Steve Williams joining the lawsuit caddies filed against the PGA Tour brought us back five years to the 2010 Chevron World Challenge when Tiger Woods’ former looper ripped off his bib in premature celebration of a win by his boss that never happened.
Tiger Woods’ former caddie, Steve Williams, joins lawsuit against PGA Tour
Williams says he was fined $500 each time he stripped off his corporate logo-festooned caddie bib on the 18th hole of a PGA Tour event.
Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
Turns out stripping down to his civvies cost Williams -- added to the class-action suit on Monday, according to Rex Hoggard -- more than his boss’ victory that day at Sherwood when Graeme McDowell stunned the tourney host and beat him on the first playoff hole. The now-retired Williams, who most recently worked for Adam Scott, told Hoggard he was fined $500 every time he removed his sponsor-emblazoned pinney on the 18th green of a tour event:
@GolfChannel the best shot of the year, watching Steve Williams have to put his bib back on when GMac holed his put on 18 to force playoff
— Paul Anderton (@scratch1965) December 22, 2010 The caddies’ lawsuit, filed on Feb. 3, charges the tour with forcing professional bagmen to wear bibs festooned with corporate logos that generate more than $50 million annually for the suits at HQ in Ponte Vedra and nothing for those sporting the walking billboards. The suit also alleges that tour officials threatened to bar caddies who refused to wear the bibs from working at tour events
“The caddies are not employed by the tour, they are employed by the golfer and there is no compensation from the tour to the caddies, but the tour gets compensated for the caddies wearing the bibs,” Williams told Hoggard about the suit that accuses the tour of antitrust violations, restraint of trade, and anti-competitive practices. “They treat the caddies like second-class citizens.”
About that long-ago tilt between Tiger and G-Mac -- TV cameras captured Williams doffing his bib as McDowell was preparing to putt for birdie on the 72nd hole of the match. Stevie apparently assumed McDowell would miss the lengthy attempt and Woods would kick in his own short birdie putt to seal the W.
The 2010 U.S. Open champ had other ideas:
Caught up with @Graeme_McDowell for GW profile Sunday at Orlando Airport. Denies reports he told Steve Williams to put bib back on @Chevron.
— Tim Rosaforte (@TimRosaforte) January 3, 2011 “Tiger stuffs it in there in real time, and I didn’t hit a particularly good 9-iron there but gave myself a 20-foot look at it and poured it right in the middle,” McDowell said at the time. “It was pretty amazing.”
See More:
