Scott needs to fire Stevie yesterday

Philadelphia, PA – Adam Scott must fire caddie Steve Williams as soon as humanly possible.

There can be no excuses, no defense, nothing. Williams has to become unemployed immediately.

At the caddie awards, an informal, good-time kind of event, Williams was asked to explain his comments following new employer Scott's victory in August at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

According to The Telegraph, Williams replied, in reference to Tiger Woods, "My aim was to shove it right up that black ar--hole."

Williams believed he was off-the-record, but reporters printed it, so here we are.

And this was his apology on his website: "I apologize for comments I made last night at the Annual Caddy Awards dinner in Shanghai. Players and caddies look forward to this evening all year and the spirit is always joking and fun. I now realize how my comments could be construed as racist. However I assure you that was not my intent. I sincerely apologize to Tiger and anyone else I have offended."

If a caddie becomes a distraction, he's not doing his job. When Williams made his previous idiotic, misguided comments after Scott won in Akron ("I have been caddying for more than 30 years now and that is the best win of my life"), Scott had to answer for that in his pre-PGA Championship presser.

Now, once again, Scott will have to answer for his caddie.

More than once is too many times to have to field questions about your caddie's behavior. Williams is great at the job, but a pro has a lot more to worry about than defending his looper.

If Scott doesn't fire Williams after this, it reflects beyond poorly on himself.

Racism should not be tolerated in any line of work. Period, end of discussion. And let's be clear: Whether Williams thought he was off-the-record or not, the inclusion of the word "black" in his comment gives it racial overtones.

If he said he wanted to "shove it right up Woods' you-know-where," he's probably the hit of the party. The crowd was largely European Tour-based players with no allegiance to Tiger.

It's impossible to brand someone racist without knowing what's in his heart, and truthfully, it's hard to imagine Williams could be a racist after working so closely with Woods for so long. They were in each other's weddings, for God's sake.

But one word turned what could have been a funny, tongue-in-cheek crack at Woods into a disgusting, sad story.

And it's punishable by termination.

The ball's in Scott's court. While Williams may not be a racist at heart, he used inflammatory language. We are the company we keep and this is a perfect example.

On an episode of the "West Wing" once, someone wondered if a fairly obvious question would be asked at a press conference. Another character replied that even Ted Baxter, the buffoonish newsman from "Mary Tyler Moore," would ask it.

So how does this scenario play out?

Ted Baxter to Scott: "Do you condone what Williams said?"

Probable answer: "Of course not. It was awful and I don't agree at all."

Ted Baxter: "Then how can you continue employing someone who said that if you have such a problem with it?"

It's very simple for Scott -- if he disagree with what Williams said, the caddie has to be removed from his life, professionally and personally.

Scott deserves more from a caddie than a frequent loudmouth and now we can include some varying degree of racism.

And to Stevie: Get over the Tiger thing. He made you an obscene amount of money, made you famous and, yeah, he did you wrong. But on the totem pole of people Woods did wrong, you're middle at best. High-school girls get over boys quicker than Williams.

It's over, Stevie. You brought it on yourself and I, for one, have zero sympathy.