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Steve Williams welcome to the Dom havy podcast yeah good to be here and you're
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wearing you walked up just before you're wearing shorts I would expect nothing
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less um I've been researching you in the past week or so and everyone talks about
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how little clothing you like to wear yeah well I don't wear long pants for one um but
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um I guess way back when it first started um Greg Norman's kids used to nickname me the polar bear because I
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never ever ever wore a jumper or a jacket so um yeah when I was counting I just you know I don't know I think I
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think when you concentrate pretty hard you don't even know whether it's raining
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or what it's wind you but uh I guess it's just the hab I've got into yeah and is it true the last time
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you saw Tiger Woods he made a comment about good to see you still wearing no pants yeah so um well I I C this year at
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the LA open and um I had to go to the hotel to meet Adam um he was staying at the same hotel as tiger and I and I I
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walked up to the the driveway to the hotel was a pretty cold was in February so it was a cold night and whatever and
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that and tiger walks out of the hotel and he's got a big jacket on and beanie
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and so forth and I'm I'm and shorts and a t-shirt and he just said just some
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things haven't changed I love that jez we've gone straight into it but I I
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should do some sort of an intro um Steve Williams for anyone that doesn't know is
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the goat when it comes to golf cting I think in every sport you know the the ter goat gets thrown around like if
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you're talking basketball you can have debates about Jordan Kobe um LeBron whoever but I think when it comes to
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golf cading like there's no question about it right you are the depending on
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what measure you look at most most major one most tournaments won uh most years on the bag at number one most income
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whatever Miz you want to look at you're the goat yeah I mean look I'm very
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fortunate to have worked in a field that I love doing and I've been very fortunate to work for good players so
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you know good players win tournaments um it's very hard to measure the success of
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a caddy because there could be some great caddy that's cting for a player that doesn't perform well or never has
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performed well so he probably might not get the recognition I've been very fortunate to carry for guys that win
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tournaments and um and win Majors so yeah pretty fortunate I noticed just in that answer there you um you said um
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worked for twice why um what's the difference between working for and working with yep
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oh yeah than yeah um what would you say is the difference between working for and
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working with someone um yeah I I guess when you say you're working for someone you're
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referring to you know it's not long term because in the in the world of cting
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nothing's ever long term um we consider 5 years on one player's bag a considerable amount of time I I I guess
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that's you know when you're working with you know that's more of a longterm kind
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of thing but yeah as a cting is a fiveyear well we all in in our industry we consider if you work for some one
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player for five years or longer that's considered a lengthy period so I've had
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four players of 10 years plus so yeah you're a long-term relationship guy yeah
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no because it's like I understand um work for as an as an you the golfer is the boss and they could get rid of you
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at any moment but work you look at you and tiger like I've watched a whole lot
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of over the last week knowing that you were coming in and um it was a partnership yeah no I think we had a
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bond probably closer than any of the other players I'd carried for um certainly because you know obviously I
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was considerably older than tiger and you know we we struck a relationship where we both had you know the same kind
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of attitude towards see the same kind of hard work dedication whatever you want to call it we we we just struck a bond
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that probably I haven't struck with any other player so yeah we became very very
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tight for sure yeah it was it was like a the You Know Two Worlds colliding at the
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perfect time really wasn't it yeah because this footage I've looked at it's
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like you didn't look like any other caddy he didn't look like any other golfer like you were the you were the
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two fittest people on any Fairway yeah yeah well I mean you know it was interesting when I went to work for
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Tiger um you know I I've actively kept myself fit C him because you've got to
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be was the amount of travel you do and that and I love my running always have and swimming and so forth but when I
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went to work for him he brought a whole new meaning to the word Fitness to me and um yeah so um but yeah he one of his
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great beliefs is that you know the fitter you are the better the mind works and the better the Mind work the better
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success you had so um there's a lot of Truth to that I guess 100% okay um so for for me and
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probably a lot of people listening to this or watching this what is the role of a caddy very hard role to explain um
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particularly when you try and tell someone that plays golf let alone someone that doesn't play golf but I
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mean everybody understand understands that a caddy um provides all the information for the player and when I
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mean the information you know all the distances required where the flag the whole location is on the green wind
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conditions anything to do with playing the golf course but but that's that's
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just the the easiest part of the job uh a cadd is like an OnCourse psychologist uh part caddy part coach a lot of the
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times um and you know you're there to you know you both share an opinion so you know
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you help that you advise the player on what to do um you know you make a game plan with the player it's quite a a
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caddy wears many rolls many hats it's hard to exactly explain but basically you know you you guide the player around
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the course and you make a lot of decisions based on how he's playing how he warmed up that day and so forth but
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um the most difficult part of a Caddy's job is when a players not playing well
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you've got to somehow get them out of that funk whether it could be something
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to do with their technical stuff you know or something to do with their mental stuff and you've got to be very
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alert to that and be able to quickly change things because um not every you know golf's a an unusual game because
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every day is different the conditions are different every day the players is different every day they feel different
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every day every day is different you know some sports you know most sports are reactive Sports you
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you what you do is reactive on somebody else but golf you're hitting a stationary object there's a a lot goes
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into it so but yeah know basically you know you got you're there to advise player but also you've got to be what
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what makes a good CAD is that someone um that has the ability to override a player's decision and convince them that
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the cad is right because you know that's just what you do you're you're employed
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to you know know that game that guy's or girls game inside out so it's quite a
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complex job that's a that's a lot of pressure speaking up overriding a players's decision hey you're putting
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your nuts on the line really yep and that's um probably where my successes come from because I I I've had no
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problem in major moments in big golf tours to override a player and convince and I'm right and probably when I I go
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back to the very first year I care for Tiger obviously when I met tiger um he was instrumental in telling me what his
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goals were obviously his biggest Focus his biggest goal was to break Jack Nicholas's record of 18 Majors he wanted
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to get to 19 and and surpass Jack um and um he he you that was his big goal so in the very
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first year I came from I could feel the stress already in these major championships with him because he wasn't
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playing that well and then in and I joined him in 1999 the last major year at the PJ championship at Madina um he
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had a chance to win that tournament we got to the 16th oh it's a path three and
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he had a like a six foot putt there and he said Steve can you read this one and I and he said I think think it's outside
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the whole left side and I said no it's inside the whole tiger and I was firm
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and committed that that's how I saw that's what I thought and he hit the put
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and hold that part and that was the moment like where that trust for the next 13 years was was you know that's
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where it's in instigated you know cuz if I was wrong you that you know like when
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a player wins his he won his first major but trying to win the second major is more difficult than the first one um and
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you know you could look now like Rory mck he hasn't won a major for you know
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quite considerable time it's like him trying to win his next one it's very
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difficult so when tiger won the Masters uh sorry the PJ on in 99 that sort of that was a stepping stone to our success
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for sure because what what what if you were right about that part and he he [ __ ] up the shot yeah well I mean yeah
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exactly you don't know so that's the case but mean he you know he hit the
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perfect he exactly where I said and it went in you know if he had to hit it where he thought outside the hole um you
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know he wouldn't have won the won the PGA so but that's you know he he he
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loved that moment that I I overrode what he said and said him I'm 100% confident
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that this p is inside the hole and he hold it and uh yeah how good yeah yeah that was that was you tell that story
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like it was just yesterday yeah well I've had you know there's three or four
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defining moments obviously you know I think the one that's became very evident
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was when I when Adam Scott won the Masters in 2013 in the playoff hole um you know we got there on the second
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playoff hole it was rainy and dark and so forth anyway um when we walking up to the
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green I knew well I didn't I was going to tell him I was going to read the putt
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whether he asked me or not because I knew that he wouldn't know how much this
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putt broke because I knew he would never had this putt um and AD austa the second
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hole the playoff was the 10th hole and the pin on the Sundays there is always in the back part of the green that but
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when you play there you always hit to the middle of the green cuz if you go over the green you can't get up and down
