Golf
Paddy cools caddy sacking talk
2011-11-08 14:11
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Padraig Harrington (File)
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Singapore -Three-time major-winner Padraig Harrington on Tuesday refused to join calls for Adam Scott to sack his caddy over a race row which has shocked golf.
Harrington said it was entirely up to the Australian whether to stick with caddy Steve Williams after he made a well-publicised racial slur against his long-time former boss Tiger Woods.
"It really is up to them," Harrington said. "Caddies have changed hands for many reasons. Some very fickle, some very serious.
"It's always much more to do with the player and the caddy and things going on. Unless you're involved you don't know what's happening."
But Harrington said he hoped Williams, who has apologised to Woods over the incident, was able to smooth over relations which have been rocky since their split this year.
"Hopefully for such a long relationship that they had together it would be nice if they could find some common ground," said the Irishman. "You can't give up 13 years of your life. It was a great 13 years for both of them."
Scott has refused to contemplate parting ways with New Zealander Williams, who told an awards dinner he wanted to "shove it right up that black arsehole" when celebrating a victory with his new partner.
The US PGA and European Tour condemned the comment as "entirely unacceptable" but ruled out taking further action.
Woods Tuesday described Williams' words as "hurtful" but denied that his former colleague, with whom he won 13 of his 14 major titles, was a racist.