Tiger Woods Dumps Longtime Caddie Steve Williams

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David Cannon / Getty Images

Tiger Woods pulls a club from his bag alongside caddie Steve Williams

A golfer-caddie relationship is a rare thing in sports. When a player is out on the course, his caddie is his only crutch. So most golfers hang on to them for years until it’s time for a drastic change.

Tiger announced today that he was dumping Williams, his caddie for 12 years and 13 major championships, saying: “I want to express my deepest gratitude to Stevie for all his help, but I think it’s time for a change.”

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While it’s unclear exactly why Tiger parted ways with his long-time caddie, their relationship has certainly been strained since Woods failed to tell Williams about his years of extramarital relations. And it certainly hasn’t helped that Tiger hasn’t won a tournament in two years and has been sidelined with injuries since his mistress debacle unraveled in late 2009. Tiger hasn’t played in a tournament since May.

Tiger dumping Williams is a sign that perhaps bigger changes are in store for the former top-ranked golfer in the world. In the meantime, what will Williams do? While he could almost certainly rest on his earnings when he was with Tiger, he recently carried Masters runner-up Adam Scott’s bag. Maybe a new partnership between the Australian and the New Zealander are in store.

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