Tiger forgives his ex-caddie for 'hurtful' remark

TIGER WOODS appears to have put a cap on the Steve Williams scandal by accepting an apology from his former caddie and saying categorically: "Steve is not a racist".

The caddie had caused a storm by referring publicly to Woods, whose bag he carried for more than decade before the partnership broke up this summer, as "that black arsehole".

Williams, a gruff New Zealander, made the remark during a caddies’ awards ceremony at the Meridien hotel in Shanghai on Friday. Several golf commentators said over the weekend that Adam Scott, the Australian who now has Williams as his caddy, should sack him before the Australian Open starts on Thursday.

But Woods’s intervention looks like saving Williams’s skin. "Obviously, it was the wrong thing to say – something we both acknowledged,"Woods said this morning in Sydney after talking it over with Williams face-to-face. "It was hurtful, certainly. But life goes forward."

Woods went on: "Steve is certainly not a racist. There is no doubt about that. It was a comment that should not have been made. It was one he wished he did not make."

Asked by a reporter what precisely was the source of his former caddie’s bad feelings, Woods said: "That is between Steve and me."

Woods’s comments come a day after Williams risked alienating himself further, as The Daily Telegraph put it, by trying to make light of his remark at the Meridien. He told an Auckland radio station: "Everyone [at the dinner] laughed their heads off"and added: "My comments were by no means the worst that were passed."

With both the PGA Tour authorities and now Woods willing to forgive and forget, it seems Williams is safe in his job for now. ·