Column: ALL WRITE

 

AL S. MENDOZA

CADDY GOES

OUT OF BOUNDS

VERSUS WOODS

  

INDEED, when you are down, some people will tend to kick your ass more.

By nature, man is like that.  He finds joy in the misery of others, even helping fan the flames, at times, of hatred and disdain.

That, seemingly, was what Steve Williams had exemplified once more.

Williams, the former caddy of Tiger Woods, had used what amounted to a racial slur against his former boss during a caddies award roast in Shanghai.

In a dinner party after two rounds of the HSBC Champions tournament on Friday, Williams received a mock award for “Celebration of the Year” for his TV interview after Adam Scott won the Bridgestone Invitational.

In that interview, Williams, Scott’s brand-new caddy, said, “It was the best win of my life” even as he had carried Woods’s bag 13 of the 14 times that Woods won a major.

At the banter-laden party in Shanghai, Williams said of his interview at the victorious Bridgestone Invitational, “It was my aim to shove it right up that black a_ _ _ _ _ _ .”

The AP reported that that line drew mixed reactions from several players, caddies, officials and some media.

The next morning, British tabloids feasted on Williams’s remarks.

“Why would they do that?” Williams said.  “The whole thing was meant to be fun.”

Where was the fun in that?

Uttering racial slurs is fun?

Williams, realizing his grievous error, said in his web site:

“I apologize for comments I made last night at the Annual Caddy Awards dinner in Shanghai,” he said.  “Players and caddies look forward to this evening all year, and the spirit is always joking and fun.  I now realize how many comments could be construed as racist.  However, I assure you that was not my intent.  I sincerely apologize to Tiger and anyone else I’ve offended.”

After he got fired by Woods, Williams said he was “short-shrifted by Woods despite my loyalty to him during the sex scandal” that derailed Tiger’s career beginning November 2009.

This latest blow is another acid test on Woods, who has plunged out of the Top 50 from No. 1.

He should take heed: He just needs to move on.  His best defense is an offense that should produce victories—soon.