Casey pulls wrong club at 18: ‘It’s criminal’
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 23: Paul Casey of England plays a shot on the eighth hole during the second round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on August 23, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Paul Casey pulls wrong club at the TOUR Championship
ATLANTA – Paul Casey’s plan from 248 yards away at the par-5 18th Friday at the TOUR Championship was to use 4-iron. Land it 234 yards and let it run toward the pin. A fan wearing a red shirt standing behind the green was a perfect aiming target.
He then made his swing. Solid contact. Casey kept track of the ball flight. All good. “It couldn’t have been any better-looking,” he said.
But after his ball one-hopped over the green into the primary rough, Casey wondered: Had caddie John McLaren given him the wrong yardage? McLaren – nicknamed Johnny Longsocks – put his hand over his mouth, biting his tongue. He had no words.
Casey then looked down at his club and realized what happened. Casey had mistakenly pulled the 3-iron out of his bag instead of the 4.
“Because, you know, we’re not playing for much this week and it’s not important,” Casey said later, laughing at himself.
The Englishman ended up with par to finish with a 67 and a two-day total of 9 under in the new Starting Strokes format. That leaves him in solo fifth, just four shots off the lead heading into the weekend at East Lake, and gives him a great opportunity to make a run at his first FedExCup title.
Of course, he hopes pulling the wrong club doesn’t come back to haunt him.
“It’s all on me,” Casey said. “It’s 100 percent. I hold my head.”
It’s not the first time it’s happened to the Englishman this year. He said there was one other tournament in which he pulled the 3 instead of the 4.
There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.
“My 3-iron and 4-iron, they’re actually the same head,” Casey said. “One is bent stronger than the other. Clearly, I can’t tell the difference when I put them down. One’s got a little 4 on it, and the 3’s got nothing on it.”
With his ball hanging slightly left on a downslope, he couldn’t tell the difference between the length and the lie. All he knew is that he thought the shot, once struck, was on target.
“To hit what was not an easy long iron from 248 yards exactly at the gentleman I was aiming at in the red shirt,” Casey said, “I was pretty proud of myself.”
Until he looked down his club.
Whoops.
“It’s criminal isn’t it?” Casey said to a group of reporters. “And you can have fun writing about it.
“You’re welcome.”