When Tiger Woods seemed invulnerable, there was only one thing that could have stopped and it was his former caddie, Steve Williams.

As Williams once revealed, “It was an incredible statistic that if Tiger hit 65% of the fairways and didn’t 3-par, you couldn’t beat him.” So, what could prevent such a golfer from winning?

“Sometimes when he was in unbelievable sublime form, the only thing that could prevent him from winning would be me. If there was some bad club selection, some bad advice.”

Williams acknowledged the kind of pressure it put on him while caddying for Tiger Woods. The duo had set a target of 21 major wins in total. And that hunger to win caused part of that pressure, as Williams once hypocrisy.

"But I felt a tremendous amount of pressure caddying for Tiger. A successful week is just a win. Some guys are happy to be top five, top 10. If he doesn't win, he's not happy and when you get certain lengths of time when he's not winning, it's a tough job because you're feeling the pressure."

That's why when it came to motivating Woods, Williams adopted a unique method. 

Steve Williams Revealed a Secret Motivation For Tiger Woods

Back in April 2025, Williams appeared on The Loop podcast to talk about his book, ‘Together We Roared'.

"When he'd get into a situation where things weren't going well, I'd say 'Okay, Tiger, in the next six holes, I'll give you $100 for every fairway you hit and you give me $100 for every fairway you miss. I'll give you $100 for every green [in regulation] you hit and you'll give me $100 for every green you miss. He hates to lose to anyone, but he hates to lose to me as well. And that would sometimes just make him -- you think you're playing in a golf tournament, obviously you're trying as hard as you can, but that would just take away a little bit of the thought of not doing so well.”

Williams’ reflections underline how dominant Woods truly was at his peak. When execution reached that level, even the smallest decisions mattered, and the caddie’s role shifted from support to safeguarding greatness.

Written by

Krushna Pattnaik

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar