Woods, Williams clear air over racial remark

Tiger Woods says he and Steve Williams had a face-to-face meeting to clear the air over a racial remark the golfer's former caddie made last week.

Speaking Tuesday morning in Australia, Woods said he met Williams and "talked it through."

"Obviously, it was a wrong thing to say. Something that we both acknowledge now, and we're moving forward," Woods said during a press conference at the site of this week's Australian Open.

"He did apologize. It was hurtful, certainly, but life goes forward."

Woods added: "We'll see what time does. As we all know, time does heel wounds. We'll see how that goes."

Williams, who now caddies for Adam Scott, drew headlines for comments he made after Scott's victory at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August, which he said was the biggest win of his career despite being on the bag for 13 major championships with Woods.

At a caddie awards dinner last week, Williams was asked on stage about that comment. He reportedly replied, in reference to Woods: "My aim was to shove it right up that black ar--hole."

Williams offered an apology on his website after the comment was reported, and he met with Woods personally Tuesday to apologize directly to his former boss.

"Stevie is certainly not a racist. There's no doubt about that," Woods said. "I think it was a comment that shouldn't have been made. Certainly, it was one that he wished he didn't make."

Woods was asked to explain how their relationship had soured since he fired Williams at the AT&T National.

"For me personally, it was a tough decision to make to go a different direction in my professional life, but as far as personally I don't know how it could have happened the way it did, but it did and here we are," Woods said. "So as I said, life goes forward and keep moving forward."

The rest of the press conference was more light-hearted with questions about the course, which Woods said he hadn't seen personally other than on TV.

Woods also talked about needing more tournament reps, as he does frequently at press conferences, and said he was excited to be playing three of the next four weeks.

Following the Australian Open, the 14-time major champion will play the Presidents Cup and then his own Chevron World Challenge two weeks after that.