Tiger's affairs 'most difficult time' of Williams' life

Tiger Woods' long-time New Zealand caddie insists he knew nothing about the string of affairs that has besmirched the career of the world No 1 golfer.

Steve Williams says he was oblivious to Woods' string of extra-marital affairs and subsequent fall from grace and is bitter at the subsequent reaction towards him from the media and members of the public.

"It's been the most difficult time of my life, no two ways about it, because every single person believed that I should know or did know or had something to do with it," Williams told TV3's 60 Minutes programme.

"I knew nothing, that's my answer. I don't have to clarify or extend that answer, I knew nothing."

Williams has been Woods' caddie for 11 years and admitted the pair had formed a tight friendship but that seemingly didn't extend to Woods' after-hour activities.

"If the shoe was on someone else, I would say the same thing. It would be very difficult as a caddie not to know but I'm 100 percent telling you, I did not know, and that's that.

"I'm a straight-up sort of person. If I had known something was going on, the whistle would have been blown."

Williams said he was angry at Woods when the revelations first broke but he has resisted the urge to berate the golfer, believing his role was that of a friend -- something the winner of 14 major golf championships needed more than anything at the moment.

"Of course I'm mad at him, why would you not be?" Williams said.

"I'm close with his wife and he's got two lovely children and he's let them down.

"(But) When a guy's having a tough time, it's not up to me to beat him with a stick right now. He's getting enough grilling from everybody else.

"When you're a true friend of somebody, that's when somebody needs your support and need you the most. That's when you don't walk away. Tiger's one of my closest friends and he needs my support right now and I'd never think of walking away.

"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."

Williams said Woods had recently hit balls on the practice range but was committed to returning to golf only when he felt he was back in top form.

The long-serving caddie said he hadn't followed the PGA Tour from afar and had deliberately remained focused on outside interests to keep his mind off the controversy surrounding Woods.

He has spent more time than expected working for his charities, racing speedway and spending time on his 6ha property in rural west Auckland.

"Every week I try to focus on something to keep my mind off it. You try to deal with it as best you can but in some peoples' perception, I'm involved in it, I've committed a crime, I've done wrong or whatever it may be."

Williams' wife Kirsty said her husband had come in for unreasonable attention, notably from what she believed was uninformed commentators in the United States.

"It is tough. It's hard seeing someone you love have that to deal with," she said.

"He's just seen as a bad guy. He was always seen as a bad guy and now they think he's even worse. People are calling for him to be fired, it's just not fair.

"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."