“If I’m wrong, fire me,” Steve Williams had said to Tiger Woods during the most clutch moment of the latter’s career. During the 2008 US Open, Rocco Mediate was just coming off a 1-under 35 coming home, as Woods trailed by one stroke while being 1 over on the back nine. At the lengthy par-5 18th hole, he stood hoping for an eagle to secure his 14th major along with a birdie for the tie and ultimately the playoff. But, as fate would have it, the veteran hit a bad tee shot into the sand, followed by hitting his layup into the rough approximately 100 yards from the pin.
So, before Woods’ third shot into the 72nd hole, his caddie decided to take matters into his own hands. The idea was simple: Williams wanted his partner to “hit a hard lob wedge out of the rough, rather than a soft sand wedge.” But he knew it wouldn’t be easy convincing a star of Woods’ stature to change tactics just like that. So what did Williams do? He lied about the yardage. “Tiger, you have to absolutely trust me on this one…I know how much this means to you, so if I’m wrong just fire me.” Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, you decide), this is not a one-off case. And, boy, were fans riled up after learning that…
The fan scrutiny, this time, reared its head when Steve Williams made an appearance on the GOLF’s Subpar podcast in an episode aired July 1, when the host asked, “When Tiger was running hot under the collar, like caddies tend to step in and kind of know how to handle their guy. What was the way you handled Tiger when he was running a little warm?
To this, the veteran caddie reminisced, “The one thing I always noticed with Tiger when he was running a little warm, is the adrenaline that he would get going. I could tell…he would walk quicker, he would talk quicker, everything became a little bit quicker. And I would…the biggest thing I did was adjust the yardages all the time. I mean, I was constantly doing that.”
“If it was 160 and it’s a nine-iron…I’d be telling them, it’s 170 or something. I’d be adjusting the yardage so often because he just got the adrenaline going and the ball started going further and further. So I had to be extremely aware of that, and I got a very good handle on that—to the point where I can recall one round at Bay Hill,” he further said before adding:
“In the final round of one of his victories there, I didn’t give him the right yardage on any shot for the entire round. Now, you got to be careful when you’re on a par three, and one guy is saying it’s 195, which I know would be, say a six iron. And I’m telling Tiger, it’s only 183. Se…he doesn’t hit it as hard as he should be hitting it. I did that so when he got running hot and he got the adrenaline going,” Steve Williams concluded.
Steve Williams used to give Tiger the wrong yardages when he was amped up.
This included a round at Bay Hill where he didn’t give him one “correct” yardage all round. 🤯
He told @ColtKnost and @thesleezyman the story on this weeks show. pic.twitter.com/M6VDnbcvW3
— Subpar (@golf_subpar) July 3, 2025
But what was once a quiet strategy on the course is now getting a lot of attention. After Steve shared the story, some people started to question what he did. Fans are now talking about whether it was right to change yardages without telling the golfer. Some say it was smart and showed how well Steve understood the game. Others feel it wasn’t fair, even if he meant well.
How People Are Responding to Steve’s Yardage Reveal
While the story was meant to show how closely Steve managed Tiger’s game, not everyone bought into the logic behind it. One fan pointed out a possible flaw in Steve’s explanation, writing, “He also says that if his adrenaline was pumping, he’d tell him 170 instead of the actual 160. If this was a true story, he’d probably want to tell him it was 150 when it was 160 so he’d dial it back, and the adrenaline would cover the last 10 yards.”
Some fans weren’t just questioning the strategy; they were questioning the entire story. A few felt that the timing, the logic, and the idea of Tiger not knowing what was happening didn’t quite add up. One person wrote, “My first take is I don’t believe a word of this,” while another added more bluntly, “No wonder Tiger fired him. Don’t believe him at all. Full of sh**.”
Per reports, Tiger had dismissed Steve of his duties when he went to caddy for Scott, even after Woods suggested otherwise. The golf community was questioning Steve’s credibility since this news came to light after years of their broken relationship. Woods’s former agent has also noted that Williams endured a lot more than he did during their time together.
Others reacted strongly to what they felt the story implied about Tiger Woods himself. Some saw it as an insult to Tiger’s ability to control his game. One fan said, “That sounds like such absolute bu**it. He’s basically saying Tiger wasn’t good enough to hit the ball the proper distance because he couldn’t regulate his emotions on a regular basis. I just don’t buy it.” Another took it even further, flipping the credit entirely: “Wow, so Steve is the true legend, not Tiger.”
