along. You know what it’s like. You’re at a charity event and you have a bit of fun.”
Along with his vulgar depiction of Mickelson, Williams added a story about a time when Woods and Mickelson were paired together for the third round at an U.S. Open. Around the 17th fairway, Tiger waved to group of 5,000 fans and they cheered. Phil was having his name called by a single fan, but wasn’t reacting. He eventually looked up when the fan screamed, “nice tits,” much to the delight of the surrounding fans and much to the dismay of Mickelson, who finished the round double-bogey, bogey and was out of the tournament.
According to the Taranaki Daily News, it was an unspecific U.S. Open, but in an account in the London paper, The Guardian, it was from the previous U.S. Open held at Torrey Pines in San Diego. There, Mickelson and Woods were paired together for the first and second round, and neither time did Mickelson struggle on the last two holes.
In his statement, Mickelson said Williams’ story was an “absolute fabrication” and that his comments were “grossly inaccurate and irresponsible.” Mickelson added the incident actually did happen at the 2002 U.S. Open held at Bethpage Black on Long Island, but there Phil was not paired with Tiger (for any round) but rather with an unspecific European Tour player when the heckling occurred.
“I don’t particularly like the guy,” Williams told another New Zealand paper, the Star-Times, on Sunday. “He pays me no respect at all and hence I don’t pay him any respect. It’s no secret we don’t get along either.”
A rivalry between Woods and Mickelson has been more forced by media over the prior couple of years rather then produced by the two golfers on the course. Yet, this isn’t the first time the world’s former No. 1 and No. 2 (Mickelson is now No. 3 in the World Golf Rankings, behind Sergio Garcia) have traded less-than-nice words.
In an interview with Golf Magazine in 2003, Mickelson said that Tiger was using “inferior” equipment and then said only a player as good as Woods could “overcome the equipment he’s stuck with.” At the time, Woods had recently switched to Nike clubs and balls and Mickelson was using everything Titleist.
After that, apparently everything was cleared up between the two, Woods saying: “‘As we all know, Phil can try to be a smart aleck at times. I think that was one of those instances where it just backfired on him.”
There was also a stir-up before the 2006 PGA Championship at Medina when Mickelson’s short-game instructor, Dave Pelz, said that Mickelson’s game was better than Tiger’s. Phil went on to say that the two have a “very unique relationship” and that he “enjoyed the opportunity to compete against him.”
The two had played on every Ryder Cup and President’s Cup team together since 1997, before this year when Woods was out with his knee injury, and have said to bond over intense games of ping pong.