Steve Williams is not racist, says Greg Norman

Greg Norman claims his former caddy, Steve Williams, is not racist and insists that Adam Scott is right to stick with him despite insulting Tiger Woods.

A month after parting company with Woods, Williams celebrated wildly when his new boss, Scott, won the Bridgestone Invitational.

Williams stunned the audience at a caddies' awards dinner in Shanghai last Friday, when he said that his celebrations were "to shove it right up that black a***hole".

Woods is expected to comment on the row at a press conference in Sydney tonight ahead of this week's Australian Open but Norman has already defended Williams.

"Steve's not a racist, not at all," said the 56-year-old former world No1 today. "We've all made stupid comments at stupid times but unfortunately his stupid comment became global news and I know he probably regrets it. But I guarantee you in that room, that night, there were some heavier things said.

"Because of the temperature of what was going on between the two of them, anything that was said was going to exacerbate that feeling. I hope it gets resolved. Golf doesn't need it, golf needs Tiger back playing the way he used to." Asked whether golf was a racist sport, Norman insisted: "No, not at all, never seen it."

Scott and Woods will both play at the Lakes Golf Club this week and although Norman does not think there will be a problem between those two he accepts it could be awkward when Williams comes across his former boss.

"Adam's a professional," said Norman, who worked with Williams for seven years."Whatever Steve's said was Steve's opinion, not Adam's. I don't think there's any issue between Tiger and Adam at all. Tiger will walk by Steve and who knows what happens? He'll have prepared himself in his mind much as Steve has prepared himself in his mind."

Scott said it was time to move on from the controversy. The Australian said: "I accept Steve's apology, knowing that he meant no racial slur with his comments. On behalf of my team, I apologise personally to everyone that was offended by the reported comments."