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there you can make five six whatever anyway so we got up there and he said oh Steve can you read the Putt and
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everything and you he read the Putt and he said I think it's a cup out you know
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one hole out to the right and my exact works that that isn't even [ __ ] close
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Adam it's two and a half cups so he under that putt by a cup and a half and of course he h the putt um and you know
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won the Masters so yeah that was a you know like an amazing moment because he's
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a guy that's desperate to win his first major but also desperate to become the
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first Australian to put on the green jacket and the most amazing thing about that is the very first phone call uh
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after I've spoken to my lovely wife um that I got when I was driving back to
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the house was Greg Norman and he exactly read my lips of what I said and the the
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iconic thing about it is that I remember that part Greg had it one year it's the
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only other time I that that someone i' KY for had that putt on the 10th hole
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pin High to the right because you're always putting straight up the hill because that's where you're supposed to
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play the hole so that's how you you knew that whole intimately yeah and that was
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that was going back into the 80s so this was 2013 and I had a memory I think with
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my you know I don't know it was in the 80s that's so that's how long I'd
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remember that part broke more than it looks amazing amazing I was going to get to the um the Adam Scott stuff but since
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since we're there now I do want to ask you about that because um after that tournament that he won uh you you made a
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comment which was seen as controversial at the time you said uh something like this this this means more to me than any
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other major and a lot of people saw that as a dig at Tiger I I personally didn't
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I I knew exactly what you meant like you knew how big it was going to be for Australia you know how big it was for
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Adam Scott um I mean [ __ ] here in New Zealand we're still talking about Bob
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Charles winning the British Open 70 years ago or whatever um but yeah did you sort of feel the heat of that
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comment oh look I mean not that you give a [ __ ] no it's it's not so much that but
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like you know at at the PO you know in that particular moment and that in the excitement of what's going on and the
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thrill of winning the Masters especially knowing that he's the first Australian
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to winner and I'd been on Greg Norman's bag a couple of times as a major
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heartbreak on the 18th hold austa and you know no Australians won that tour I just know what it means to you know at
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the time I said it and you know look it be it' certainly be my top two you know
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I said it at the time was my top one but it was to too so but um hey look I mean
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you know the media love to to to add their twist or anything you know I I understand how that works yeah no I I
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knew exactly what you meant but uh yeah yeah yeah um okay let's get back to the
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early years so um where are you from you're from P umu correct yeah yeah yeah
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yeah so um famous golf course there actually were you part of the reason that tiger came for the NZ open that
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year yeah absolutely so um each time that I've carried for a player and and you know you negotiate a contract or
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however you going to do and I always say them if you win a major you got to come
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and play in the New Zealand open and I said that to Tiger the very first day that I met him and we just not met him
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but the first time that we sat down and discussed counting for him I said that to him and after he won the uh the major
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that was the first thing he said when when I playing in the New Zealand open so I you know hats off to the guy like
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you know straight away for honoring that commitment so that was pretty you pretty
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impressive yeah so so what did the early years look like you you used to C for your dad and his mates yeah like I mean
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not not like I'm see at that age it's not what age are we talking I I I've Ked
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at the golf club at P umu since I was about seven years old so it's just carrying a bag though isn't it not
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really Cy yeah um but but even amazingly I had some kind of knck for it because a
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lot of the players at the golf course from memory it's hard to think that long ago but I you know I think we
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as Cades at the golf course we were getting $2 a round and there were several members that would pay me $5 a
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round because they wanted me to carry for them I had a bit of a knack for being a to judge distances and select
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clubs and so forth um without actually knowing exactly how far it was um you know there was no such thing as a like
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we use range finders now or any kind of measuring device it was just all done by
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feel and I had a very good feel it just something I had aack for and you know through time that $5 became $10 that $10
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became $20 and you know I C the growth was exponential later on yeah and I CED at the golf course every weekend um 36
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holes you know every Saturday every Sunday and and I just I I played golf as a kid and uh but I enjoyed cting just as
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much and then you know obviously I had the opportunity uh 1976 to cat for Peter Thompson um at the New Zealand open at
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Hera my father organized that because he knew Peter he' played in the Celtics
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tournament at pumu a couple of times and he had met Peter Thompson and um he asked Peter my son loves to C he's only
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13 years of age could he C for New Zealand open Peter said yeah now I wasn't familiar with this name I feel
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very naive about this but he's he's won the British Open five times Peter th
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Peter Thompson he's a big deal yeah oh yeah he he was a guy that came to New
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Zealand frequently you know Bob Charles Kell Nagel Peter Thompson you know they were the big three players from austral
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Asia all major Champions and Peter five-time major champion and he won the New Zealand open like nine times um you
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know one of the greatest ever players out of Australia well I mean you arguably he's got five majes you could
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say he is the greatest um player out of Australia so I got the chance to car him
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it's this is a dead true story and um he played in the New Zealand open and he
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finished third in the tournament and he was quite astounded at my ability for someone that never had
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carried an Ator before to judge distances and so so forth at the completion of the tournament he gave me
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$150 which was like you know I was working what you was just late 70s early 76 okay [ __ ] and that was like handing
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someone a million dollars today I I was just I couldn't believe it and and on
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top of that he gave me like 50 golf balls all the golf balls that he'd used during the week and his practice balls
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and and and they were balls that you know you couldn't get as a kid here they
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were very expensive or or or you couldn't get them so right there and then I said I want to be a golf KY that
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that's what I want to do I want to be a golf KY I knew nothing about how you
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make a living as a golf Gaddy but I said this this is what I want to do and and that's how that's how the ball got
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rolling amazing um do you know the um the Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hour Theory are you familiar with that yeah
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absolutely I am my my son is very familiar with that he's told me all about that as far as um because what
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what he does but yeah I am familiar with that yeah because you started so young I
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suppose you you you got your 10,000 hours under your belt at a you're young age yeah yeah no look I just loved cting
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had a knack for it and um yeah did it my whole life yeah so what what else were you were you went as a kid where did the
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Motorsport thing come from there's not a huge Motorsport community in Pat is it
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no we used to go uh my brother and my father and I used to go every Saturday night over to t- Maru uh and watch the
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speedway in taru we it's just something we went and did uh my father loved the
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the solo Riders and and back then you know we we had the likes of Barry Briggs ronning more and Ivan major all world
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champions in their own right and that and they used to ride quite frequently over the summer at te Speedway against a
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lot of overseas Riders and we used to love that and um you know I just used to love going to Speedway and I kept going
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to Speedway the rest of you know whenever i' when I started my journey as a cad I'd come back to New Zealand over
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the summer I'd always go to the speedway and you know just decided to take it up
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yeah I love to Le about you just the the juer position between the world's best
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caddy and then he's coming home and racing these midet cars or whatever and you're wandering around these um
00:18:01
illustrious golf course courses with the Valene logo on your what is valine like
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an oil or something yeah yeah I've been very fortunate to have a longtime car
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sponsor in velvin and then I became like a brand ambassador with Vine in the states when I was cing for Tiger so i'
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had a long relationship with Valene but it's I me it's a logo that you'd
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associate associate I guess more with like Nascar or something than peble Beach yeah yeah yeah yeah no I always
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had a lot of jokes about that yeah so um and then so Peter Thompson and then was
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it Greg Norman after Peter Thompson yeah well I you know carried for Peter I was
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only at school when I was caring for Peter so I'd carried from when he when he came over to New Zealand and then I
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did actually go to Australia and C from uh and one one or two tours uh then I started catting the soon as I turned was
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old enough to leave school at 15 I went over to the European tour and um I don't
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remember a lot of my early days but the one thing I can remember so clearly now is uh having only ever stepped out of
00:19:02
Wellington walk airport to get out of London and Heathrow Airport at 15 years of age it's like that was just
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mindblowing um you know there's more people at the airport than what there is
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in New Zealand yeah I'll never forget that moment thinking jesz this is pretty
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intimidating you know I managed to get on on a train uh to where I was heading to into London up on a train I believe
00:19:23
the first tour was in leads and I carried it was a tournament called The Car Care International uh I did have a
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job jacked up I went there like without a job and um I got onto an English player um his name was Michael King and
