LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods' longtime caddie, Steve Williams, insists he was in the dark when it comes to the embattled golfer's extramarital affairs.
"I knew nothing, that's my answer. I don't have to clarify or extend that answer, I knew nothing." Williams told New Zealand TV3's 60 Minutes.
It's an answer that Williams has given before, but one the public has a hard time believing considering he's also one of Woods' closest friends off the course.
"If the shoe was on somebody else, I would say the same thing," Williams admitted. "It would be very difficult for the caddie not to know, but I'm 100 percent telling you, I knew nothing and that's that."
So would he have ended Woods' admitted infidelity had he known about it?
"I'm a straight-up sort of person. If I had known something was going on, the whistle would have been blown. He knows that," said Williams.
While Woods has seen his public image take a beating, Williams admitted that the scandal has also been challenging on him.
"It's been the most difficult time of my life, no two ways about it, because every single person believes that I should know, or did know, or had something to do with it," he explained.
Even Williams' wife, Kirsty, said it's been difficult watching the media frenzy surrounding the affair scandal.
"It is tough. It's hard seeing someone you love have that to deal with," she said of Woods, who was best man at her wedding. "Tiger and Elin are our good friends and it's hard to see them going through this and then to have the public and media [scrutiny]. You certainly learn a lot about people in these situations."
She also takes offense to the public scrutiny that has surrounded her own husband.
"He's just seen as a bad guy. He was always seen as a bad guy and now they think he's even worse," she said. "People are calling for him to be fired, it's just not fair."
Although the situation has been difficult, Williams said he'd "never think of walking away" from his close friend.
"Of course I'm mad at him, why would you not be?" Williams said. "I'm more disappointed that he's let his family down and let himself down. I'm close with his wife and he's got two lovely children and he's let them down."
Williams said he plans to discuss the affair scandal with Woods, but now is not the right time for that.
"When a guy's having a tough time, it's not up to me to beat him with a stick right now," he said. "He's getting enough grilling from everybody else. I'm a friend right now. There's a time and a place for everything. Obviously, at some point in time I'll have a conversation with him, but not right now. I'm fully supportive of him and I'd like to see him get back to playing on the PGA Tour. That's my role right now."
Woods is still in the midst of his indefinite leave from the game and Williams said it's still anyone's guess when he'll return. Whenever that day does come, Williams is confident Woods will bounce back strongly.
"I think he will," said Williams. "Tiger's biggest asset is his mental strength. He's going to need all of that mental strength to get out of this one, no question about it.
"I stand by Tiger as a friend. When I talk to him, I don't talk to him about what's happened. I talk to him about the future and about what we're going to try to accomplish and how we're going to get over it."
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