Greg Norman says his former caddie Steve Williams is not a racist and that Adam Scott was right not to fire him for a bigoted jibe he made about Tiger Woods in Shanghai.
Williams made a derogatory and racist comment about former employer Woods at the annual Caddie Awards dinner after receiving the prize for the season's best celebration after Scott's Bridgestone Invitational win. Woods is set to hold a press conference in Sydney tonight but it is unclear whether he will be willing to talk about the incident.
Before helping Woods win 13 major titles, the New Zealander had worked with Norman for seven years, and the Australian said he thought his former caddie had mistakenly thought he was in an "restricted environment" when he made the remark.
"Steve's not a racist, not at all," the 56-year-old former world No 1 said ahead of the Australian Open. "We've all made stupid comments at stupid times, unfortunately his stupid comment became global news and I know he probably regrets it.
"But I guarantee you in that room, that night, there were some heavier things said.
"Because of the temperature of what was going on between the two of them, anything that was said was going to exacerbate that feeling. I hope it gets resolved. Golf doesn't need it, golf needs Tiger back playing great golf the way he used to.
"Golf needs the cohesiveness that's always existed. There's always been underlying currents, not everybody loves each other, and if we dislike each other, we just have a tendency of parting our ways and not seeing each other.
"To have it played out the way it has has been sad for the game of golf."
Scott and Woods will both play at the Australian Open at the Lakes Golf Club this week before lining up on opposite sides at the Presidents Cup in Melbourne next week.
Norman, the captain of the international side at the Presidents Cup, said he did not think Williams would be an issue between the two players and backed Scott's decision to stand by his caddie.
"Adam's a professional," he said. "Whatever Steve's said was Steve's opinion, not Adam's.
"Steve obviously does a great job for Adam because Adam's been playing some great golf since Steve's been on his bag. I don't think there's any issue between Tiger and Adam at all."
Norman acknowledged there could be some awkwardness when Woods crosses paths with Williams this week.
"Does he like to hear the things that run around? No, of course he doesn't but he's a strong-minded professional and I don't see him having problems with it at all," Norman said.
"He'll walk by Steve and who knows what happens? He'll have prepared himself in his mind much as Steve has prepared himself in his mind so ... it's all done, it's been said, it's in the past."
Scott, ranked No 8 in the world, personally apologised in a statement and said it was time to move on from the controversy.
"I have discussed this matter directly with Steve and he understands and supports my view on this subject," Scott said.
"I also accept Steve's apology, knowing that he meant no racial slur with his comments.
"On behalf of my team, I apologise personally to everyone that was offended by the reported comments. Please accept this apology so we can all move on."