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um yeah I C for him for a couple of torns and you know just at the start there wasn't a lot of professional
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caddies um that would go to Every tournament um so it was easy getting work and um yeah I started off and I K
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for Baker Finch for a little bit and then um one summer in Australia Ian was paed with Greg Norman at the Australian
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Open and um following the tourament Greg rang me up um back in New Zealand and said hey I like what what I saw when you
00:20:05
counting for in would you come and KY for me at the start of the year in Australia and he played and they had a
00:20:09
handful of tournaments at the start of the year in Australia Australian Masters the Victorian
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open um and yeah one thing led to another and I ended up going to car for Greg Norman and then yeah then that's
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just that's just how it got rolling yeah yeah Greg Greg Norman um phenomenal
00:20:25
golfer phenomenal even more phenomenal business perhaps the great white shark massive massive brand um yeah what was
00:20:32
what was that like what are your Recollections of that time yeah I was he he was the most demanding player of
00:20:37
every C for and probably yeah absolutely and probably one of the most demanding players ever on on any c because all the
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not all not that he had a lot of CES but the guys that did cave from um he he was
00:20:49
very demanding um that's just his nature I mean he was completely different guy
00:20:55
off the golf course to what he was on the golf course um um but um catting for him was absolutely fantastic and the
00:21:03
fact that he knew that I was a young bloke and he took me on my wing and actually taught me a lot about the game
00:21:09
uh as far as you know the shots of the pros trying to play and so forth so I I had a very good understanding of what's
00:21:18
required which he taught me and in today's world I don't think a player would take a guy under their wing and
00:21:24
actually explain to them you know what not at that level eh no not that level so I had a great understanding and
00:21:30
amazingly that understanding you know I was able to take that understanding on for the other players I'd car for even
00:21:38
you know tiger in particular and say you know this is what Greg used to say to me
00:21:42
and this is what Greg would say here and so forth so it was yeah was good Greg was great to car for very demanding um
00:21:49
but uh on the same token we you know we stayed friends for a long time yeah well
00:21:53
you mentioned earlier that he he text you after the Adam Scott win so you're
00:21:56
still in touch yeah yeah you know obviously he's running the live tour now and I've not mentioned it one time since
00:22:03
we're spoken because you know I know he's obviously he's probably been well
00:22:07
not probably he's been bombarded over the his time run oh yeah what's the
00:22:11
what's the live tour for anyone that doesn't that's the is it Saudi Arabia
00:22:15
tournament and and the golfers that have defected and gone there got paid like excruciatingly large sums of money yeah
00:22:22
I mean is is that in in a nutshell in a nutshell yeah it's a different concept
00:22:26
they've been paid extraord amounts of money uh and there's been a lot of
00:22:30
controversy over it because those players that have defected to the lior don't get any world ranking points so
00:22:35
they're world ranking every week their world ranking slides down um it's a
00:22:41
different it's 54 hole tournaments um so there's no cut there a there's only 48
00:22:46
players they have a team element but um yeah it's caused a lot of conflict in
00:22:52
the game but um but probably for I think in the long run it's going to be going
00:22:56
to be great for the game provided a different playing field and different atmosphere for tourament and gives fans
00:23:02
a different option yeah were you with Greg Norman that year that he um famously choked at the Masters no I what
00:23:09
year was that was that like 97 no no uh yeah 9 yeah I was caring for Ray Floyd at the
00:23:17
time um but that was as a as a mate of his and a former employee that must have been excruciating to watch it well it
00:23:23
was interesting because yeah um I was staying in a house uh Fanny sunon longtime Cy for Nick
00:23:31
feldo and I were friends and we were staying we shared the same hat house at Augusta for 20 something years and she
00:23:40
was cting for Greg uh sorry for Nick and you know Greg had that big lead on the Sunday and and when we left the
00:23:47
house I said good luck but you're not going to be able to get there today she
00:23:50
says nickel win this from something like seven shots behind correct yeah so no that was uh yeah that was was
00:23:59
heartbreaking yeah and at the end of the tournament I actually flew back to Florida with Greg that night
00:24:07
um and we sat on the beach um he tried to he he wanted me to come back to catd for him and we sat on
00:24:15
the beach and yeah it was it was pretty hard to see a gr man cry um yeah he he he was broken after that tour yeah I
00:24:23
mean seven shot lead um instead of you know the big mistake he made was like when tiger had a seven shot lead he'd
00:24:31
Tred to make it an eight shot lead make it make it you know Greg Greg played so defensive that day and you know Greg's
00:24:39
great motto when he signs an autograph Greg Norman attack life that was his thing attack life and he didn't attack
00:24:45
the golf course that day and I mean if he hadn't played in his normal way he
00:24:49
would have no way he would have gotten beaten but he played very conservative and sometimes when you play conservative
00:24:54
it doesn't happen um yeah what was the mood like on the on the the private jet
00:24:59
um there was no conversation there was none but uh we got back to his house um grabbed an esy
00:25:06
full of beers went down to the beach and yeah we we we he went over the whole thing but it was heartbreaking heart
00:25:14
heartwrenching to yeah I wonder how long it took him to I've had um other people
00:25:18
on the uh the podcast like Shane Cameron and Shane talked about the fight with David tour where he got smoked and he
00:25:23
said it took him he reckons about seven years before he realized oh I Haven thought about this all day today so for
00:25:29
something like that with Greg you wonder how long it was before he uh sort of managed to put it behind him yeah I mean
00:25:34
I that's a very good question I me I I don't think he'd ever put that behind
00:25:38
him I mean it's he wanted to win that tourament you he won the British Open a
00:25:42
couple of times came well he he was running up in all Maes and um he like all Australians he wanted to win that
00:25:49
Tor more than any other of them so he he would still think about that today there's no question he wouldn't yeah do
00:25:55
you think the result could have been different if you were on his bag that day yeah I mean well I am the goat yeah well
00:26:01
I mean well well in terms like you mentioned before the role of a caddy and you talked about the psychologist um
00:26:07
aspect of it so I think with those S of skills and experience yeah I mean it's a
00:26:12
hard one to quantify but um you know his you know as soon as that tournament finished he was on the phone to me I
00:26:20
mean he obviously had would had a thousand things gone through his head then he on had the phone me Steve get on
00:26:24
my plane we're going back to West Palm Beach I need to chat to you course I knew what it was going to be about um
00:26:30
but I would have loved to gone back to work for him um but I always you know loyalty is a big thing in that so I I um
00:26:38
was cting for Ray Floyd at the time things were going good and I was enjoy and you know he he was good to me and I
00:26:43
didn't want to say on you I'm going back to c MC Greg that's so yeah that's um
00:26:47
it's an interesting point he like it it does demonstrate I think um a huge growth mindset like the fact that yeah
00:26:54
the day he had the worst tournament potentially at worst closing round of his life um instead of just licking his
00:27:00
wounds he's thinking about okay how can I get better next time by trying to recruit you it's um it's a fascinating
00:27:06
Insight isn't it yeah yeah yeah I mean look yeah he he obviously thought you
00:27:11
know he was going to okay I've let that slip I'm going to give I'll have another
00:27:15
opportunity of that I want to do that you know because he loved the course he had he played well frequently there um
00:27:21
you know he had two runner-up finishes in the years that I was caring for him um but yeah so but didn't eventuate that
00:27:28
I didn't go back but um yeah it's a it was a it was a heartbreaking one to
00:27:32
watch I saw a photo of him online the the other day he's in a 70s he's still
00:27:36
ripped he ripped as [ __ ] yeah he he he he uh he's worked out his whole life um
00:27:42
you know he's he's pounded the gym and he's fit as can be and um yeah look he's
00:27:46
a great character yeah so who who's Ray Floyd I don't know much about Ray Floyd
00:27:50
so um Greg then Ray and then tiger so I went on to Ray Floyd an American player um yeah a four-time major winner just
00:27:59
one of the top American players and that and I went to K for him um from 1989 to
00:28:05
99 um had a good run with him he had a couple of close calls at Augusta um and it was during that time
00:28:14
you know I C for 40 plus years I only ever had one regret as a caddy which is you know quite remarkable that you only
00:28:21
have one regret but Ray had the opportunity in 1992 to be the oldest player to win at Augusta
00:28:28
um at 50 years of age he' already won um at derell previously just a month or so
00:28:34
before become the second oldest player to win behind Sam Sneed on the PJ tour and he had a chance at austa uh with
00:28:43
Nick falo and we got to the 17th hole he needed to finish 4-4 to win the tournament and the green there's
00:28:51
different to it is now but basically it was a two-tiered green with a one the right side was lower than the than the
00:28:57
left side of the green and the pin was on the front right hand side of the green and he said to me on a second shot
00:29:03
he had a nine IR in his hand he said I'm just going to hit it at the slope and
00:29:07
and fade it off the slope and the first thing that came into my head is what if you hit it at the slope and you don't
00:29:12
fade it and maybe you pull it a little bit and if you and then that with that particular hole location was if you left
00:29:17
your ball up on the top side of the ho of the green you couldn't tart too quick
00:29:21
you put it off the green and I the first thing that came to my head is no you want to hit it straight at the flag so
00:29:26
that if you pull it you're okay and if you push it you're off the green he's
00:29:29
the best chipper in the world end of story I didn't say that it's the only
00:29:33
time I can recall something that came to my head and I didn't say it and what did
00:29:38
he do he hit it on the left side pulled it three parted lost you know lost in the playoff to feldo so uh and we we we
00:29:44
joke all the time every year when subsequent when we went back to gusta all the years cting for Tiger then Adam
00:29:49
W I'd see Raymond all the time at Augusta and he says if you had have spoken up I would have had another green
00:29:55
jacket and I said oh you don't those Green Jackets are ugly Ray you you don't
00:29:59
You' got one that's enough not your color anyway so we we joked for years
00:30:03
about that yeah I think that goes to show the the importance of um like failure and mistakes he because it's
00:30:09
like you would have learned a valuable lesson of that out of that incident out of not speaking the mouth speak M well
00:30:14
it's like you know my reputation as a cadd is that I always speak up and I'm
00:30:19
renowned for that and um it's the only time that I never did you know when something comes into your head there's a
00:30:26
reason why it comes into into your head it's not it's just a spur of the moment
00:30:29
thought you know when the player was explaining what he was going to do you know you're thinking about it you you've
00:30:34
already thought about what sort of shot he should hit and that and um yeah so yeah but and and um you so you were King
00:30:43
for Ray Floyd when you first met tiger I I I heard a story I don't know if it's
00:30:47
true you sort of fan boyed about and you got an autograph yeah so um when um tiger was an amateur uh he played a
00:30:56
couple of times with Ray at austa in the Masters uh a lot of young guys would come to Augusta and play when they
00:31:02
hadn't played there before and they'd play a practice that they'd always ask
00:31:06
someone like Jack Nicholas or Raymond Floyd or someone that's played the course a lot and had a lot of success
00:31:10
here Raymond was a great guy at nuturing young players and talk to them austa there's a lot of local knowledge there
00:31:16
you can't find that local knowledge in one week uh so tiger played with them a
00:31:20
couple times that's where I got to meet him um and then so yeah then that's how
00:31:26
it came to be like in 1999 um I was actually I was back in New Zealand and tiger let us caddy go I didn't know
00:31:35
anything about it I don't really follow golf too much when I'm at home and then
00:31:39
the first tourament uh that I was cting was the following week that after tiger Fighters CAD so I got to derell um in in
00:31:47
Miami and uh I get back to my hotel on the Tuesday night in the phone rings it was pretty late and um a guy on the end
00:31:55
of the phone says it's Tiger Wood say here and uh I've got a friend of mine
00:31:59
that can impersonate tiger to a te and I thought it was him and I said Bob it's late I've just comeing from New
00:32:06
Zealand give me give me a ring tomorrow I've five minutes later the phone rings
00:32:11
again same thing Tiger Woods here and I said well for [ __ ] sake it's late you
00:32:15
know just give me a ring tomorrow M I'm tired third time and I thought oh maybe
00:32:20
it's and and it was Tiger so he we you know we laughed about that that many times that you know it was him
00:32:27
uh he was asking um you know if I'd be interested in catting for him so that I
00:32:32
was in Miami at the time he lived in Orlando he wasn't playing in the tour Miami and he lived in Orlando 4 hours up
00:32:37
the road that so at the completion of that tourament on the Sunday I drove up to Orlando and you sat down with tiger
00:32:43
and discuss what what uh what was going to happen yeah yeah why you like you you
00:32:48
were very different to his his previous C was that old guy um fluff mik Mike Cowan correct yeah with big big warus
00:32:55
mustache and um yeah you're very different to you like you were athletic and yeah I mean tiger talked to several
00:33:02
people including Ray that I car for Butch Haron um so he he he spoke to like four people about who he should hire as
00:33:09
a caddy and every all four people that he spoke to my name was synomous for the four people so he you know and and you
00:33:16
know he he' we'd spoken several times and that and we'd had a good laugh
