Golf:Adam Scott stood by his caddy Steve Williams in Shanghai today as golf sought a quick resolution to the controversy surrounding the New Zealander's racist remark about Tiger Woods.
At the Annual Caddy Awards dinner in China on Friday, Williams went on stage to receive the prize for the season's best celebration after Scott's Bridgestone Invitational win in August and made an extremely derogatory comment about his former employer.
The remark was made to a private audience which included members of the media and threatened to overshadow the HSBC Champions, the final World Golf Championship (WGC) event of the season.
However, after sleeping on the comment, Williams issued a clear apology to Woods on his website before caddying for Scott in the third round at the Sheshan International Club.
“I apologise for comments I made last night,” stated the 47-year-old New Zealander, who had told the audience at the dinner that the aim of his celebration when Scott won a world championship in August was “to shove it right up that black a*******”.
Continuing his statement, Williams said: “Players and caddies look forward to this evening all year and the spirit is always joking and fun. I now realise how my comments could be construed as racist. However, I assure you that was not my intent. I sincerely apologise to Tiger and anyone else I have offended.”
After shooting a 69 to sit three shots behind leader Fredrik Jacobson, Scott resisted calls to fire the man he hired in August after Williams had parted company with long-time employer Woods.
"Steve issued a statement and apologised and did the right thing," Scott said. "That's all there is to say about that from my side of things. He did the right thing and it’s not an issue for me.
"I disagree that he should be sacked. I think everything in that room last night was all in good spirits and bit of fun and I think it probably got taken out of that room in the wrong context.
"Look, anything with Tiger involved is a story, but I value Steve's contribution to my game and while he is caddying I hope he can caddy for me."
Former world number one Woods' spokesman and manager Mark Steinberg also appeared to want the matter concluded quickly.
"I was with Tiger last night when he heard the news. We got multiple calls from people who sounded like they were leaving the caddy party," he said. "Tiger obviously wasn't there. He doesn't know exactly what was said.
“But if multiple reports, which all seem to be accurate, are true then it is sad it has come down to this.
It's a regrettable comment and there's really nothing that Tiger can do or say. He's just going to move on."
Williams caddied for Woods from 1999-2011, during which time the American won 13 of his 14 major titles with the New Zealander on his bag.
