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Paul Casey is a superstar in waiting, one of a dozen or so players on the PGA Tour who fit that description. As it happens, many of those players are on Europe's Ryder Cup team, which means they are superstars incarnate for three days every two years.
What distinguishes Casey, 31, is a 2004 interview that started out with a dismissive comment ("the vast majority of [Americans]simply don't know what's going on") and then got sliced and diced by a sensationalist headline writer ("'Americans are Stupid. I Hate Them,' says Ryder Cup Star Paul Casey").
It was a long time ago, so you vow to let it go, and for a while it works. But then you mention Ian Poulter and radioactive quotes, and, well, that does it.
As Casey jockeys for a spot on his third European Ryder Cup team, he discusses Tiger's wimpy calf muscles (uh-oh ...); Jim Furyk's other life as a rap star; and, with his eyes starting to water ever so slightly, his year in tabloid hell.
Let's talk Ryder Cup. If you could
have any one American on the
European team ...
Tiger.
... not so much for the golf, but for
the team spirit and the pubs after
the rounds.
I'll tell you who really amused me last time
was [Jim] Furyk, in the team room. When
we went into their team room on Sunday
after it was over at the K Club we found
them all in there singing karaoke and
playing Ping-Pong, in various states of
inebriation. [Tom] Lehman did a really
good job of building team spirit, from what
I saw, and everyone on the team had to sing
at least one karaoke song that week.
Vaughn [Taylor] won't like me now, but Vaughn was so shy he really struggled. He was going to sing ... well, not sing, really ... a 50 Cent song, the first 50 Cent hit that everybody remembers. Tom was trying to get it going, and Vaughn stepped up with the microphone, and he really struggled. So Jim stepped up and basically sang, or rapped, word for word, perfectly, that 50 Cent song.
I don't know if that's Jim's thing, rapping, but he can do it.
Wow. That seems pretty
out of character.
Yeah. But like I said, I've got to
pick Tiger, because that's a huge
morale boost when you've got
him on the team. But if you're
not going to allow me to pick
him, I'd pick Furyk.
Who can put away the
most Champagne for
team Europe?
It's certainly not me. I was done
by midnight, one o'clock — there's
so much adrenaline that flows through
you that week, that as soon as it's done
you just hit that brick wall.
Nobody really noticed this, but while all the players were on the balcony, spraying Champagne, having a good time, Monty was nowhere to be seen. He just wants a quiet moment, and I can understand that.
You've said that the best two weeks
of your career were when you
beat Shaun Micheel 10 and 8 at the
2006 HSBC World Match Play and
then went unbeaten (2-0-2) in
the Ryder Cup, with an ace. What
could possibly top that?
Winning a major could top that. Don't
you think?
Do you hold them in equal regard,
playing on a winning Ryder Cup
team and winning a major?
I can't compare the two because I haven't
won a major. It's a fantastic feeling to win
as part of a team, nothing like it.
Would you rather demolish the
U.S. team in Europe or in America?
You've done both now.
I feel very lucky to beat them wherever
the Ryder Cup is.