00:33:20
during the practice rounds that we played together and he he he's he he said that he saw how serious I was in
00:33:30
those practice rounds when I was cting when he was playing as an amateur in the Masters in practice round was playing
00:33:35
with Rond he could see how serious I was about it so that's how it came to be
00:33:39
yeah and you you didn't have to hesitate to say yes was an astounding [ __ ] yes oh
00:33:44
actually oddly enough it wasn't because it was 1999 and I I you know I'd
00:33:49
actually said to myself um that at the end of that year or the end of 2000 that that was going to be enough of cting I
00:33:55
was going to go and do something else it's you know it's a gypsy lifestyle
00:33:58
you're traveling around the world nonstop and you know I thought maybe I'd
00:34:02
go and do something else but um you know I didn't say yes straight away but then
00:34:07
of course when I when I sat down and spoke to him and and he went through what his goals were and what his
00:34:13
aspirations were and so forth you know I thought you know this is going to be a pretty good ride if you know obviously
00:34:18
he was good but um you know he he he was new to the tour and and you know came on
00:34:24
in a big hurry when he won the Masters but sort of pet it off there for a little bit so uh and and we always laugh
00:34:31
now too but the very first week I I C from he he played pretty average and he hit one of the worst shots I've ever
00:34:38
seen and and I and to this day we I tell him how overrated he was we we joked about it you know I mean your TIG was
00:34:46
you're you're way overrated the first week he I think he finished 45th something like that in the Tom he played
00:34:51
terrible so uh yeah we have some good laughs oh that's good keep him granted
00:34:56
keep him granted um and yeah so it was a it was an awesome um professional partnership but also like a a friendship
00:35:02
as well like um he was best man at your wedding yeah um can you what was a speech like yeah no speech from Tiger
00:35:10
Woods does does does he write it himself does he hire a speech no he's down to
00:35:13
earth like that no it was good you know Kirsty and I my wife we went to tiger and elen's wedding and tiger and his
00:35:20
wife and and and they came out to New Zealand here and um came to our wedding and tiger had already been here played
00:35:25
in the New Zealand open um so you know he he loved the country he he loved the how laidback New Zealand
00:35:32
is and he loved the fact that he could you know get out and go for a run somewhere and not too many people would
00:35:38
recognize him and so forth so yeah we became very close obviously what do you mean they wouldn't recognize him yeah I
00:35:45
mean not you'd recognize him a mile away well not yeah you put a wind breaker on
00:35:49
and put a a beanie on and some glasses um you know I mean some people recognize him but um yeah no we we we we became
00:35:56
great mates and um I was very fortunate that I knew where that line was drawn because that's what happened with Greg
00:36:04
Norman and myself we become such great mates that you know went over the line of between a caddy and a player and so I
00:36:12
was well aware with that line where to draw that line with tiger was so even though we became very good mates in that
00:36:17
I knew where the line was drawn and it was good we stayed great mates until you know till it all ended and um you know
00:36:23
we had a great working relationship and a great relationship off the course as well
00:36:27
what was um his his wedding like what are your Recollections of that like who was who was there like Jordan Oprah oh
00:36:34
like I mean like I can't Tigers you know he had a great mate a lot of great mates
00:36:38
and you know obviously Michael Jordan's one of his great mates Charles Barkley's
00:36:41
one of his great mates um you know there's a number of um other athletes there and so forth but yeah me you you
00:36:48
seem very nonchalant about all this like are you but when you're there you must
00:36:52
be like [ __ ] this is amazing yeah well I mean not no not NE necessarily because you like you're so
00:36:58
unbothered aren't you well you when when these like you know tiger he played a
00:37:03
lot of rounds of golf with Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley you know away from the tour and there so you you know
00:37:08
they they were just like you know other guys that you knew and um there was no one there that you hadn't met before
00:37:15
sort of thing so you know like and when you I've been fortunate you know even
00:37:19
before cting for Tiger having C for Greg and Ray in the proam and a lot of that that a lot of these people play in the
00:37:26
Pro you get to you know see him play with a lot of these guys Greg Norman was great one of his best mates was Nigel
00:37:32
Manel the Formula One racer and that so you know when you look at all these guys and
00:37:39
that because you're around them all the time you don't look at you know Tiger
00:37:41
Wood's just another player is just another bloke you know you don't Michael
00:37:44
Jordan is just another bloke you know you look you don't look at them because
00:37:48
you know you don't you just want to act normal around them iess so you so you
00:37:52
never got a a selfie with any of these people you must have really you're not a
00:37:56
selfie guy no not a selfie you regret that now no oh you can't you know you can't I
00:38:03
would have zero chill in that situation yeah no I don't have any selfies with
00:38:08
any of these guys but it's the memories you know and and and the it was very
00:38:14
good to meet a lot of these people because you I always was very forthcoming and asking them questions
00:38:20
you know trying like tiger was also good mates was Roger federan and I you know sat down with him one time and we when
00:38:27
we were having dinner and that and sort of tried to see how he handled pressure and what drove him and sort of thing you
00:38:35
oh so you're trying to pick their brains and tap into oh yeah absolutely yeah
00:38:39
yeah I was um when Greg sort of played Greg Norman when he was playing on the tour he idolized Jack Nicholas and and
00:38:47
Jack took him under his wingle but that's how Greg got to be based in West Palm Beach because that's where Jack
00:38:51
Nicholas was and Greg Jack took Greg under his wing and we played a lot of practice rounds Jack Nicholas and he was
00:38:58
he thought it was great because I quizzed him a lot you know always trying to get information and that's how you
00:39:03
you know the more information have the B you can get so it was fortunate to be catting for these guys that are
00:39:09
successful golfers because they mingled with other Sportsmen it was great to ask
00:39:12
other Sportsman from different sports how they handled pressure what they did to prepare and and so forth yeah so that
00:39:18
was you know that's one of the benefits I guess of catting for some of the better players that um you know they get
00:39:25
to be paired with in prams or they you know these other great sporting Legends are around you and you can tap into
00:39:31
their mind yeah that's amazing you and me are very different I probably wouldn't have lasted 10 years in that
00:39:38
job fired acting inappropriate in front of some of the cool friends yeah I think
00:39:43
I think a lot of people get you know they get intimidated by big people like that and they wouldn't ask some of the
00:39:48
questions that I asked and Jack because I think well in fact he told me he respected that I had had the willingness
00:39:57
to ask him some very difficult questions when he had no crims in sharing that information because nobody else would
00:40:02
ask him what what like can you remember some of the questions oh just about course preparation how you handle
00:40:08
pressure what sort of shots do you what's what is the worst kind of shots down pressure what are the best kind of
00:40:13
shots to hit under pressure and the one thing that he he he stuck to is that you
00:40:18
know he said Steve when you go out the golf course and you figure out how you're going to play the golf course
00:40:23
unless the weather conditions or something are dramatically different never changing game plan never ever
00:40:27
change a game plan um and like that was a good bit of advice there because me like when we go back to talking about
00:40:33
Greg Norman what did he do on that Sunday he changed his game plan and Jack never changed his game plan unless the
00:40:40
weather condition dictated that you had to um yeah just and his his record still
00:40:45
stands there for the most majors and unlikely to be broken yeah no that look what's tiger on and what's the golden be
00:40:51
yeah so Tiger's on 15 and Jack's on 18 but it's um no that that it's never
00:40:56
going to be a clip now I mean there's just too many good players now and unfortunately Tiger's health is not
00:41:02
going to allow him to play enough golf where he can compete and and win major championships I mean it's just a shame
00:41:08
but um that record's going to stand forever yeah so while I'm being um a bit
00:41:13
of a siop fantic about this um this lifestyle that you've been privy to that
00:41:18
no one else in New Zealand do um you stayed at tiger's house what does 39 million buy you in
00:41:24
Miami yeah well I mean look you're not sharing a bathroom are you no I mean look tiger lived when I first
00:41:32
came from he he lived in a gated community um like a lot of the athletes do and um Shaq used to live in the same
00:41:40
gated community as tiger and you know it was it was always entertaining because obviously his the cars the vehicles that
00:41:47
he had obviously had to be extended because of the S you know and and he he loved his boom boxes so but um yeah
00:41:56
T yeah look these guys they make exponential kind of money and they have properties that are you know like you
00:42:03
can't even you know you can't even fathom what they're like I guess but um
00:42:09
yeah that's just what that's what it is so there's one um particularly me
00:42:13
memorable tournament the um the 2000 US Open you remember that PE Beach yeah oh yeah I remember that with a lot of
00:42:20
detail man yeah tiger won by um 15 shots which is just unheard of right so um what is what do that what does that
00:42:28
night look like so you you win by that sort of amount um is it a massive celebration uh yeah well I'll just step
00:42:37
back there a little bit you know that was arguably up until that point Tiger's
00:42:42
greatest performance he was 12 under and the next guy was three over 15 shot win
00:42:48
but the funniest thing about that week is it nearly didn't happen so Tiger's
00:42:53
practice was just the best we' ever seen SE myself and Butch Harmon as coach uh
00:42:59
we stood back and it was it was unbelievable i' never seen a guy hit a ball in practice on the Range and on the
00:43:06
core so we had to hold them back as much as we could because you don't want to do
00:43:09
too much practice so sometimes you can over practice and then it goes the other way anyway so the the the famous story
00:43:15
about the week was is that I nearly ran out of golf balls that seems like a bad error for a
00:43:21
cad so what actually happened is on the Friday we had a uh fog delay they had Marine layer came in off the bay there
00:43:29
and we stopped play on the 13th hole on Friday afternoon and so we had to complete our round the very next morning
00:43:38
on Saturday morning early and at that time the way Pebble Beach was set up they had the driving range in one area
00:43:45
which was on the Polo Fields The pting Greens at the clubhouse and then we had to restart right out on the um 14th hole
00:43:52
13th hole which is is almost the farthest part of away from the club so given the start time that the players
00:43:59
had to be in position by it wasn't possible to go all the way up to the range back to the pting green and out to
00:44:05
the course so tiger did no putting before he teed off he just went to the range hit some balls and then got in the
00:44:11
uh the cury car out to the where he had to be so I'd put the clubs down in his
00:44:16
room on Friday night and just walked into his room on Saturday morning and didn't usually the start of every day
00:44:22
check everything you know we got enough gloves enough balls do we need any wet weather gear what do we need extra
00:44:27
towels whatever it might be food whatever it could be so but I didn't do anything I just picked the bag up
00:44:32
because it was just a continuation of yesterday's round I don't need anything
00:44:34
else had everything in the bag yesterday so that's all good we get out to the to
00:44:38
the 14th hole for our restart and uh I put my hand in the bag there's only three golf balls I thought
00:44:44
that's a bit strange there should be more than three but that's no big deal
00:44:49
playing unbelievable golf not going to lose any golf balls but the very first hole that he played he hit his t-shot
00:44:55
into the rough and then he hit it out with a short eye to the green and scuffed the ball you
00:45:00
put some Groove marks on the golf ball and when he walked off the green he threw it off to to a young man a young
00:45:06
kid walking with his father and of course this kid's just so excited he's
00:45:10
showing his dad look I got one of tigers balls that's got his name on it this
00:45:13
that now I'm thinking I need to go over and ask that kid just in case we might need it but no
00:45:19
no we won't need it you know and I couldn't do that because imagine what
00:45:23
tiger would be thinking or someone was thinking when you're around Tiger Woods
00:45:27
you can't do something without someone seeing what you do yeah anyway not a good look not a good look so he plays 15
00:45:32
14 15 16 17 we get the 18th te we got two balls no problem I can't you know I'm thinking probably should had an iron
00:45:40
off the tea here because he's out of bounds to the right and of course you got the ocean to the left and that but I
00:45:45
can't say anything he's playing unbelievable golf I'm not going to step
00:45:48
in and say you should be playing conservative on the last half of while for what reason so you I'm not going to
00:45:53
say a word he just says driver said y driver you don't you don't warn him that
00:45:56
there's only one ball no no no because he'd be saying get your sorry ass back
00:46:01
to you ZL if that's the case anyway he hits his t- shot worst shot he said of
00:46:06
the week snip Hawks it into the water now we got one ball left and I'm holding
00:46:11
my hand he puts the driver back in the bag slams it back in the bag the other two guys he's playing with got a hit
00:46:17
next and I've got my head cover my hand grasping the head cover on top of the
00:46:22
wood as hard as I can he's going to take that give me that [ __ ] driver look
00:46:26
tiger you're leading the US Open by nine just hit an iron down there you know
00:46:30
let's get the you know and come back you got give me that [ __ ] driver and I'm
00:46:33
think you know if he hits this one either out of bounds or hits it in the ocean we're out of golf balls could
00:46:40
could you not one of the other players could you is that not done you could if they were playing the exact same golf
00:46:45
ball you can only play you know you have to start not with the same Ball but the
00:46:49
