The New Zealander Steve Williams, former American Tiger Woods’ ex-addie and currently with the Australian Adam Scott, has not been finally sanctioned for his racist statements about the former world number one tennis player after a match in China.
After the final round of the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, Williams, who was alongside Woods in 13 of his 14 ‘major’ tournament victories, made disparaging remarks during the HSBC Champions awards gala in front of European Tour chief George O’Grady and U.S. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem when he claimed his intention in Akron was to “whip that black asshole.”
The two leaders subsequently disassociated themselves from the New Zealander’s opinion and issued a joint statement on behalf of the PGA on the incident. “The PGA Tour International Federation firmly believes that there is no place for any form of racism in this or any other sport. Steve Williams’ statements are totally unacceptable in any context,” they said in the statement.
“We are aware that he has fully apologized and are confident that we will not hear such comments ever again. On this basis, we consider the matter closed, and we have no further comment,” they added.”
Australian Scott, for whom the New Zealander has acted as caddie since August, hopes the matter is now closed. “Hopefully now that everyone has said that the matter is now closed and hopefully we can move on,” he said.
Williams had already apologized on Saturday in a statement. “I am sorry for the words I uttered yesterday – Friday – evening. I now realize that my comments could be considered racist. I apologize to Tiger and everyone I offended,” he said.
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