Woods' caddie injured in crash

Williams (left) could be off Woods' bag for a spell

Tiger Woods could be without his caddie for a couple of months after Steve Williams injured his hand in a car crash while racing.

The New Zealander gashed his left hand to the bone on Friday at the Baypark Speedway at Tauranga.

Williams had surgery and was released from hospital on Sunday after phoning Woods in America to tell him.

"My hand's going to take a couple of months to heal properly, apparently," said Williams.

"When I called him (Woods) he said: 'You sound a bit groggy'.

"I said: 'That's because I'm lying in a hospital bed'.

"He said: 'Don't tell me you had a wreck'."

Williams, who is left-handed, said Woods offered to send his private plane to New Zealand to pick him up.

Woods won the Buick Invitational last week and next plays at the Nissan Open at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles beginning 17 February.