exact same a brand or yeah he's playing a Nike ball and the other guys are playing a titless ball Okay so um yeah
00:46:57
obviously you could do that if they were playing the exact ball mean you wouldn't
00:47:00
want the player to see you do that or either of the players but yes you could do that um so anyway so he hits hits
00:47:08
that drive with his last ball he hits in the Fairway but on the 18th hot Pebble Beach there's a pine tree in the middle
00:47:14
of the Fairway and as we're walking down there uh I'm thinking you know this is
00:47:17
going to be right behind that pine tree and when you get down there sure enough it's pretty close to it so what's he
00:47:22
going to do now he's going to hit a big shot with a big fade a big left right
00:47:26
shot that goes out over the bay and back it's like and I know he's going to try
00:47:31
this shot I can't say anything either and it's the first time in my life that
00:47:35
I'm standing there and my ass is puckering it's just I've heard people
00:47:41
say that Express that and I thought I've never known that I mean I've heard you
00:47:45
know sometimes your hand shakees and your neck shakes well my ass was puckering anyway so he starts this ball
00:47:51
out over the ocean and brings it back down just short of the green gets it up and down you know anyway goes
00:47:58
on to win the tournament by 15 shots an incredible performance but this is to give you some insight you you mentioned
00:48:06
to me you know what was the celebration what this that and the other I'll just
00:48:09
give you an insight to how this guy thinks and how he's different to anyone else that's ever played the game and
00:48:13
probably in sports so after the final hole there you go and then and and you go in there and while
00:48:20
the player checks the scorecard they have a scorer and the scorer will read out the score tigle check it against his
00:48:26
scorecard and I and I'll also have my own scorecard and just to check that's
00:48:31
what you do and um okay does the scorecard and he walks outside and I'm standing there once he's you know he's
00:48:39
in a minute there shaking hands with different people and he walks outside the scores tent I'm the first person
00:48:43
that stand there with the golf clubs and he says so tell me what that is what was
00:48:47
all the drama about on the 18th hle on Friday you know and I tell him the story and and he just he absolutely laughs and
00:48:54
he said well if we you know he he he said if we had to run out of golf balls you would have been working at
00:49:00
tw's Car Wash CU he he always told me one day he was going to open the car wash and if you don't if you don't live
00:49:07
up to my expectations Steve you'll be running the car wash not carrying the clubs and then the next thing he said to
00:49:12
me he said um I'm going to play even better at the British Open in St Andrews
00:49:18
I want you to get your ass over there as quick as you can I want you to know every blade of grass on that course
00:49:23
that's exactly what he said to me so instead of sort of going away and having
00:49:28
some kind of Celebration it was like oh my okay you know I was I just had to get
00:49:32
my head around okay I was going back to New Zealand supposedly for a few weeks I
00:49:37
thought you know I've got to get over to St Andrews a week earlier than I probably was going because you know he's
00:49:41
tell he's going to play better um and he did amazingly so the the next major that
00:49:50
was the the Open Championship he played better than he did at pble that was the Pinnacle of the the 13 years of caring
00:49:57
for Tiger that's the tourament he played the best at was St Andrews it was just
00:50:01
remarkable and that was a nine shot Victory so he'd gone 15 shot Victory nine shot victory in two major
00:50:06
championships so is is it is it an exaggeration or is that accurate so you won the the 2,000 US Open by 15 shots
00:50:13
and then that night you're going over to inspect the the British Open course yeah
00:50:18
I mean no I I was going back to New Zealand but I was scheduled like to go back to the British Open you know maybe
00:50:25
I can't remember you know three or four days before but yeah because of his high
00:50:29
expectations and you know I want you to know every blade of grass you know I want to want to know everything not that
00:50:35
and not that you wouldn't normally you'd always do that anyway but just the extra
00:50:38
pressure of him telling me I'm going to play even better and and St Andrews and
00:50:43
St Andrew's difficult Golf Course to navigate as far as these so many bunkers
00:50:48
you got to have a real Knack cuz there you play split different Fairways depending on the winds they got double
00:50:53
greens you got to have a lot of knowledge here like a c that's never been there before is unlikely to win the
00:50:59
tourament with their player the first time they play there because there's no
00:51:01
golf course that requires more information than that golf course because there a lot of blind shots so
00:51:06
you can't see where you got try to hit it and you got to know where all these
00:51:09
bunkers are in your head where you you know it's it's quite difficult to
00:51:12
explain but um and and that that's the way as was but what's sort of different
00:51:18
about tiger I mean he different in a lot of ways but uh he never celebrated you know he was always on to the next thing
00:51:25
you know he he felt like he was supposed to win he wanted to win a job wasn't
00:51:29
well done until he you know won so if you didn't win a tournament that was considered a failure so working for him
00:51:34
was tremendously stressful and there was never any celebrating that's the weirdest thing people always think you
00:51:40
must have these massive parties this that the other it was never it was always what's the next goal yeah I mean
00:51:45
he he would even that's why he's so good though right yeah I mean he's just
00:51:48
remarkable yeah he he he he would I'll never forget one time at Bay Hill he lived in Orlando and at Bay Hill Hill uh
00:51:56
he won the tournament but he on the last hole he h a remarkable part to to win the tournament but it was a very length
00:52:03
he put like a 40-footer and he hit a poor iron shot to hit it at 40 ft and as soon as he left the golf course after
00:52:10
he'd done the Trophy presentation that we went back to where he lived onto the
00:52:14
range and he hit like 200 of that same shot he was trying to hit there I mean he was relentless and he he seldom in my
00:52:20
eyes he seldom celebrated he he might have had a cigar once on now again but um you know he certainly didn't go on a
00:52:26
bander like some of the guys do when when they wi tournaments I've had Ryan your mate Ryan Fox on the podcast it
00:52:31
seems like when he plays well it's a lot more fun afterwards for him and the
00:52:35
caddy yeah well I mean look these got these guys are notorious they go on a two or three day Bender you know if you
00:52:41
if you win a a major championship you know I mean it's it's something as as a
00:52:45
golfer a professional golfer that's what everyone aspires to do and when you
00:52:49
actually accomplish that it's an incredible feeling that but I mean he he he was he's he he's different in so many
00:52:56
aspects and particularly that one but I mean he he he was straight onto the next
00:53:00
thing like what's the next one what sort of shots am I required to play and how
00:53:05
did how did you handle um that pressure like where where does this resilience come from in this mental mental fortit
00:53:11
CH yeah one of the things I did do was you know I always got away uh in all my weeks off I always came back to New
00:53:17
Zealand um just to destress for about hang out with your people yeah yeah um my wife was a great leveler for me and
00:53:25
she keep me well grounded and you know like reminded me how important it was to stay level but um yeah I mean
00:53:35
look he he he was so desperate to BR Jack's record of 18 majes and that was what kept you
00:53:43
know that's all I thought about I thought that when the when that moment came I had no doubt it was never going
00:53:48
to come I thought that's going to be one of the greatest if not the greatest
00:53:53
sporting achievements ever because it's something that no one will ever do and
00:53:57
nobody thought someone would come along and do it and here's a guy that had every opportunity to do it and I I just
00:54:03
I pictured that over and over my head and that's what kept me going um but you
00:54:07
know coming back to New Zealand and being able to just chill out with my friends and family and have that
00:54:12
opportunity to get away you know America there's a lot of hype and a lot of that
00:54:15
and particularly being around tiger um you know it's not something you could do
00:54:20
you know 247 for 52 weeks a year be around someone that's you know I mean like I it's remarkable how these guys
00:54:26
handle it themselves yeah um you've got to be a different makeup but I mean you
00:54:30
know obviously he he was playing golf at a level that no one ever played for for
00:54:34
a sustained period of time and um yeah and you had a front row seat there there's another another tournament I I
00:54:42
don't know which one it is you probably know um but tiger H out and won and then
00:54:46
um you guys hugged each other and it was like a it was like a lingering I think it was just after his dad's death it was
00:54:51
a lingering hug like he didn't want to let go of you yeah yeah so no one had
00:54:54
ever seen that side tiger that was a ho Lake um at Royal Liverpool when they had
00:54:59
the Open Championship uh in 2006 I love your memory of this stuff by the way um yes it be easy I mean when you're
00:55:06
playing week and week out it' be easy for them to blur into well yeah some some weeks are more memorable than the
00:55:11
others but you know major championships are pretty special but yeah that one's
00:55:14
memorable because it was um you know Tiger's first major championship success
00:55:19
following the passing of his father he played in the US Open prior to that um having not practiced for several weeks
00:55:28
before after his father passed away and he he played pretty poorly and then um he came to Royal
00:55:35
Liverpool um and it was it was a fascinating week um so he hadn't or no one to played it it was the first time
00:55:43
they played there a professional tourament since uh in the modern era for the British Open anyway and we got there
00:55:50
in the previous tournament that tiger played in uh was the Western open in Chicago
00:55:55
and he didn't fear that well but he was hitting his long IRS amazing that week
00:56:01
um what stood out from that week to me and we went to the Hoy Lake and it was hard baked out the golf course was hard
00:56:07
and fast they had a great summer there while they were enjoying a great summer and it was a really lynxy course the
00:56:13
ball was running a mile and and I went round T we got we flew there I flew with tiger and straight to the house and he
00:56:20
says Steve you get out and have a look at the golf course and come back and we'll talk about it lunch before I go
00:56:24
out there and and um so I went out there and I walked around the golf course for
00:56:27
a few hours and that and thought you know he can get around here without playing a driver I mean he's the
00:56:32
strength right now has his long irons he can lay back from a lot of these bunkers
00:56:37
uh instead of going into the green with sort of 7 eight n irons he can lay back take the pen take the trouble out of
00:56:42
play and hit a lot of four five and six IRS into the greens um and that's exactly what he did he hit one driver in
00:56:49
the tournament that was it in the whole 72 holes he he eliminated all the bunkers and um yeah so he and then when
00:56:58
he came down the 18th hole um it was a gray overcast sort of day and as he approached the green there from about
00:57:05
100 meters the sun shine through you know it was kind of Airy um and that was like I said to him that's you know
00:57:12
that's your father looking down on you and that's what that's what I thought
00:57:16
was just so eery that the sun would just shine through for that little moment while he was walking to the Green from
00:57:22
from the time he approached the grandstand where the Grand sand starts till he got to the green the sun shine
00:57:27
through and I said that to him you that's just what came into my head I said that to him and yeah after he put
00:57:33
it out he he just broke down and I no one had ever seen that side of tiger in anything he's just doesn't show any
00:57:39
emotions um and then then we went sort of you know separated and he just he was clinging on to me it was like yeah it
00:57:47
was it was like um maybe a thir like a 30 second hug yeah he was just um yeah it all you know I think the it was the
00:57:57
first real moment that that he you know he'd won a major championship came off
00:58:02
the green on the 18th there and you know mom or dad are not standing there um and
00:58:07
it was you know it was a big moment but um yeah then then it went over to his wife at the time and yeah broke down
00:58:12
broke yeah so no one had ever seen that side of tiger so you know that was a you
00:58:16
know an emotional win for sure and show showed a different side of tiger to the rest of the world yeah what are your
00:58:23
memories of Erin t t is it TI yeah with the big visor yeah no um Tia came from Thailand she was a Thailand and and
00:58:31
Tiger's father was a ex-military guy and that and um yeah they they they you they
00:58:38
they were very sort of average normal to type people to me I mean I went to ear's
00:58:43
house a couple times and that and he just lived in a normal neighborhood in California near the Army Golf Course
00:58:49
where tiger grew up and played and um yeah they were just sort of normal people that that um you know obviously
00:58:55
they saw a tremendous Talent on tiger and um well they like it's almost like
00:59:00
he was groomed To Be A Champion wasn't he like 's project yeah exactly but um
00:59:06
you know the most important thing that you you you learn from when you see parents like that is that you know they
00:59:11
never pushed tiger they encouraged him but they never pushed him and I think that's a very big thing for a lot of
00:59:17
parents to realize that you know you can't push your kids and make them do something you you got to encourage them
00:59:23
and hope that they do it and advise them but you you just certainly can't push
00:59:26
them and I think a lot of parents are guilty of that have you read the Andre egy book open I have read that book yeah
00:59:33
loathes tennis apparently because his dad made him play I wonder if it was the same sort of thing with tiger where you
00:59:39
have a conflicted relationship with the sport because you know the you're entry
00:59:43
into it but I don't think that's the case with tiger no no no I mean he he uh
00:59:47
he loves the history of the game he loves the game but um yeah know his his his dad made it fun made it enjoyable
00:59:53
and made it competitive for him yeah and is it true that Tera called Phil nichelson Hefty lify is that true is
00:59:59
that just a yeah yeah I mean yeah there's a few um did did you and tiger call them [ __ ]
01:00:05
tats or no am I making that up look I mean no comment no look I didn't know that but look one of the funniest things
