Adam Scott's thunder stolen by axed Tiger caddie

ADAM Scott may have won the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in scintillating style at Firestone on Sunday night, but he found himself pushed out of the limelight by his caddie Steve Williams, with the abrasive New Zealander - sacked recently by Tiger Woods - describing the win in Akron as the "best win I've ever had".

Australian Scott, who has given Williams a new lease of life after he was controversially dumped two weeks ago by former World No 1 Woods after being on his bag for 13 of his 14 majors, cruised to a four-shot win, but his caddie was the one grabbing the headlines.

Moments after Scott had rolled in his title-clinching putt on the 18th green, Williams was approached by television pundit and former golfer David Feherty of the CBS network and gave an animated response to what was his eighth success in the event, having carried Woods' bag to seven victories

"I've been caddying for 33 years and that's the best week of my life and I'm not joking," said Williams after Scott had finished a massive 18 strokes clear of Woods, who was back in 37th place. "There were a lot of expectations today. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little nervous.

"Obviously, Adam was leading the tournament and there was a lot being said this week, so it was great to back it up. But honestly that's the best week of my life; I've caddied for 33 years, 145 wins now, and that's the best win I've ever had."

The New Zealander did not take too kindly to being ditched by Woods for his return after more than two months out injured. He now he hopes to follow up this success by helping Scott, joint runner-up at The Masters in April, add the US PGA Championship in Atlanta this week.

Williams proved as big a talking point as the players themselves all week, and as Scott approached the 18th hole, fans were shouting not for him but his caddie.

"I had no idea how popular a New Zealander can be, coming from Australia," Scott said with a laugh afterwards. "It's surprising. But no, obviously he's a popular guy around here having won now eight times. They appreciate him a lot, and he's a bit of a character. It was fun to get support, whether it's for me or him, I don't care, it's the right team.

"Obviously he has such a great knowledge of this golf course and the greens. He's seen a guy play incredible golf, the best golf anyone has ever played around here so many times, so absolutely. He really guided me around the course nicely when he needed to step in and just make a point of where we need to be, he did, and had some great little notes in his book about putts on greens."

While Scott was diplomatic about his high-profile caddie's share of the limelight, Williams was on the end of a backlash from golf fans yesterday. Sky Sports received several emails and tweets condemning his celebrations as over the top, while his critics included Manchester United forward and former England striker Michael Owen. "I bet Steve Williams had planned that interview on 18th tee! Poor effort when the fame and fortune he has was down to Tiger," Owen said on Twitter.A glaring gap on Scott's otherwise impressive resume has been the lack of a major title but his commanding victory suggested that could soon change. It was a wire-to-wire win in a manner often seen in the past by Woods.

Scott also made a clutch of par putts when needed to and giving himself a timely jolt of confidence for this week's PGA Championship in Atlanta. "I ended up playing a really solid round of golf for this golf course," he added. "This is one of the biggest wins of my career. To win a World Golf Championship is what I set out to do this year along with the majors, a real focus on the big events."

Long regarded as a future world No 1, Scott has won eight times on the PGA Tour and on 11 other occasions elsewhere around the world. Though he has generally failed to make a significant impact at the majors, he signalled that could soon end when he shared second place at the Masters in April. "For whatever reason, I haven't performed my best but I really feel like I've got a good plan in place to get myself ready for these events now," Scott said..

Woods, meanwhile, said he wishes he had another week to prepare for the final major of the year. Firestone was his first tournament back after 12 weeks out with knee and Achilles tendon injuries and although Woods closed with a 70 that contained a hat-trick of birdies from the 15th, he looked significantly short of the kind of form that could bring him a 15th major.

Asked if another event before this Atlanta would be beneficial to him, Woods replied: "It would be nice, but I've got three days, so I'm going to worry about them, apply it accordingly and be ready come Thursday."