Villain of the Year
South African loudmouth Rory Sabatini looked to have wrapped up this award earlier on in the year when he got into hot water at the Northern Trust Open for verbally abusing a teenage volunteer who was trying to help him find a lost ball. Just a few tournaments later, Sabatini again found himself in trouble with tour officialdom after getting into a heated quarrel with playing partner Sean O'Hair at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.
But not even Sabatini can't rival Steve Williams for sheer idiocy. The former caddie of Tiger Woods, who now carries the bag of Adam Scott, found himself the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons at the WGC-HSBC Championship event in Shanghai in November. New Zealander Williams, who was attending the European Tour's annual caddie awards, took a dig at his former employer, explaining his reasoning for describing Scott's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational win as best ever, by saying: "It was my aim to shove it right up that black a*******."
It was a shocking outburst, and although Williams later apologised for the profanity – which Woods accepted, describing Williams as "definitely not a racist" – he can count himself extremely lucky to still be in gainful employment.
Winner: Steve Williams
Notable: Rory Sabatini
