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Adam Scott and caddy Steve Williams part ways
Adam Scott and caddy Steve Williams announced on Wednesday that their professional relationship, which began in 2011, has come to an end — it seems to have been a mutual decision.
In a statement on Wednesday, Scott, the No. 2 ranked golfer in the world according to the Official World Golf Rankings, announced that the two are officially ending their partnership.
“Steve has been an integral part of my team in a period where I have fulfilled some of my lifetime golfing goals,” Scott said. “His dedication and professionalism have been without question, and his friendship is highly valued. Our priorities and stages of life are different now, and so we decided that this is the best time to end our partnership.”
The Steve-Scott duo proved to be successful, although it lasted under four years, and helped to get the major championship monkey off Scott’s back. With Williams on the bag, Scott produced wins at the 2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, 2013 Masters, 2013 Barclays and 2014 Crowne Plaza Invitational, also including a runner-up finish at the 2012 Open Championship and a world No. 1 ranking in the OWGR, which began on May 19, 2014 and lasted for 11 weeks.
Scott wanted Steve to continue to caddy full-time, but Williams had a different view on his life and goals moving forward.
“I’m definitely not going to caddy full time. I’ve 100 percent made my mind up on that. At some point in time, there are more important things” Williams said.
According to reports, Williams recently pitched Scott a plan for 2015, which would allow the pair to maintain a professional relationship.
“If Adam agrees, and we’ve talked about it, I’ll caddy for him from Doral to the Tour Championship in 2015 and then that’s it.”
Apparently, Scott didn’t go for it.
“After discussing this in detail with Adam it became evident that my plan was not going to fit with Adam’s requirements so we decided to end our partnership,” Williams said.
Williams, who was recently inducted into the Caddy Hall of Fame, has had a long and prosperous professional caddying career. The New Zealander has been a part of more than 150 worldwide victories, carrying the golf bags of Raymond Floyd, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods and of course, Adam Scott. After 13 years on the bag with Woods, which produced 13 major championship victories, Williams was relieved of his bag-carrying services in 2011.
Will the Stevie-Tiger pair reunite now that the Steve-Scott relationship has ended?
“If the right opportunity arose I would consider caddying on a part-time basis in the future,” Williams said in a statement.
Although Williams is looking for part-time work, and Woods is known to play a part-time schedule, the prospect of rehashing the old partnership is more than wishful thinking. Bad blood still remains.
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?
Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.
When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.
To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.
Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.
“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.
“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”
Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.
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Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.
This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.
Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.
The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.
Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.
Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.
Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.
According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.
He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.
Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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cw
Jan 23, 2015 at 12:56 pm
If you want the pace of play to improve, just let players/caddies use lasers or GPS. The caddies are gonna get the right yardage number anyways; it just takes longer without the lasers.
Being on tour without a caddie would get really lonely. You might see some people actually go crazy under the stress without someone to talk to all those hours on the course, in hotels, on planes, etc.
Sir Issac
Sep 25, 2014 at 10:05 am
No caddies = super slow play! Plus imagine all the divots and unraked bunkers.
marcelo otero
Sep 22, 2014 at 8:58 am
The next caddie Adam has too be Eddie gardino
Boner
Sep 18, 2014 at 9:38 pm
If I was a betting man I would bet that Phil will dump Bones and go with Stevie.
Rob
Sep 19, 2014 at 10:01 am
I’d take that bet…no chance
Foley
Sep 18, 2014 at 3:47 pm
Stevie quit caddying to be tigers new swing coach.
James Strachan
Sep 26, 2014 at 5:16 am
He is big headed enough and sufficiently foul mouthed to think he could be his swing coach.
Erik
Sep 18, 2014 at 10:32 am
Awesome, now he just needs to get rid of the belly putter and I can finally become a fan as I really like his swing.
dot dot
Sep 18, 2014 at 9:08 am
Once Adam has to use a legal putter Steve would become a part time caddy. Having to work only on Thursdays and Fridays.
Brandon
Sep 18, 2014 at 10:32 am
Shows what you know. Adam has always been a lousy putter by tour standards even with a short stick, the length has nothing to do with it. And the putter is not illegal until the rule change.
