Tiger and Casey having a laugh, maybe sharing injury stories!
I sat down with Paul Casey, who is making his first start this season, on Tuesday for a Q&A at the tail-end of his pre-tourney media tour for the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Wednesday morning. Casey battled with turf toe last year and then this past Christmas Eve, he was snowboarding in Colorado when he fell and dislocated his shoulder. (I posted his X-rays here.) Unfortunately or frustratingly, he wasn’t doing double back flips — he was taking a lesson and wearing a helmet, elbow pads, the full deal, and he was trying to catch his fall, so he stuck his right arm out and landed on it the wrong way.
I was quite impressed with how well-versed he was in describing the different muscles, ligaments, and bones that were affected in his various injuries. I joked he almost sounded like a first-year med student.
Casey had only played once in three months — a practice round at Doral on Monday. I chatted briefly with him after the second round today and he said he felt pretty beat up. Before you make any jokes about how it’s just golf, etc., there’s a difference between being in “golf shape” and being “in athletic shape.” I know they’re just walking and swinging a club, not to mention they don’t even carry their bags, but you’d be surprised. I’ve talked with “real” athletes that admit they get tired walking 18 holes.
Anyway, I enjoyed the chat and thanks to Paul for his time. Check out the full interview over at Golf.com, but here’s an excerpt:
What were your favorite places to go to in Phoenix?
I’m usually found at places like St. Francis, which is a nice little restaurant, sort of a bar, in central Phoenix, or Chelsea’s Kitchen, another restaurant around the corner. It was nice. I became a bit of a regular. When you walk in and they know the vodka you’re drinking, maybe that’s a sign [laughing].I know you didn’t catch Tiger’s 62 because you were on a plane coming here, but get this stat: Tiger is No. 1 in total driving [combination of distance and accuracy] currently.
Is he really?Yeah, this year so far.
That’s impressive.Isn’t it? It’s a little surprising, too, right?
I’ve played a lot with Tiger, and he was always No. 1 in putting, the best putter maybe we’ve ever seen. And I’m not taking anything away from his driving because his driving was very good, but it wasn’t his strength. Golf nowadays is a little bit different. You can get away with a wayward tee shot every now and then, but he chips and putts phenomenally, so I think that’s interesting he’s No. 1 in driving.
You get to interview Paul Casey and you make it all about Eldrick and MACilroy.
If you actually READ the full interview as I suggest at Golf.com, it’s very Paul Casey-oriented. I spoke with him for 27 minutes and 22 minutes were just about Paul Casey.
Well, 19 questions, 7 either about Rory or Eldrick. I’m sure other players never get tired of answering Tiger questions though.
I would encourage you to keep track of how many times players from opposing teams are asked about Kobe or Jeter or Brady, etc. Would you rather hear David Freese talk about his childhood or what it’s like to play with Albert Pujols. Media members know what drives the meter and ask questions accordingly.
It seems like when your interviewing a world class player like Casey instead of asking them how awesome does he think Tiger and Rory are it would be more respectful to ask him when he thinks he’ll be back to playing at their level.
The asking other guys who have just beaten Tiger how long they think it will be until Tiger is great again is the most disrepectful and idiotic question, but it keeps on happening. Like last week when Rory won, how many questions were along the lines of “What did you think about Tiger’s charge”, or when Phil waxed Tiger at Pebble, when he thought Tiger would be back. So tired about hearing about that “he moves the needle”, maybe if the writers/announcers stopped talking about it, the needle would move for others.
@Breaker, would you like you read the entire interview transcript? This is the way things work: I send a copy to my editors and they cut out / include what they’d like. I have no control over the final version. I obviously spoke to him about Paul Casey for 20 minutes of the 27. He actually brought up Rory himself because he was talking about watching the golf telecasts the last few weeks, but he sounded disappointed he missed Tiger’s 62 and Rory’s win — he was on a plane to Doral. Anyway, it’s understandable you’d jump to such conclusions or get the impression I spoke to Paul Casey about Rory and Tiger, so I’m just clearing up how the editorial process works.
Well done Steph….
Seriously, for those who nitpick every thing, make your comment and move on. Otherwise, just go away already.
Ok, my bad.