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Flighty Casey Strikes Out
Shark.com Staff
November 22, 2004
It should have been a week to remember for Paul Casey, who played brilliantly to lead England to a one-shot victory Sunday in the World Cup in Seville, Spain.
If only the story ended there. But it doesn't.
That's because Casey made the decision two weeks ago to blast American golfers -- saying several times that he "hates" them -- during an interview that already is haunting him.
Before the week was over, Casey was the subject of hundreds of hate e-mails, confronted on the course by the American wife of South African golfer Rory Sabbatini and had lost a lucrative endorsement deal with Acushnet, makers of Titleist.
 | | Casey led England to a one-shot victory in the World Cup in Seville, Spain. |
The amazing thing is he put all this controversy aside long enough to lead teammate Luke Donald to the narrow victory over homestanding Spain in the World Golf Championship event. At least Casey could be buoyed by that accomplishment.
"Yeah, I am proud of that," Casey said Sunday night. "It's definitely affected me. I'm still upset with what's happened. I feel it's been unfair and I feel like I handed myself professionally which I always will do. You know, if this helps in any way to correct what has happened, then that's great."
Unfortunately before he won the tournament, he had lost his mind with those peculiar comments. After all, it sounded quite bizarre for Casey -- who dates an American, went to college on scholarship at Arizona State, lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., has an American coach and plans next year on playing a full schedule on the PGA Tour -- to rip the U.S.
Not once, but twice.
First, he did it in the interview when he said he hated Americans and blasted the appointment of Tom Lehman as 2006 Ryder Cup captain, citing Lehman's role when several Americans ran onto the 17th green at Brookline after Justin Leonard's winning putt. Then, when he had a chance to take a mulligan of sorts with his words, Casey puffed out his chest and repeated them at a press conference.
No chance of getting misquoted here.
"I stand by my words," Casey said. "I think that Americans do have a tendency to sort of wind people up. You know, when they are chanting "USA!", and there's lots of them, it just wants to make you beat them even more, and I think that's the point I was probably trying to get across.
"They probably failed to realize it really sort of riles us and the rest of the world. I don't hate Americans. I have an American coach, an American girlfriend, I live in America, I play many events in the U.S. I certainly don't hate them."
Not a wise move by refusing to back down. By now, Acushnet officials had had enough. "First and foremost, we want people to understand that Mr. Casey's comments do not reflect the views of the Acushnet Company and were not made in his capacity as an endorser of our products," said Wally Uihlein, Chairman and CEO, Acushnet Company. "In addition, Mr. Casey's contract with Acushnet Company expires on Dec. 31, 2004, and both parties have mutually agreed that it will not be renewed or extended."
Casey, who finished sixth in this year's Masters and is ranked No. 30 in the world, still wasn't ready to back down. Even in the face of an ugly backlash.
"I've had a lot of negative, huge negative feedback, as simple as that," he said. "A lot of nasty stuff that I've had piling through e-mail boxes and all the rest of it some pretty nasty stuff. But sometimes people say something and then say afterward, I was misquoted when they weren't, and there's been some positive feedback around here certainly that you didn't take that easy route out."
Casey's partner in the World Cup tried to throw some support around his countryman. (Of course, Donald also attended college in the U.S., has a home in Chicago and plays the PGA Tour full time.)
"I think people who are not Americans can get upset with Americans quite easily," Donald said. "They do seem to be very insular. They make rash comments that are really quite upsetting sometimes. I remember watching Disney and (winner) Ryan Palmer said, you know, the Nationwide was the second strongest tour in the world, days after Europe had just thrashed the U.S. 18 1/2 to 9 1/2 (in the Ryder Cup). Those kind of comments force people like Paul to say what he says."
Now Casey, 27, has less than two months to deal with the fallout until he makes his next PGA Tour in mid-January at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He knows some Americans have long memories.
"I'm looking forward to it, although there is a little something in me that is worried about it," Casey said. "I hope they will be very receptive. But I don't know if they will be. I'll try to repair any damage I can."
| The Par Report is posted every Monday on Shark.com. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Greg Norman. |
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