Steve Williams needs to know his role

You all know by now that I'm a huge WWE fan. In the 90's Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson became a star in wrestling not only for his in-ring talent, but because of his quotes. Anytime another wrestler stepped out of line, The Rock would tell him to "know your role." That quote is applicable in several facets of life including sports. As a matter of fact, our free sportsmanship booklet - Through a Child's Eyes: A Parents Guide to Improving Youth Sports emphasizes the point that sports would be more enjoyable if everyone knew their roles. You can order as many copies you'd like by clicking on the link in the previous sentence. Over the weekend, caddy Steve Williams stepped out of his role at the conclusion of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Tiger Woods fired Williams as his caddy a couple of weeks ago. Williams has expressed public disappointment over the firing as he had been alongside Woods for 13 of his 14 major championships. Golfer Adam Scott has since hired Williams and the two made their debut as a team at the WGC-Bridgestone. Scott won the tournament and Woods finished 18 shots back. One would think that Scott's performance would be vindication enough for Williams. Oh, no. Williams has made friends with every live microphone in the sports universe. His comments about Woods and his failure to mention Scott's play caused a severe backlash in the golf world.

Unwritten rules exist in every sport. One of golf's is that caddies don't do interviews. The caddy's role is to help his pro win. He's not there to take undo credit nor garner the spotlight for himself. Watch Adam Scott's response when asked about his caddy's behavior (email subscribers click here).



Williams was also quoted as saying, "I would like to thank all the fans who made this victory the most special of my career." Come again. Williams doesn't have any PGA victories. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not taking shots at caddies. They are extremely valuable to their golfers and an indispensable part of the game. However, Williams is the only caddy I have honestly ever heard of. Without using your search engine, can anyone even name Phil Mickelson's caddy? No? How about Rory McIlRoy? Snake eyes again, huh? Perhaps Arnold Palmer's caddy is a bigger name. Still nothing?

My point is that most other caddies accept their role and do their jobs proudly. Chaos ensues when we step out of our roles in sports. The Williams-Woods-Scott drama will remain a mess until someone figures out his role. I'll let you guess who that is. Until next time...

Be a Good Sport!

-Sol