01:00:13
I've ever seen on a golf course was in New York um at Beth Page black when they
01:00:19
played the US Open there and of course New York people were very rockus loud and you know some people might even
01:00:24
describ them as being obnoxious um so on the 17th ho at the US Open there tiger on the Saturday
01:00:31
afternoon he's playing with Phil melon packed stand and at that particular point in time I'd never seen a grand
01:00:36
stand bigger than one of the grand stands that was erected on the 17th hole there it was huge the amount of people
01:00:42
in it so the players are walking down to from the PA it's a path three they're
01:00:47
walking from the T to the green and there one guy standing up the top of the grand stand he yells out as loud as he
01:00:52
can a Phil and you know Phil doesn't even look up hey Phil doesn't look up
01:00:58
again he goes hey Mr Mickelson and Phil looks up to this guy says nice tits foil and there would have been two or
01:01:06
3,000 people in this one grand stand and and and if if if Phil could have gone into a bunker and pulled a cover over it
01:01:12
he would have done that I've never seen a guy felt more out of place than he did
01:01:16
right there I mean and of course we tiger and I were just pissing ourselves so um yeah that that was that was that
01:01:22
was very funny yeah and um so November 2007 um that's when tiger had the car
01:01:28
crash on the sleeping pills um the Scandal broke where were you were you in New Zealand at the time yeah yeah what
01:01:35
what are your Recollections of there I was I I was uh I was on a tractor um on a slasher slashing one of
01:01:44
my paddocks and I I was listening to the radio I was on the news so that that's
01:01:49
um that's that's that's how I came to to hear about that yeah and then it sort of
01:01:53
unravels the the days and weeks went on um how what sort of impact did that have
01:01:58
have on you that scandal in that time I can't imagine it was easy for you I remember at the time they were you said
01:02:04
you knew nothing about it and people were saying that that's that's hard to
01:02:07
Fathom um I was saying to friends at the time it's absolutely not hard to Fathom
01:02:11
especially like if you if you if your best mate's a straight up and down guy
01:02:14
like Steve is and you know you're doing something wrong you're going to do what
01:02:18
you can to keep it from him because I'm guessing tiger knew that if you knew
01:02:21
you'd be like tiger this is [ __ ] up um if it carries on I'm going to have to
01:02:26
tell elen or do something about it yeah that that's 100% the synopsis I mean so
01:02:30
many people thought as much time as we spent together you carry for a guy you spend that many days with a guy how's
01:02:36
that not possible you know what's going on I had zero idea what was going on and
01:02:39
that and look Tiger's a m of mine and everybody makes mistakes and it just happens to be that you know he he's a
01:02:45
person in a high profile person you know everybody makes mistakes so as a friend
01:02:49
as someone that worked for him you I just wanted to support him 100% and said um you know whatever it takes to help
01:02:55
you whatever I'm there for you um yeah I mean people the comments and everything
01:02:59
I mean it's just you got to be thick skinned to be a caddy for one so that helps you know like if you if if you're
01:03:05
not thick skinned you're not going to be successful at C but you certainly need
01:03:08
thick skinn after that incident all the Scandal break through and everything yeah yeah and and and what about your
01:03:14
relationship with your wife yeah look was that was that test tested at the time oh I mean there's no question that
01:03:19
that that that that was testing but uh my wife is very understanding and and she's great friends with elen and that
01:03:26
and and you know she understood that you know Tigers made a big mistake here and
01:03:31
and so forth but you know we were friends with him we were very good friends with him and we just tried to
01:03:35
support them the best we can you know kirsty's very intelligent and helped me
01:03:39
through that as well but you know it was difficult J my son was going to school and you know people were saying things
01:03:44
about oh you know your dad's this and your dad's that you know with no no
01:03:48
nothing to back up what they're saying and that so it was you know definitely a
01:03:51
difficult period but um yeah it was a shame cuz at the end of the day that that whole thing sort of
01:03:59
snowboard and and long term that was the probably the major reason why tiger hasn't gone on to win you know the 18
01:04:07
major championships I mean you know things led to him doing some other activities and he got injured and you
01:04:14
know so forth and um I I guess he during that whole period when he was under a lot of stress himself and that he was
01:04:22
probably working out way to too much and his body was probably you know not going to be in perfect tune for golf
01:04:30
and he got you know started and get niggling injuries and and it shortened his career had that
01:04:36
whole thing not eventuated in that um you know I'd be more than willing to think that he would have won those extra
01:04:45
majes and carried on but it's it's it's a sad end to what is an you know one of
01:04:50
the greatest sporting stories ever I mean he dominated Golf and he's you know
01:04:54
incredible player and that but yeah it's a shame he didn't go on to realize what
01:04:59
his dream was yeah absolutely and then um so after that there was um he was in rehab for sex addiction and then um he
01:05:06
had to do this TV statement thing and you so this was 2010 I think you look back now with 13 years hindsight it was
01:05:13
very weird like he was he was a bad husband um he he was unfaithful but to have to like stand in front of a room of
01:05:20
people and make a prepared statement and look as solemn as you can in front of bunch of people that had nothing to do
01:05:25
with that looking disapproving at you that's [ __ ] up yeah well I mean I Look
01:05:29
To be honest you I I don't even know why he was had to do that I mean you must
01:05:33
have been advice from yeah I mean you don't have to answer anybody you answer
01:05:36
to your family and your friends and your sponsors now you don't have to answered
01:05:40
anybody so I I found that as weird as anybody else probably found it yeah and then so then after that it was the 2010
01:05:46
master so he came back and came back fairly quickly and played how did you guys how did you guys get on then 2010
01:05:52
yeah he played actually um surprisingly um he opened up with a couple of very good rounds there uh having not um you
01:06:01
know been playing that that much on the tour obviously he was practicing and playing at home but um yeah look I mean
01:06:07
it's amazing the the crowd was so much behind them um and that and um yeah we
01:06:13
we we we you know got back on uh and we way we went again you I had um um do you
01:06:20
know Millie ker the cricketer yeah yeah I had her on the podcast a few weeks ago
01:06:23
and she's um we talked in quite quite quite quite a bit of depth about her mental health issues and you know the
01:06:28
anxiety she suffers and stuff like that and she said when she's um playing Cricket that's the one time that it goes
01:06:33
away because it's like a happy place maybe it's the same with tiger he just
01:06:36
wanted to get the [ __ ] back out there as soon as what he could yeah look I mean when you go and
01:06:43
play professional golf and you're playing on the PJ tour or any other tour and that to do to be successful you got
01:06:51
to be totally focused and um tiger always said that he was very good at compartmentalizing things that was
01:06:59
one of his strength to be able to put things aside whether it be whatever it was you
01:07:04
know he he he might have been working on a golf course design he might have been
01:07:07
working on something else and that but he he had that ability to compartmentalize things and solely focus
01:07:14
on the job and hand but I think any person their happy place is where they you know obviously they're always H
01:07:21
happily with their family and home but the their place they they get their excitement their joy and is living their
01:07:28
dream on on doing what they do best and that's for him that was playing golf and
01:07:33
you know just he loved competing more than anyone that I'd ever seen I mean he's just a different breed of of
01:07:38
competitor he he just hated to lose and his only satisfaction came from winning so some players might be happy if they
01:07:44
finish in the top three top five top 10 top 20 I mean unless he won he wasn't
01:07:49
happy so you know every week going you know I mean his winning percent percentage was
01:07:55
unbelievable but yeah it's never going to be repeated is it it's never going to
01:07:58
be repeated but I mean when you're caring for a guy that you know like some guys to finish with a top 10 you know
01:08:03
and you shake hands in of the week you know you know good week top 10 yep that but you couldn't ever say that it's only
01:08:09
a good week if you won so you know every week was a failure unless you won so I mean second place is the first loser
01:08:15
yeah absolutely but I mean he he um yeah it it's it was stressful getting for you
01:08:21
know it was obviously fun but just knowing every week that if unless you w won the
01:08:27
tournament wasn't a success so the pressure was you Monumental yeah and then then what happened to you guys on
01:08:34
the end so he was having a break from golf and you that's when you started working with Adam Scott that was going
01:08:39
to be like a like a fling I guess that on the side yeah so tiger when he came back he then then he was having some
01:08:45
injury problems and so forth and anyway so we we TIG was due to play the Congressional open uh the sorry the US
01:08:52
Open at congression and I I'd left New Zealand here my father-in-law came with me and I had
01:08:58
another mate with me and we were going to that tournament and tiger hadn't played in a few weeks and that but he
01:09:03
was adamant he was going to play in the tournament great and then he announced on the Friday that he wasn't playing in
01:09:07
the tournament we had already left New Zealand to head to that tournament I had like I said had my father-in-law with me
01:09:12
and another friend with me and just happened to be that Adam Scott called me and said say Steve I see tigers pulled
01:09:18
out of the tour any chance you could carry for me and I said yeah I think that should be right I rang tiger and he
01:09:24
said yep no problem you know I don't have a problem with that and um so that's all good we get prepared to go we
01:09:31
we' flying to America and then we were going onwards to um Washington to to Congressional and then tiger changed his
01:09:40
mind and well we you know we' already got there to and I had my father-in-law
01:09:45
like I said a friend with me and and I'd already told Adam yes and I thought well
01:09:49
I said I thought to myself well you know I what's the big deal I'm going to carry
01:09:53
for the guy I mean I didn't see any I didn't see any big deal about it and um
01:09:59
yeah I went in cave him and that was the end of the story tiger for one reason or
01:10:03
another he he he told me yes and then he disapproved it and I you know he basically said to me well if you go
01:10:09
ahead and do it off why and I actually kind of thought he was joke yeah yeah it seems a little drastic
01:10:16
oh it did you know it got me by surprise i' you know i' supported him and done a
01:10:21
what I felt like was a great job of everything did everything he ever asked me to do and you know I just thought
01:10:26
that was a bit unusual so and does he does he is that done by text does he call um no that well he wasn't at the
01:10:34
tournament right yeah so uh well how do you hear you've lost the job well then a
01:10:40
week or so later um the next tournament um his foundation is a the tournament benefits his foundation and he was at
01:10:52
that tournament but not playing and and then that's when you know when we sat
01:10:56
down and that was the end of it so but I mean look when you're caring for somebody you know things change and
01:11:02
things move on I knew straight away to be honest when I went back to catting for Tiger that we didn't have the same
01:11:08
chemistry because he he ultimately probably even though we're great mates and everything he he he as you alluded
01:11:17
to he kept that a secret to me because he knows I'm a standup kind of bloke and
01:11:23
I I guess even though embarrassed about how he behaved correct yeah and even though you know we are great mates that
01:11:32
I could sense that he could sense that you know my own opinion of him had probably changed and that um and you
01:11:42
know he like you said and it's 100% correct is that he did everything he could to make sure that I didn't know
01:11:49
what was going on yeah and um but yeah it's quite sad though way when you go
01:11:54
through so much together you you know you basically go to war with each other for for 10 10 years or whatever it is
01:12:00
you when have so much success together and then for the relationship to I don't know you know what I mean to
01:12:06
not be able to sit sit down at a tournament now with cigars and reflect on what you went through it seems quite
01:12:11
sad yeah no you don't really look at it like that it's because it's no I mean
01:12:15
you because in the role of a caddy it it frequently changes and things you know the caddies get hired and fired all the
01:12:22
time and that so you know in in some respect it was good to um get away from that ATM you know that that whole
01:12:31
catting for Tiger thing because the pressure is immense but then then then came along a great new challenge because
01:12:38
Adam and I had always been quite tight as well um just friends with Adam and that and and it presented A new
01:12:44
challenge and I'd always wondered why he didn't play better than he than he did
01:12:48
particularly in major championships so that actually presented A new challenge and that was fresh and um yeah so so um
01:12:57
are you and tiger still in touch like did you call or text him after the car accident in 2021 or no 2009 Majors wi do
01:13:04
you we've had no um no contact there problem with a guy like tiger and numerous guys like him they changed
01:13:12
their phone number so often so you can't get their phone number you know obviously had his number at the time but
01:13:18
um you can't get their phone number you he changes his phone number frequently
01:13:22
you know CU I think I think that's sad I know you say it's just the life of a
01:13:26
caddy but [ __ ] you you guys did some stuff together yeah yeah well it was um yeah it's just the way it panned out and
01:13:34
then um this year um we were actually going to get together at the US Open um I was telling tiger about my son he was
01:13:43
asking about my son what he's up to and I said well actually he's going to be at
01:13:46
the US Open um this is when I was talking to Tiger at austa um but in the end you know tiger didn't he he played
01:13:53
at Augusta and then he hasn't played since so we were going to get together and um you know I don't know what was
01:14:00
going to happen but we we had plan to sit down and then yeah yeah and then um so Adam Scott you guys start working
