Casey warming up to be in the mix again at Travelers
CROMWELL — We are certain how the Travelers Championship is going to end Sunday. It’s going to end with Paul Casey being a gentleman.
What we didn’t know before Casey spoke Tuesday was how Sunday will begin.
“It’s interesting, last year I did not have a good warmup,” Casey said. “I just got out of rhythm. I’ll give a lot of credit to my coach Peter Kostis and my caddie John McLaren.”
The three would have a frank discussion afterward. In the 2015 Travelers Championship, Casey shot a 65 to force a playoff before launching a moon ball from the bunker to the other side of the 18th green to hand Bubba Watson the title.
Last year was different. Last year Casey hit all 18 greens in regulation and shot a 62 to grab a four-shot lead through three rounds. He looked unbeatable. Justin Ray of Golf Channel calculated that over five years anyone on the PGA Tour holding such a large lead went on to win 82.4 percent of the time.
Casey played to the 17.6 percent dark side. Again, it was Bubba who was left hoisting the championship trophy and cashing the seven-figure paycheck. Casey’s 2-over-par round left him three strokes behind Watson in a four-way
tie for second place.
“Nobody ever likes hearing their faults,” Casey, 41, said. “But we sat down and we reviewed it and discussed how poor the warmup was and how I went to the first tee a little out of whack. I’ve worked incredibly hard on a warmup since. Controlling that. Now, there is a timing to it. There are a number of golf balls I hit. It showed itself early this year at Pebble Beach with all the stopping and starting.”
That was February at the AT&T Pebble Beach ProAm where Casey finished second, three strokes behind Phil Mickelson, who fired a 7-under final-round.
“I know I didn’t win, but I stayed with a consistent warmup and had a decent result,” Casey said. “I just didn’t have the golf game to beat Phil that week. The warmup has become a key part of what I do now. Without doubt it assisted in Tampa in the victory there.”
Maybe in the most mental of all games, this is all mental. Or maybe the meticulous precision, the fastidious timing has led to a profitable physical rhythm. If anyone can figure out golf, let me know. In the meantime, Casey, who became the first repeat winner at the Valspar Championship in March, allowed himself a chuckle.
“So I’ve got that new warmup now,” he said. “Maybe that’s the key to win here. As painful as it is, you learn in defeat. You learn in the mistakes. If you don’t, you don’t survive.”
Casey loved being the defending champ at Valspar. He said it was awesome seeing his face on posters and programs and playing a role in charities. Vaspar calls itself the “Most Colorful PGA Tour Tournament in the World,” and Casey would surprise 12year-old Ronon Mowrey, who has color-vision deficiency, with a special pair of glasses and played a hole of golf with him.
On this day, here he was with two-time Stanley Cup champion Nick Bonino of Farmington on a panel for the FedEx Junior Business Challenge. It’s similar to the TV show “Shark Tank,” which gives Junior Achievement students a chance to earn a $75,000 donation from FedEx for a business concept. Simplex, a group of students from Simsbury, Somers and Granby, won with a creative presentation of a lanyard charger for iPhones. Yep, Casey warmed up for the Travelers playing the role of Mark Cuban.
“Simple concept, one I’d never seen before; very, very cool,” Casey said. “The business minds these kids have … brilliant. I had no clue what I was doing when I was a teenager.”
Casey glanced at the PGA Tour.com Instagram post that had him first this week in the Travelers power rankings. Patrick Cantlay second, Brooks Koepka third, Watson fourth, if you’re keeping score at home.
“Back for redemption,” the power rankings read, pointing to Casey’s average Travelers round of 67.06 over four years.
“Pretty cool,” said Casey. “I love this place. I play it well. I’ve come very, very close. I would love to get a victory here … I feel like my golf is right where it needs to be.”
Casey, who had a 17th and fifth between the pair of seconds, loves the democracy of TPC River Highlands. Long hitters can win. Shorter hitters can win. The course, he said, tests every club in the bag. He loves the great crowds, the great energy, the way Andy Bessette is top shelf in dealing with the players and how it filters down to the volunteers. Casey said the first time he stepped foot on the new practice facilities he was amazed. And now …
“I just sampled the new clubhouse for the first time,” Casey said. “I’ve not explored all of it. It’s pretty large. I liked the quirky old clubhouse. Obviously, times change and facilitiesneed to always be improved. They should be proud. The fact they’ve done it in less than 12 months, I’m astounded. I can’t get anything done around my house in less than 12 months.”
Casey took the Travelers charter Monday from the West Coast. Sure, the energy pours out at the U.S. Open and there was the three-hour time change. Yet the fact that Travelers follows the Open is also seen in a restorative way. The good news this year is the world’s best golfers don’t arrive grumbling to themselves about pencil-thin fairways, jungle roughs and marble greens. Their brains aren’t fried. The story wasn’t the course.
“I have to give credit to the USGA for last week because that was a championship U.S. Open,” Casey said. “I don’t remember playing in one like that where I felt it was incredibly fair. The story was about the great golf that Gary Woodland played, Brooks and the others. We’re not used to that.”
So Casey arrives at Cromwell, eighth in FedEx Cup points, after his 21st-place finish at Pebble Beach. He has five top-10 finishes and $3.7 million in earnings in 16 starts. He’s not going to play that much before the playoffs. He’ll take a few weeks off prior to the British Open and Memphis for the FedEx.
“So this is a really important week for me,” Casey said.
Cromwell has seen its share of eruptions over the years. Fierce competition. Lots of money on the line. Mark Calcavecchia famously told a columnist, “I don’t give a bleep who you are!” and stormed off into the sunset in 1990 after he double-bogeyed 17 and bogeyed 18 to lose the tournament. Jeff Maggert stomped off the green before Tom Byrum missed a putt that would have forced a playoff and slammed his putter into the floor of the scorer’s tent. Watson, of course, gave an unpleasant earful to his caddie. Hey, it happens.
Only it doesn’t happen to Casey. Not here.
“It’s a gentleman’s sport; it has always been easy to be a gentleman,” Casey said. “I think everybody is on the PGA Tour, in defeat.”
Hmm. Like we said, he’s a gentleman.
And no, he doesn’t begrudge Bubba’s three Travelers titles.
“I love playing with Bubba,” Casey said. “He’s one of the most enjoyable golfers, even for me to watch. He’s great for our game. Yeah, it’s frustrating he got the better of me a couple of times. On both occasions, I made errors. You never think of the other player. In our sport, it’s always about, ‘I should have done something different.’ The great thing is we come back every year. I’ve always got a chance to try to get one up on him.”
Casey has made for Travelers’ beautiful loser — OK, beautiful runner-up. Classy, thoughtful, he would make for an even more beautiful winner.