Golf: Caddy gets a ticking-off from Tiger

Tiger Woods gave his New Zealand caddy Steve Williams a verbal flick after a blunder at the third hole went a long way to cutting him out of green jacket contention yesterday.

He took a driver at the par-4, 320m No 3.

Woods said he wanted to hit a 2-iron, but Williams talked him into hitting a driver. The result: a double bogey 6.

"I just made a mental blunder," Woods said. "It was a bad decision. I wanted to hit iron, but Stevie said it would be better to get the ball down there and have an easy pitch from there.

"Ultimately it's the player's call, and ultimately I made the wrong decision."

Woods shot a 3-over 75, to finish on 290, 9 shots behind the winner, Mike Weir.