AKRON, Ohio — It happens in all sorts of ways, in business, politics and sports. A top guy fires a loyal lieutenant only to have the lieutenant come back to haunt the hallways, or, in the case at hand, the fairways.

Even as familiar as the story line is, this kind of payback does not usually strike as fast or with as much force as it did Sunday to golf’s former top player, Tiger Woods, who already has had a number of things not go his way this year.

He can now add to that list of misfortune his decision to fire his longtime friend and caddie, Steve Williams. Williams, who had been at Woods’s side for 13 of his 14 major championships and the bulk of his 71 tour victories, had just helped his new boss, the Australian star Adam Scott, to a final-round 65 and 17-under 263 total to beat an elite field in the W.G.C.-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club, a course where Woods has won seven times.

“It’s the most satisfying win I’ve ever had,” said Williams, drenched with sweat and grinning into the television cameras. “There’s no two ways about it. I’m not denying it.”