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Ex-caddie says Tiger agreed to retire once he hit this major championship target

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While speaking to BBC Sport for an ‘All about Tiger Woods’ podcast, Woods’ former caddie gave us a glimpse of what it was like to caddie for Tiger Woods.

When Williams was asked how many major championships Tiger was hoping to finish his career with, he said: “Tiger wanted to get to 20.

“I said 21 is my favorite number, so let’s make it 21 and when you get to 21 you’re not seeing me again. And he said that’s because I’m retiring too.”

Williams was Woods’ caddie from 1999 to 2011 and was on the bag for 13 of his 15 major championships. During the podcast, he spoke about how much pressure came with being the caddie for Tiger.

“We had a special relationship,” said the New Zealander. “He was best man at my wedding and we had a special bond.

“But I felt a tremendous amount of pressure caddying for Tiger. A successful week is just a win.

“Some guys are happy to be top five, top 10. If he doesn’t win, he’s not happy and when you get certain lengths of time when he’s not winning, it’s a tough job because you’re feeling the pressure.”

The pressure was at an all-time high when Woods was chasing the “Tiger Slam” in 2000-2001. He had won the US Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship in 2000 and needed to win at The Masters to become the first player to hold all four of the major championships.

“He was adamant there was an opportunity with the rotation of courses that it could happen,” said Williams.

“He’d just won the US Open by 15 strokes and the first thing he was thinking of was St Andrews,” he continued.

“Amazingly, he played better at St Andrews than he did at Pebble. Those were the two best weeks in terms of overall performance.

“When you’re caddying for someone like Tiger who’s on top of the game, it’s something else. He was just focused on winning major championships. His whole goal was to eclipse Jack’s record, that’s what he wanted to do and his desire and work ethic to try and achieve that goal was second to none.”

Of all their victories together, Williams said the two victories at St. Andrews are two of the most important.

“Nothing compares to that walk up the 18th, it’s the greatest walk in golf,” said the 58-year-old.

“That big grandstand on the left, people lined up on the road on the right, hanging out of hotel windows. If you’re fortunate enough to come across that Swilcan Bridge and be in a situation where you’ve got the Open Championship in hand, that is a very special walk and fortunately Tiger and I have enjoyed that walk a couple of times.

“When The Open is held at St Andrews, it just goes up another notch, it’s a special place.”

Williams also believes navigating the Old Course is “the greatest test between a caddie and a player”.

He added: “It is the ultimate test, because depending on wind direction and hole placement you play down opposite fairways and they all have bunkers you can’t see and you’ve got to know exactly where those bunkers are.

“And you’ve got to know exactly where those pins are and which angle to come in from. It’s great when the wind blows because it makes it a real challenge.”

Woods will return to the Old Course next week to compete in the 150th Open Championship.

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19th Hole

3-time PGA Tour winner calls for LIV to buy Champions Tour to fix ‘joke’ purses

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While speaking on the Subpar podcast, former PGA Tour winner and current PGA Tour Champions player Chris DiMarco said he hopes LIV buys the Champions Tour.

“We’re kind of hoping that LIV buys the Champions Tour,” he said.

“Let’s play for a little real money out here. I mean this is kind of a joke when we’re getting $2 million. There were like seven guys last week from TPC (Sawgrass, at the $25 million PLAYERS Championship) that made more money than our purses.”

In 2024, the Champions Tour had a total of $67 million in prize money over the course of 24 events.

DiMarco also defended LIV players for taking the money and said he would take it also.

“They wanted to play for a lot of money, and they deserve it. They have had some great careers, why not go and get some money?”

DiMarco also offered insight on Graeme McDowell’s move to LIV.

“I saw Graeme McDowell at the Old Memorial Pro Member, and he goes, ‘Listen, I went up to Jay Monahan and said I love the tour but I am struggling to keep my card and these guys are offering me all this money and less golf. I’m sorry, I’m going.’ And I do not blame him one bit, and I said I would have too.”

DiMarco was ranked as high as 6th in the world in 2006.

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‘It won’t win you golf tournaments’ – Golf analyst rips Charley Hull’s course management

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Charley Hull came just short of her third LPGA Tour victory over the weekend at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship when she played her last two holes at 3 over to slip all the way to 10th on the leaderboard.

After the round, Hull was blasted by Sky Sports commentator and former LPGA Tour player Trish Johnson for her lack of golf course management.

While speaking on the Sky Sports Golf podcast, Johnson spoke harshly of Hull.

“I’m probably her harshest critic, because I know how good she is. She doesn’t win anywhere near enough for her talent, and she doesn’t get involved enough, in all honestly.

“The thing with Charley is that you’re never going to change her. I read something the other day that said how much she loves the game and it’s her love of the game [that costs her]. She’s never going to change and she’s just going to go for every pin.

“In theory that’s great, but it won’t win you golf tournaments, it just won’t because she’s not that much better than anybody else. If you put Charley against Nelly Korda, then I’m picking Nelly every single day of the week.”

Johnson also made a fascinating comparison between Hull and a famous male golfer, John Daly.

“Golf-wise that’s the way she plays the game and it’s a little bit like watching John Daly I suppose.”

“There’s something that John Daly had that made him a major winner and a winner, but Charley is kind of lacking that. Her talent is not in question, but maybe her application is. Maybe it’s just the case of her never changing and that will cost her golf tournaments, there’s no two ways about it. You cannot go for every pin because that’s the way you play and it being fun, as other players are better than that and you have to have course management.”

Hull is still only 27, and therefore has plenty of time to work on her flaws to achieve the success her talent should allow.

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Former agent lifts lid on being fired by ‘zombie’ Tiger Woods

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Discussing his new book “Rainmaker” with the Daily Mail, Tiger Woods’ former agent, Hughes Norton, recounted the events leading up to and after his split with the 15-time major champion.

Norton was abruptly fired by Woods in 1998 after his 1997 Masters win and monster deal with Nike.

In the book, Norton talks about the way Tiger views his relationships, calling him a “zombie.”

The solace I can take, which doesn’t provide much, is this: He was an equal opportunity zombie with relationships, his swing coaches, his lawyer, the guy negotiated the IMG representation deal, with caddies, When it’s over, it’s over.”

Norton added:

“It is the way he terminates relationships with everyone. Whether it’s girlfriends, whether it’s his former golf coaches. It’s ironic, really. In a way he’s so good at confrontation on the golf course. If he’s playing you, he will beat your brains out every single time.

“But when it comes to confronting things like me and other people that are in his life, he has no social skills whatsoever. It’s maddening, actually.”

After he was fired by Woods, Norton was let go by IMG, which he believes was due to Woods’ influence.

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