The Loop
This fax announcing Steve Williams as Tiger Woods' new caddie is dripping with nostalgia
Ah, the simple days of the late '90s: Fax machines, dial-up Internet, and Tiger Woods and Steve Williams ready to take on the world together.
Courtesy of the Associated Press' esteemed golf writer Doug Ferguson, check out this fax sent out by IMG in March 1999 announcing Woods had hired Williams as his caddie. [#twitter: https://twitter.com/dougferguson405/status/588868983358525440] Some highlights:
-- Woods euphemistically announcing that he and his first pro caddie, Mike "Fluff" Cowan, will "part ways." "It is time to move on, and I feel confident we will remain friends," Woods said.
-- Williams only took up with Woods after receiving a blessing from then-employer Raymond Floyd, who was 56 at the time. Could you imagine the level of resentment Williams would have had if Floyd said no and Williams then had to watch Tiger rattle off 13 majors without him?
-- Williams as Woods' caddie was broached initially by Woods' coach Butch Harmon. Harmon himself was gone from Woods' camp a few years later.
Of course nothing in golf lasts forever. Williams, too, was fired in 2011, which Woods announced on his website (prompting a response from Williams on his website).
As far as we know, no fax machines were involved.