WORLD NUMBER eight Adam Scott has defended his decision not to sack caddie Steve Williams in the wake of last week’s racism row and hopes the matter is now closed.
Williams, sacked by Tiger Woods this summer, landed himself in trouble when he told the audience at an awards dinner for caddies in Shanghai last week the aim of his celebration when Scott won a world championship event in August was “to shove it right up that black a*******”.
The New Zealander subsequently apologised and Woods on Tuesday said he had discussed the matter with his former bagman at this week’s Australian Open and had now drawn a line under the episode.
Scott, who issued a statement earlier this week condemning Williams’ comments but saying he would not sack the New Zealander, said it was “probably a good thing that they did (shake hands)”.
“He’s a part of my team and it was all unfortunate and I felt that if I spoke up I could say my piece and I wouldn’t need to deal with it any more,” the 31-year-old told his pre-tournament press conference in Sydney.
“I think it’s a very unfortunate circumstance, we don’t need that in the game, and I wanted to put an end to it and I feel like I have.
“Everyone has their own opinions about the subject so I’ve stood by mine and said all I have to say about it, really.”
The Australian rejected suggestions the row affected his game last week. He was third going into the final round of the HSBC Champions event in China but shot 73 to finished tied 11th.
“I don’t think that affected my golf swing, I would say it was just a coincidence,” he added.
Woods, meanwhile, is confident he can once again dominate the sport in which he was almost untouchable for more than a decade.
The American won 14 majors in an 11-year-period from 1997 but has not added to that total since his last victory at the US Open in June 2008, when his injury problems began.
Since then he has also had to deal with lurid revelations about his private life, gone through a divorce and had a number of other fitness-related issues.
He has returned to the country where he registered his last tournament victory of any kind two years ago (at the JWB Masters in Melbourne) and tees off in the Australian Open in Sydney fully believing he can return to the pinnacle of golf.
Asked whether he can dominate again Woods, 36 next month, replied: “Absolutely. I know that Vijay (Singh) was like that well into his 40s. I think he’s won more tournaments than anybody in the history of our sport in their 40s – I’m not there yet, by the way.”
Woods’ restricted playing schedule for personal reasons as well as injuries has seen his world ranking slip to 58.
He has put that into perspective and is intent of climbing back up the standings next year.
“It’s understandable. I hadn’t played,” he added in his pre-tournament press conference. “I had a really good year two years ago in 2009 where I think I won six or seven tournaments around the world, so those points all came off this year and I didn’t make any points back.
“Next year’s going to be fun because basically I have nothing and I’m not really losing any points. So I’ll have nothing but positive gains next year. By playing well, by winning golf tournaments I’ll climb the world rankings.”
