Tiger Woods will not sack his caddy Steve Williams despite remarks he made at a charity dinner about Phil Mickelson.
In the Taranaki Daily News, Williams was quoted as saying, "I think he's a (expletive)."
The following day Williams told another newspaper that he said the comments were accurate and that the two do not get along.
Woods had tried to defuse the situation earlier this week, but after Mickelson shot back with a statement of his own, Woods was forced to address the issue at his press conference on Wednesday.
"Yeah, what ended up happening is I communicated with Phil, and we have discussed it," Woods said.
"I talked to Stevie about it, and he feels bad, what happened.
It's something that none of us really wanted to have happen, but it's over and done with and we put it to bed."
Williams has been the caddy for Woods for all but one of his 14 major championships and Woods, who confirmed Williams would be with him in 2009.
"Yeah, he'll be on the bag," Woods said.
Woods had issued a statement on Monday that he hoped would bring an end to the controversy.
"I was disappointed to read the comments attributed to Steve Williams about Phil Mickelson, a player that I respect," Woods said in the statement.
"It was inappropriate. The matter has been discussed and dealt with."
But Mickelson was clearly still unhappy, and responded himself.
"After seeing Steve Williams' comments, all I could think of was how lucky I am to have a class act like Bones (Jim Mackay) on my bag and representing me," Mickelson said.
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