01:14:07
together I heard him on a podcast talking about a story where uh he said he was going to pick you up from
01:14:12
Heathrow and uh apparently it was like the tiger story you told before he was rugged up and you were wearing shorts in
01:14:17
a singlet or something is that true by the way who arrives at he throwing shorts in a sing yeah yeah like I'm
01:14:24
always you know like Adam he plays with a jump on when it's 25 de you know but
01:14:30
um yeah know the the so when after I C for Adam that US Open that and the next one he was playing in that which I
01:14:38
agreed to C for it's the British Open and everything and and he picked me up
01:14:42
at the airport which what I I found was just you know here's a guy golfing Superstar is going to drive and pick me
01:14:47
up at the airport and take me to the to to where we're going to like it's just
01:14:51
something that players don't do literally drove and picked her up himself didn't send a car no yeah no
01:14:56
like no that shows a huge amount of respect it did I was yeah it was something I was always special yeah so
01:15:02
um and then so so you you and Adam we touched upon this at the beginning of the 2013 Masters you won that which is
01:15:08
massive for him Messa for Australia Messa for you um what did that celebration look like compared to the
01:15:14
one where tiger won by uh the US Open by 15 shots yeah yeah so we we were all staying in the house at austa uh his
01:15:21
manager his coach uh myself and um Adam's Family were there um and Adam had quite a few mates
01:15:33
and so forth so yeah it was it was um yeah it was wasn't a huge celebration they have a Champions dinner that night
01:15:39
so Adam has to you know he has to go back to the club and go to the to the dinner um but he's not sending you off
01:15:45
to the next tournament to scope oh no no no no there was no no thought like that
01:15:51
yeah so and then um so what's your status now cuz you retired in 2019 but it feels like you're you're always back
01:15:57
and forth you're you're retire you're retiring more than Jay-Z yeah well I
01:16:01
mean you you retire and then you get guys that you know Jason day like almost not I don't know if the
01:16:09
right word big but was really wanted me to come and K from him for a few tours and I did and then Adam Scott this year
01:16:17
uh asked me to come and K for a few tours and that so yeah whilst you're retired and that you get an opportunity
01:16:23
sometimes go back and caddy a few TS and that and it's quite fun to do but like
01:16:27
as far as doing it for a full-time job no I'm completely away from cting fulltime but I mean every now and again
01:16:34
like I hope you know C Ryan Fox every now and again um but yeah just fill in I guess for guys yeah you still enjoy it
01:16:41
when you do it occasionally when you debble yeah yeah it's it's fun to like
01:16:46
the game constantly evolves you don't realize when you're working in something
01:16:52
you know it's it's evolving while you're there you don't probably see it evolve
01:16:55
but when you step away for a little bit and come back you know the there's always some changes and and and what the
01:17:01
players are thinking what their equipment is using you know the new balls the new clubs the new shafts and
01:17:06
things yeah it's quite good to it's an evolving game like all sports so um yeah
01:17:11
it's fun who who who's the who's the guy that's really good that's got a terrible
01:17:14
swing what's his name um Des or no what's Bryson Des yeah is he the one that's got a really weird swing well
01:17:22
he's just he he uses clubs that are he uses one length Club every club's the
01:17:28
same length he has very thick grips and he and he and he takes An Almighty swipe
01:17:32
at it but um yeah super effective though isn't it oh yeah I mean he he's a super
01:17:38
impressive player for sure um so so for Steve Williams now what does like an average day or week look like yeah so I
01:17:46
still keep uh very busy we've had my foundation running for quite a number of
01:17:50
years and that and um I'm running a big charity event at um Paradise Valley Speedway in RH uh in December where
01:17:59
we've got 12 Motorsports celebrities driving super stock cars got Hayden Patton Greg Murphy Andre heimgartner
01:18:07
Aaron slight a whole bunch of guys driving superstocks um which they've never done
01:18:12
before and it's a charity meeting so I've been putting that together and um
01:18:17
my son is a professional scooter rider which is a sport that not many people realize it's a professional SP or yeah
01:18:24
we had this check before we sat down so he's 17 and we're not talking like lime
01:18:28
scooters with the motors we're talking like the the little um Chrome Razor scooters yeah they're not quite Razor
01:18:33
scooters but that they're similar to those and they compete in in bowls and and skate parks ramps and big ramps and
01:18:41
and so forth indoor outdoor skate parks that so it's a very big sport in Europe
01:18:46
and the United States so to compete he has to go overseas a lot so we've been
01:18:50
going overseas a lot with him um to to compete and that's what he wants to do
01:18:54
he's absolutely passionate about it um and yeah so how how many kids have you
01:19:00
got just the one so he's fortunate because we with his age myself and my wife have to go with him um you know he
01:19:09
can't go on his own he's not probably not as worldly as his dad was but how
01:19:13
how old are you now I'm 60 so um J you're you're you're still looking fit
01:19:19
and you must from all the travel you did you must have like so many banked years
01:19:23
with air points and things yeah yeah so but um no you know you keep yourself busy there's always always something on
01:19:30
the go it's your relationship with your son good I'm guessing you missed you
01:19:33
probably missed a lot in the very early years right yeah yeah look it it it it's
01:19:37
great to uh like he he he's um I guess he's a chip off the old block a little
01:19:45
bit he's he's very very dedicated to what he does and he's he's fortunate
01:19:50
that he's you know he's a very good athlete whatever sport he's taken up um
01:19:54
he's been very good at but he's taken a huge liking to the scootering and my
01:19:59
wife and I didn't really know anything about it uh we didn't know it was a
01:20:02
professional sport and you can do it overseas um and through one thing or another taking him um he won the New
01:20:09
Zealand Champs here a couple years in a row and then went overseas and you know he's been going good overseas so um it's
01:20:17
a sport that requires a lot of dedication a lot of training and he's he's up to the task um so my wife and I
01:20:23
are thrilled to be part of his journey and it's good having had a lot of Knowledge from
01:20:30
various amount of sports people that I've not only worked for but been around
01:20:34
and you know you have a fairly good understanding of what it takes to be good at something and what's required
01:20:39
and that so scootering is a sport that I know nothing about so it's quite good
01:20:44
just to sort of work with him on sort of the mental side of it and the strategy um but to you know to watch your son
01:20:52
compete um at something that you know he's passionate about and very good at
01:20:57
so yeah know we're pretty excited about he his ultimate goal he wants to be the
01:21:01
best in the world so um he just recently returned from the world Champs and he finished 10th in that so U we're pretty
01:21:08
stok with that he was stok with that as well um you know he's only starting out
01:21:12
in the sport so he's he's he's on the right track so yeah my wife she looks
01:21:18
after him and and get gets all them organized so yeah yeah how did how did you guys meet you in Kirsty um I was
01:21:26
having a charity event uh from for our foundation at w and ey Golf Club um on the cavity Coast Kirsty was a member
01:21:33
there and she was playing in a team uh there and that's how we met so um I guess it's one of those things love it
01:21:40
first s side of kind really yeah and then like you know you've got to have someone that's very understanding of
01:21:47
what you do and what's required and the pressure involved in that but you know I
01:21:52
think every body every good sports person knows that you've got to find the right person that understands what
01:21:59
you're trying to accomplish and you know I guess sometimes that person has to
01:22:02
take a little bit of a backseat to let you do what you want to do incompl because they got to make sacrifices and
01:22:08
you know it's a pretty special person that makes sacrifices and yeah and she
01:22:12
must have made so many sacrifices so now when you get off the phone from say like
01:22:16
Adam or Ryan or whoever and they're asking you to come back for one more round you have to like take a deep
01:22:20
breath before you go hey kiry oh so I was just wondering yeah that's exactly how it
01:22:27
goes but then like if you if you if it's if it's somewhere nice like you know
01:22:31
maybe the tor's on the Gold Coast or it's down in Queenstown well it's good
01:22:34
because it's fun for all of us yeah yeah yeah off here um oh you mentioned your
01:22:38
this charity event that you're running before yeah we haven't even got on to
01:22:41
that yet you've um I mean you've made a lot of money over the years I think for
01:22:44
a time there you were you were recognized as New Zealand's highest paid sports person so or high earning more
01:22:51
than any other sports person in newal but you're also very alteristic um yeah
01:22:55
a $1 million donation to Starship in 2008 yeah I mean people have always you know seem fixated on the
01:23:04
money um but you don't you don't when you you know I've CED since I was you
01:23:10
know since 1976 when I was 13 years of age and it was never about the money it's about a game that you love I'd love
01:23:16
the game of golf and I love catting and it's just fortunate that you get to be
01:23:21
good at what you do and and and the money comes along with it but it was never ever about the money for me I and
01:23:26
it never has been and that and yeah it's like um my wife came up with a very good
01:23:32
project um that the Starship oncology unit needed was needed a founding donor to start their rebuild program to get
01:23:40
the ball rolling and that and um yeah we we we we pledged a million dollars to get that ball rolling and you know it's
01:23:47
fortunate to be able to give that kind of money away and you know I'm not a person person that needs a lot of money
01:23:54
so yes it's a lot of money but it's also you know if someone ask me what's your
01:23:59
career highlight I'd say it's that you know to be able to walk into that
01:24:04
oncology unit at the Starship hospital and it has my wife and curs in my myself name on top of the unit there um yeah
01:24:12
we're that's something probably more proud of than anything to be honest oh
01:24:16
no sh as well you should be as well because I mean it's not like it's not
01:24:19
like your you know it's not like your abil or anything so a million dollar is
01:24:24
um a million dollar is a lot of money for anyone a million dollar is a lot of money for TIG woods but you know a
01:24:29
million dollars for Steven Kirsty Woods of wuku is it's a good thing you did
01:24:34
it's a bloody good thing it it is a good thing but it helps a lot of people you
01:24:38
know and um you know we've had so many people come up to us and say you know
01:24:43
that that unit is so good now compared to what it used to be and uh we thank you so much for that and that but um you
01:24:50
my wife and I it was her idea and um yeah it's a substantial amount of money we know that but it's great to be
01:24:58
able to do that you know yeah and and New Zealand order of Merit you got acknowledged on that as well was that
01:25:04
for the donation or was that for services to golf yeah that was I think it was just a bit of everything you know
01:25:10
um we we we've through my Foundation that we've supported a lot of Junior
01:25:14
golfers throughout the country and we've been heavily involved in in Speedway and
01:25:19
you know all youth Speedway uh through the foundation and and um yeah and then our association with the Starship
01:25:28
hospital so yeah that's a sort of bit of a humbling thing to get made in order to
01:25:33
Merit thing so yeah does yeah do you care about it well yeah absolutely it's
01:25:39
just nice that you you know like you mentioned to me a little earlier about you know Earl Woods Tiger's father one
01:25:48
thing that he was instrumental with is that he said Steve when you carry my son tiger you're going to become very famous
01:25:56
yourself I don't like that word people say you're famous I don't I like the
01:26:00
more the term of you know well-known I don't like that word I don't think
01:26:04
anyone's famous some people are just more wellknown than others but he said Steve you're going to be very well known
01:26:11
and this is where the idea of the foundation came along uh he said you know you'll have the opportunity to make
01:26:16
some difference in some other people's lives and that and um yeah he was he was
01:26:21
amazing to talked it I I guess had never had the idea of what what a foundation was how you run a foundation and that so
01:26:29
my wife and I um took that on board and and she got the ball rolling um and we went to gizman Speedway on
01:26:40
boxing day one year every day I'd go every year we we'd have a circuit around
01:26:45
Christmas time and uh we were driving to gisburn and my on Christmas day which my
01:26:51
wife hated and right rightfully so so I could go and you know do my Speedway passion and and she said um you know
01:27:00
what we going to do she said tomorrow morning we're going to we're going to go
01:27:03
into the warehouse and we're going to get all these boxes of chocolates and we're going to go into one of the local
01:27:08
hospitals there and hand them out to all the kids well that's great and we did
01:27:11
that and that was so rewarding absolutely rewarding and and the next night we after we' raced in gizman we
01:27:18
were driving to napia for the next race meeting and my wife was looking on how on different things and that and she
01:27:25
came across how the the Starship hospital was needing a founding donor to get this you know when they set up a
01:27:32
project that they get a founding donor to set to to set the um the bar started to raise the money for the project that
01:27:40
and that's how it started so it's all my wife and we got that and that's how how
01:27:44
it started were you ever acknowledged by the um you know the hellig foundation or
01:27:48
the hellig sports awards over all your years um is there an award for like um sporting support or ad some sort of
01:27:55
administration no not not through that piss you off no no absolutely not I mean I've you know I've been got the well
01:28:02
been the Wellington Sports person of the year the cap Sports person of the year the cadd Hall of Fame all that kind of
01:28:08
it's you don't you don't you're not doing it to make money you're not doing
01:28:13
it to get recognition you're doing it because you love the game that's I just
01:28:16
love golf I've been on a the golf course you know since I was 5 years old I just
01:28:20
love the game I mean it wouldn't make any difference to me whether not k for