Scooter McGavin
Sep 18, 2014 at 10:40 am
I think you missed the joke.
dot dot
Sep 18, 2014 at 4:56 pm
Thanks Scooter. It’s tough to write em then have to explain em.
Brandon
Sep 20, 2014 at 10:11 pm
Got the joke, wasn’t funny. Think you missed my point completely.
g patock
Sep 24, 2014 at 6:20 pm
Geez, Brandon. Loosen up a little.
Jorge
Sep 23, 2014 at 6:24 am
Oh man, I really laughed out loud with this comment. Awesome comment….maybe cause I totally agree.
Thanks for the laugh 🙂
Scooter McGavin
Sep 18, 2014 at 6:01 am
Am I the only one that doesn’t think there should even be caddies in golf? Sorry old guys, I know it’s tradition, and has been around forever, but something doesn’t seem right about the top, most elite players in a sport needing someone to carry clubs, provide yardages, read your putts, and help strategize your round. I feel like that should all be on the golfer.
Knobbywood
Sep 18, 2014 at 8:36 am
Spoken like someone with little tournament golf experience
Scooter McGavin
Sep 18, 2014 at 9:20 am
So is there supposed to be an argument in there? You’re right, I don’t have playing experience in tournaments, but I do have caddy experience in tournaments. Do you have any actual thoughts as to why the golfer shouldn’t shoulder the full work load of playing in competition? They already have to execute the shots themselves, so why not make them handle their own equipment and not have a “second opinion” man? Is there a reason they should have a “helper”?
Jeff Kinney
Sep 18, 2014 at 11:37 am
It keeps the economy moving forward.
dorcasm
Sep 18, 2014 at 9:42 am
“Spoken like someone with little tournament golf experience”
What does that have to do with anything? It comes down to whether you think golf should be an individual or team sport.
bradford
Sep 18, 2014 at 11:08 am
I think excusing tradition removes the strongest argument for caddies. They are and always have been part of the game and I’d hate to see it ever go away. You make a solid point about carrying, and I walk and carry everywhere I’m allowed, but I’d hate to imagine golf without caddies. Sometimes things don’t have to make sense, but that doesn’t make them bad.
Scooter McGavin
Sep 18, 2014 at 1:16 pm
I completely agree that the main reason is tradition. What I am wondering is if there are any legitimate reasons/arguments to be made other than tradition.
Jeremy
Sep 18, 2014 at 1:40 pm
If I had to come up with one, I’d say walking 4 rounds of golf in tournament conditions is hard enough. If you had to carry your own bag as well, it’d really take a toll on the body.
MikeOZ
Sep 19, 2014 at 7:02 am
They could use push carts like the rest of us.. another sponsorship opportunity!
M.
Sep 26, 2014 at 6:37 pm
…or they could utilize local juniors/amateurs for caddy duties?! Would that not be traditional?!
drfairway
Sep 18, 2014 at 6:19 pm
I see your point of views and somewhat agree, but without the caddies, the pace of play will be horrible.
Rich
Sep 18, 2014 at 6:49 pm
You mean it’s not already?
Double Mocha Man
Sep 18, 2014 at 9:06 pm
One thing is for sure, the bags would get a lot smaller and lighter. No longer would the golfer carry 3 sets of playing clothes, extra shoes, 2 dozen Pro V1’s, 5 bananas, 4 golf gloves, 3 towels, 2 apples and 1 bottle of Jim Beam.
nikkyd
Sep 18, 2014 at 11:29 pm
How many guys players out there do ya think are taking a nip off the jug while in a tournament? Probably all the cool old guys
Airbender
Sep 17, 2014 at 11:34 pm
Best wishes for both Adam and Steve!
Rich
Sep 17, 2014 at 9:25 pm
I’m not a fan of Steve Williams but there’s no questioning his credentials as a caddy. Hopefully Adam can find another top caddy because he is an amazing player, a top bloke and I think he could win more majors and big events in the future with the right bag man.
bradford
Sep 18, 2014 at 11:10 am
You gonna “moderate” this post too? My actual comment was censored for the word “douche”
bradford
Sep 18, 2014 at 11:11 am
in reference to Steve’s similarity to Patrick Reed