How Phil Mickelson responded to Tiger Woods’ caddie when he said he did not like him and has no respect

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Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods have a long-standing, contentious rivalry that has spanned a quarter of a century.

They were the two colossal figures of golf, constantly duelling it out for the sport’s biggest prizes, but also two diametrically opposed personalities.

Tiger Woods was laser-focused and intense, working relentlessly towards the single aim of winning as much as he possibly could. Before Bryson DeChambeau, he was the scientist. 

Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson was the artist. A larger-than-life personality who approached the game with flair and charisma, using creativity to pull off shots never seen before. He was golf’s gambler, and it both won and lost him tournaments. 

These conflicting personalities struggled to get along, and that was clear when Woods and Mickelson had a disastrous Ryder Cup as a pairing in 2004. But their issues went far beyond the golf course, and even spilled over to a rift between Woods’ caddie and Mickelson. 

Phil Mickelson responded to Tiger Woods’ caddie saying he didn’t respect him

In 2008, at a charity event in New Zealand of all places, Woods’ caddie Steve Williams made some scathing comments about Mickelson. 

Speaking to a crowd of around 250 people, Williams said, “I don’t particularly like the guy [Mickelson]. He pays me no respect at all, and hence I don’t pay him any respect. It’s no secret we don’t get along either.”

Unsurprisingly, those words didn’t land well in the Mickelson camp. But instead of firing back directly, the six-time major winner decided to send a passive-aggressive dig Williams’ way instead.

Mickelson said, “After seeing Steve Williams’ comments, all I could think of was how lucky I am to have a class act like Bones [Jim Mackay] on my bag and representing me.”

A well-respected caddie, Mackay was at the center of Ryder Cup controversy in 2023 as he tried to defuse a blow-up between Rory McIlroy and Joe LaCava, another former caddie of Woods’.

Controversy seems to follow the caddies of the greatest golfer of all time! 

Why Tiger Woods fired Steve Williams at the 2011 US Open

Williams’ firing in 2011 had nothing to do with Mickelson. Instead, it was Australian Adam Scott who found himself at the center of this saga. 

It all happened at the 2011 U.S. Open, when Woods withdrew from the event. Williams explained on the Dom Harvey Podcast: 

“Tiger hadn’t played in a few weeks, but he was adamant he was going to play in that tournament, so great. Then he announced on that Friday that he wasn’t going to play in that tournament.

“We had already left New Zealand to head to the tournament and it just happened to be that Adam Scott called me. He said, ‘I see Tiger’s pulled out of the tournament, any chance you could caddie for me?’

“I said, ‘Yeah, I think that should be alright’. I then rang Tiger, and he said, ‘Yeah, no problem’. So that was all good. Then we fly to America, and then we were going onwards to Washington to Congressional.

“But then Tiger changed his mind. We had already got there, and I had my father-in-law and my friend as I say with me. I had already said yes to Adam, and I thought to myself, ‘I dunno what’s the big deal, I’m going to caddie for the guy’.

I didn’t see the big deal about it. And yeah, so I caddie for [Scott], and that was the end of the story. Tiger, for one reason or another, he told me yes, then disapproved it. He basically said to me, ‘Well, if you go ahead and do i,t then I’ll fire you.’

“I thought he was joking. It got me by surprise. I had supported him and feel like I had done a great job for him and had done everything he had ever asked of me.”

He wasn’t joking. A week later, Woods fired Williams, and Williams caddied full-time for Scott. It was the end of an incredible partnership, which saw the duo win 13 major championships together.