David Leggat: Williams just carries the bag - doesn't he?

Steve Williams (left) with Tiger Woods. Photo / NZPA

One day, it's reasonable to assume, at her current rate of progress Lydia Ko will join Bob Charles as New Zealand's representatives in golf's World Hall of Fame.

(Yesterday's move, by the way, to relinquish her High Performance Sport funding was smart. She doesn't need it, and should end the sniping aimed her way of late. Ko was evidently worried how she was being perceived in New Zealand. At 17, you don't need that to blight one of the world's brightest sporting talents.)

But will there be a third New Zealand inductee between Charles, inducted in 2008, and - being presumptuous here - Ko?

Caddy Steve Williams doesn't belong in the Hall. Then again, he does. Bear with me.

This week a poll by the website golf.com revealed 19 per cent of golfers reckoned the bluff New Zealander warranted inclusion in the hall. Put another way, 81 per cent didn't want him there. How representative the poll was is not clear.

The simple answer is that Williams, for all his prowess on the bags of, particularly, Tiger Woods, and latterly Adam Scott, which has produced 14 major victories, should not be there.

The Hall, you would have thought, should be the preserve of players. They drive, chip and putt to the lowest score. The pressure is on them; the kudos, or flak if they stuff up, belongs to them.

Williams has earned significant respect for his ability to assist his boss in clutch situations, most recently making a decisive read on Scott's Masters-winning put at Augusta last year.

The selection process is that an individual must receive 75 per cent support from the selection commission. There are 25 members who fall into the lifetime achievement category.

They include a former American president, George H.W. Bush - good luck working that out - and also includes coaches, designers, administrators and, heavens above, broadcasters and writers, including Charles Darwin's grandson.

And that's the point.

Having opened the door to "outsiders", it would seem churlish to shut it on Williams.

Sure, his manner can be abrupt. He's had bad public pronouncement days. At times he's scowled his way around courses like a bear with a pounding headache. He hasn't gone about courting friends and it may be that's coming back to bite him.

But is that enough to red card him?

Funny thing is, as Williams heads for the finish line in a stellar, and lucrative career, he probably couldn't care less.