01:28:24
TIG Woods Adam Scott Ray Floyd grigor who I just love being on the golf course you know you have as much fun catting
01:28:30
for a weekend hacker as it is to a pro you know Ian I just love catting it's
01:28:35
hard to explain where the love and how much I loved catting yeah oh that's so special yeah yeah
01:28:43
that's really cool yeah I mean yeah I and I believe you when you say that like
01:28:47
it'd be easy to sit here and go oh this guy's he's a disgruntled golfer you know
01:28:51
there's is saying if you can't do it teach but I I genuinely believe you yeah
01:28:56
you love being on the bag yeah I mean I look I I was as a junior I was you know pretty decent myself I was on a two
01:29:02
handicap when I was 13 so there's nothing to suggest that maybe I couldn't
01:29:06
have been a golf pro I mean I played rugby at the highest level I could play when I was a kid played the New Zealand
01:29:11
school boys um you know when I was 12 years old and that so I played that game at the at the highest level that I could
01:29:18
achieve um and then but the C was something you know it's when you you know you I was almost embarrassed when I
01:29:26
first started cting in my early teenage years to tell people I was a golf Cy because nobody knew anything about
01:29:32
it you're what you're a golf caddy what is that you know I used to live in
01:29:37
devonport then they' say Oh do you C it why a matter yeah yeah I ride my bike down
01:29:44
every day and I C it why a matter but it just I got to the point I didn't tell
01:29:49
people I was a Cy for a long time that because no one knew anything about about it and they seem they it was just such a
01:29:54
strange thing to say because they didn't know anyone like if you say I'm a
01:29:57
mechanic I'm a bulldozer driver truck driver electrician computer it guy what
01:30:02
it might be you know someone that does it yeah it's it's tangible yeah yeah but
01:30:05
you tell someone you're a cat it's like what's that and and have you got any
01:30:09
memorabilia from that time like your white um overalls from the Mages you kept any of them or you just given
01:30:14
everything away for charity auctions yeah I mean I'm not a big person on memorabilia and people find that
01:30:20
fascinating if you walked into our house you would have no idea that I ever worked as a golf C there's not one bit
01:30:26
of memorability anywhere only like a man cave or a games room well yeah I I do but nobody goes in it any me
01:30:37
but a typical thing that caddies do is keep the flags you know when the player wins the tournament you remove the flag
01:30:43
off the pole and keep that and you get the player to sign it and so forth so that's one thing I've done I've kept all
01:30:49
the flags but um a lot of guys have an enormous amount of memorabilia you know I've been fortunate to C in the rider
01:30:57
cup a lot of times and and the President's Cup a lot of time and um yeah I've I've kept none of the
01:31:03
memorabilia I'm just not you know that's just not me sort of thing yeah so what's
01:31:07
in what's in your man cave at home you got the the flags on the wall yeah just
01:31:10
the flags and and from the Masters well all all the torans you know like you know you know I've kept every flag from
01:31:18
every T I've W you so it's a lot of flags why does no one go in there do you
01:31:23
not lead anyone in there or is it just your own special space Oh look I a good question you know you just that's a very
01:31:31
good question I don't know I I I think I'd have um I'd have Goosebumps standing
01:31:34
in that space like the stuff that you guys did together it's it's phenomenal
01:31:38
as we've established time and time again it's never going to be repeated yeah
01:31:41
yeah no look I mean you keep all the best memories in your head so that's kind of what I've done that but um but
01:31:47
as we get older the head's not so reliable oh you've got that right any any um any regrets or anything you
01:31:55
do differently oh apart from not talking about um that partt to Ray Floyd yeah I
01:32:00
mean ultimately I I guess I probably you know to make life easier on myself I should have moved to America and lived
01:32:08
in America because traveling back and forth um was definitely difficult but you know when you I'm passionate about
01:32:15
New Zealand I love everything about New Zealand and you know every time I when the plane
01:32:22
touchdown at home when I come back from America I always had this tingling sensation that you know just like oh I'm
01:32:28
home now you know I don't know just love new but no I wouldn't change anything I
01:32:31
mean I I I love the game of golf I'm fortunate to been in it my whole entire
01:32:36
life and um yeah it's been great me a lot of great people car for a lot of great players and then you know been up
01:32:42
hand up close to arguably the guy that's played golf at the highest level and
01:32:46
we'll never see another guy like Tiger Woods I don't think there's any argument
01:32:49
about it yeah not not not just a great golfer but like one of those um well he's got one name you know this Madonna
01:32:57
Oprah tiger yeah yeah you know like just a just a generation defining athlete it's amazing and you were there like I
01:33:05
think for a lot of guys that are into golf like the their bucketless thing would be to you go and walk around
01:33:10
Augusta but you're talking about being in the the gallery with thousands of other people walking from hole to hole
01:33:15
you were on you were the guy on the fway for years and years and years you know front row seat to the best golfer in the
01:33:21
world yeah look I mean it's only when you step away from it it's only been
01:33:26
probably in the last couple years since I've retired that and because when you're cting you know
01:33:32
you're always on to the next week doesn't matter who you're catting for
01:33:35
you're on to the next tourament that and you're always trying to work out how we
01:33:38
can get better how how you know what can we do to get better this week and so forth I always big on on stats and
01:33:44
keeping my own kind of stats as to all the different shots of players hitting that and how you can improve and sort of
01:33:50
thing but it's only been since since I've stepped away from the game a little
01:33:53
bit that I've had time to reflect um you know on the on the journey and you know
01:33:59
obviously been fortunate to car for some good players but you know in particular
01:34:02
the car for the guy that's arguably the greatest player that's ever played the
01:34:09
game and arguably one of the greatest sport stars ever um to be have the front row seat and be part of that is is very
01:34:17
special and something that um is very memorable obviously yeah actually actually not just a front row seat but
01:34:23
you know like an advisor role as well like part of the success yeah yeah well I mean it's good because we had such a
01:34:29
great relationship and that and and and you know there there's several Ts that
01:34:33
you know I was adamant on the last hole that you know I know what I'm talking
01:34:38
about here T you just got to trust me and that and and you know he'd go with
01:34:41
that and um you know win the Tor so you know he he um you know like his generosity and his thankfulness
01:34:53
was amazing how you know that that went with him yeah what did it like a bonus look like or a Christmas present oh look
01:34:59
I mean he invited um my whole family not just myself but my mom and dad the whole
01:35:05
the whole nine yards to take his boat for a week wherever he wanted to you like yeah so um little a little tinny a
01:35:13
little Runabout yeah so he's got a he's got an amazing boat and we yeah was it called
01:35:20
privacy yeah so we had we we took that to the Caribbean for a week and you know lived
01:35:25
large for a week on that and that and um you God he's chucked me the keys to a
01:35:30
couple of different cars and you know it just like a you know when you work with
01:35:35
somebody and you have have big success he made you feel pretty special too which was nice yeah that's great and
01:35:41
who's Fred Fred Rama um I'm a big sprint car fan um obviously you know I raced myself for
01:35:50
number of years but I I follow follow Sprint car racing big time uh and Freddy Ramo is a Hall of Famer Sprint car
01:35:56
driver out of Pennsylvania and he's he's my number one guy he's actually retired
01:36:00
now and his two he his two sons race but um for a number of years uh I frequented
01:36:06
or not every year I go and see the rers out of Pennsylvania the Sprint car team and I'm passionate about I love Sprint
01:36:14
car racing please tell me you've got a selfie with Freddie actually I do have a photo with
01:36:19
Freddy and yeah I'd never driven I'd never driven a Sprint car I I drove s saloons and super
01:36:27
saloons back in New Zealand here and every year I go to the racetrack with them and that and and and one night he
01:36:32
he made me drive the car after the race meeting and that so that was pretty exciting got some pretty cool but uh
01:36:39
yeah and was quite surprised to got this car up the speed quite quickly so I was
01:36:43
pretty impressed with that yeah well how good hey well thank you so much for coming over today and coming on the
01:36:47
podcast I've probably taken up enough of your time I could pick your brains and
01:36:50
listen to your stories folks for days um yeah it's amazing what a career what a
01:36:55
life yeah no look it's great to be on your podcast then I know it's hugely
01:36:59
popular podcast my fan my wife is a big fan of yours so when I told her that I was coming in she's pretty excited but
01:37:05
uh yeah look it's nice to share you know your your story with others and you know
01:37:10
I'm I'm a big person and believing that anything's achievable I always wanted to
01:37:15
be a caddy and I always wanted to cadd in the major championships and and and I was successful in doing that and I'm a
01:37:20
great believer in I think uh you know too too many young people get told by others that you know you can't do this
01:37:27
you can't do that everything is achievable that's what I'm a great believer in telling kids that if you if
01:37:33
you believe you can do something and and you are dedicated to the task you can do
01:37:38
anything um so and I'm that's exactly the same sentiment that with my son that
01:37:42
he wants to be the best scooter ride in the world well if you put your mind to it and you do what it takes to get there
01:37:47
you can do it and that applies to any kid any sport that they do so I I love telling kids that you know you've got to
01:37:53
Dream High and one of my big things is uh and and this probably came from Tigers like the day that I went to
01:38:00
interview with Ty not interview but talk about cting for him you know he he had one list he had two lists on his wall
01:38:07
one is all Jack Nicholas's achievement through his amateur career his pro career and on the other side tiger had
01:38:14
up until the time where he was where he had matched Jack and that so you know he
01:38:17
knew Jack was The Benchmark and and he was you know trying to of that throughout every stage of his career and
01:38:24
I'm huge on writing down goals and um you know my son does that he he does it
01:38:30
daily weekly monthly yearly and I I tell all kids in that um that's what you want
01:38:35
to do is write your goals down so that you can see them every day what am I trying to achieve today what is it I'm
01:38:40
trying to achieve this week this month and this year and and you know you give yourself a pat on the bat you celebrate
01:38:46
when you succeed and then when you don't you work harder you know when you haven't got to where you can why didn't
01:38:50
I get there evaluate why I didn't get there work harder to get to the next level and yeah so um yeah fortunate to
01:38:59
worked for some very good athletes and had the opportunity to talk to a number of leading athletes in other sports
01:39:05
because of the people that I've been associated with and I haven't you know
01:39:08
I've picked their brains and um got a lot of good information yeah it's funny
01:39:12
I'm I'm guessing one of the one of the common threads you found with all those
01:39:15
people whether it's um you know Jack Nicholas Jordan whoever it's hard work
01:39:20
there there's nothing replaces hard work and that's what you know the superow
01:39:24
that's what people don't realize like you know catting for someone like Tiger
01:39:28
Woods is obviously an enjoyable job but the hard work that he puts in the practice that he put in the dedication
01:39:34
that he put in and the drills that he had out that he had to do every day to succeed in what he wanted to do you
01:39:40
don't see that kind of work I mean everybody it doesn't matter what the tigle was everybody that gets the top is
01:39:46
on the sport what is the common thread well it's hard work and dedication sure
01:39:49
you got to have talent I mean every everybody's got to have talent but you've got you've got to be so dedicated
01:39:54
to the task and you you can't replace hard work I mean Michael Jordan will tell you that you know I mean like he I
01:40:00
I love talking to him about you know the practice and you know Eric Murray I don't know if you've had Eric on the
01:40:07
podcast he was great um and and he he's a great guy to talk to my son was involved in rowing and that and you know
01:40:13
Eric said I was unorthodox might not been the biggest guy not might have been the strongest guy but I outworked every
01:40:19
guy and when I got onto that onto the you know the starting um and the boys to start and
01:40:26
I'd look across here he'd know that i' he he knew that he'd worked harder than
01:40:30
all of them and I'm going to beat you because I've worked harder and that's
01:40:33
you know there's just no substitute for hard work it it is quite disappointing
01:40:36
when you realize natural Talent is sort of a myth like there can be a certain level of natural talent but without hard
01:40:42
work you're not going to get anywhere yeah some some guys are gifted W with some natural talent I mean I for Adam
01:40:48
Scott there he's probably one of the most naturally gifted golfers there ever
01:40:52
has been but has he has he further you know could he have been better with hard work absolutely yeah so well one one
01:41:00
final question so I'm from um I'm I'm 10 years younger than you but I'm from
01:41:03
paliston North and we used to go down to Patu quite a bit and there was a hydr slide there on the waterfront and um m
01:41:10
one day there was a a myth that came around this is pre- Internet that someone had put razor blades in there
01:41:14
and some kid had got cut to ribbons and after that day we weren't allowed to go
01:41:17
on that hydr slide anymore um with your local knowledge were there ever any razor blades on that Hydra slide well
01:41:24
yeah did you hear that rumor that that uh sadly was a very true story and of course that actually yeah yeah and and
01:41:31
but the great thing is that slide's no longer there there's a skat park there we'll leave it at that okay
01:41:38
awesome all right hey Steve Williams you're a great New Zealander thanks so much for your time today mate I really
01:41:42
appreciate it it's been an honor yeah awesome now great to be on it good luck
01:41:45
for the the show and U yeah I'll be listening to your next guest