Caddie Williams to keep Woods job

Woods (left) has had Williams on his bag for 13 of his 14 major wins

Tiger Woods will not sack his caddie Steve Williams despite remarks the New Zealander made about fellow American and world number three Phil Mickelson.

On Saturday, Williams was reported as saying that he hated Mickelson and that Woods did not get on with him either.

Woods and Mickelson both issued statements about the issue earlier this week and Woods has revealed he has now spoken to Mickelson about it as well.

Woods also confirmed that Williams will carry his bag in 2009.

"Yeah, what ended up happening is I communicated with Phil, and we have discussed it," said world number one Woods, who is recovering from knee surgery.

"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."

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Williams has been the caddie for Woods for all but one of his 14 major championships.

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 subsequently responded.

"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," he said.