Tiger Woods’ long-time caddie Steve Williams has slammed the golf great in a book set for release Monday in which he claims Woods treated him "like a slave," and his management team "hung him out to dry" when Woods' sex scandal broke.
In the book “Out of the Rough, the New Zealand-born Williams describes how his relationship with Woods deteriorated as it was implied that he knew of Woods' many affairs, and, in some way, helped him carry them out.
The two had a public split in 2011, 13 years and 13 major championships after they started their professional relationship during Woods' most successful years.
The excerpts were first publish in New Zealand's Sunday Star Times. The book went on sale Monday.
Here are a few excerpts from “Out of the Rough"
1. On how he was treated by Woods' management team after the affairs became public:
"... I repeatedly asked for Tiger's management to release a statement that would clear me of any involvement in this lurid news (Woods' affairs). They simply wouldn't do it because there were others in his group who knew exactly what was going on and management felt they couldn't single out one person as innocent. Angry, frustrated and hung out to dry, I was also in limbo about when I would next work."
2. On the famous car crash Woods was involved in outside of his home in Florida:
"... Tiger slow-crashed his SUV into the fire hydrant just outside his house on Thanksgiving night. He was fleeing an angry Elin, while dosed up on sleeping tablets, after she discovered he had been cheating on her."
3. Woods' apology to Williams (in 2010) after the affairs became public:
"Tiger finally rang me on March 23. He had already sent me an apologetic email when he was in rehab. It was heartfelt and meaningful; he was open, honest and remorseful and it reinforced my thinking that because I was so straight up and had such strong values, he felt he couldn't tell me what was going on with his affairs."
4. What Williams asked for in order to resume caddying for Woods after he left rehab:
"I wanted him to prove to me he could change his behavior and show me — and the game of golf — more respect."
5. How he was treated by Woods at times:
Woods "would flippantly toss a club in the general direction of the bag, expecting me to go over and pick it up. I felt uneasy about bending down to pick up his discarded club - it was like I was his slave. The other thing that disgusted me was his habit of spitting at the hole if he missed a putt. ..."
6. What his wife, Kristy, wrote:
"While I appreciated that it would have been hard for Tiger, I didn’t thank him for the phone call ... (I) asked him to clear Steve’s name in the media, as we were still getting a lot of hate mail and the media were still hassling us. When he told me he couldn’t, I asked why not, and he told me that if he cleared Steve’s name, the media would start asking if anyone else knew, and they did, so basically he was covering their butts and letting Steve suffer."
7. On whether he considered quitting after the news broke:
"... I felt incredibly loyal to Tiger — this was the toughest time of his life and I wasn't going to ditch him."
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