Legendary caddie reveals Tiger Woods' expletive-laden reaction to upset US teammates

Legendary caddie Billy Foster has lifted the lid on what it was like to caddie for Tiger Woods for one week during the hall of famer's illustrious career. 

Foster looped for Woods' at the 2005 Presidents Cup as his then bagman, Steve Williams, took a week off for the birth of his first child. 

At the time, Foster was carrying the sticks for Darren Clarke. 

Foster recently told the most recent edition of the Rick Shiels Golf Show that Woods approached Clarke on the range during the 2005 PGA Tour event at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.

Woods asked Clarke if he would be cool with the one-week arrangement. Clarke, Foster said, then asked: "What are you going to do?" 

"And Westy [Lee Westwood] is hitting balls at the side and he turns around and says, 'Hey Billy, if you don't work for him, I will,' said Foster. "And I went, 'Good point, Lee.'"

Foster agreed but over the next few weeks he had heard there was some unease in the Team USA camp that a European was going to be in the locker room. 

Foster said: "So I went to Tiger a few weeks later, the next time I saw him I said, 'Tiger, I understand there's a bit of unrest in the camp - they don't want me to caddie for you.' 

"He just went, 'F--- them Billy, you're caddying'.  "I went, 'Alright mate, fair enough.'"

The US team ultimately won the 2005 Presidents Cup by three points over the International side. Woods went 2-3-0. 

"I wouldn't swap lives with you"

Foster said that week was like winding the clock back to the days he caddied for the late, great Seve Ballesteros. 

"There are only two people I've ever worked for where you feel that aura and the excitement of the crowd," Foster said. 

"Everywhere [you] go, it's like, 'Wow, this is another level'. 

"Walking through that crowd - the noise levels were just a joke. Screaming and shouting, caddying, pen marks all over him, hats on sideways. I needed to get out of there - my ears were bleeding.

"We walked up to the first tee, it was set back on its own, nobody there apart from me.

"I remember stopping and saying, 'Tiger, I've got to tell you something. You might have any woman in the world you want, you might be a billionaire, the best golfer that's ever played the game - but I wouldn't swap lives with you.'

"And he went, 'Thanks for that Billy, at least somebody understands what I have to go through.'"

What surprised Foster the most

Foster said he was a little bit apprehensive working for Woods given he "is the chosen one".  

But he soon realised that the 15-time major champion, now 49, was just an ordinary man. 

"His manners - that was the one thing that stood out to me," Foster said. "Absolutely impeccable. 'Please' and 'thank you' for everything. I like that.

"He was struggling with his game a little bit, but still showed me enough to go, 'Oh my God - how good is this? This is another level."

After Woods acrimoniously split with the aforementioned Williams in 2011, there were whispers that Foster would be approached as the replacement. 

Foster told the pod he was prepared to turn down Woods in that scenario as he and Westwood were the perfect match. 

Woods is currently recovering from his latest back surgery. 

Last week, he fell out of the world's top 2000 in the OWGR for the first time. 

Our Andy Roberts believes the 2027 Open at St Andrews must now be his farewell to the sport.