English Golfer Paul Casey may have attended Arizona State, may be coached by an American, and may be dating an American, but he’s no longer a favorite of Americans. Casey’s recent comments about Americans (specifically “Americans are stupid. I hate them.”) has cost him more than a warm welcome when he plays the PGA Tour next season; it’s cost him a sponsorship with Titleist.
Titleist said today in a press release:
In the wake of recent comments made by professional golfer Paul Casey, Acushnet Company, owner of the Titleist, FootJoy and Cobra golf equipment brands, today clarified its relationship with the 2004 European Ryder Cup Team member.
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 December 31, 2004, and both parties have mutually agreed that it will not be renewed or extended.
Acushnet Company will have no other comment regarding this matter.
We here at The Sand Trap .com appreciate the fact that things can be taken out of context, mixed up, and jumbled around by the press. We also appreciate that a professional golfer should realize that the press is more than willing to do so, and in order to prevent such a thing from occurring, should exercise a bit more restraint when using words like “stupid” and “hate.”
We would also like to point out that we don’t even know if his sponsorship would have been renewed anyway.
I think when you are a professional sports player, regradless what sports you play, you should act like one. If Paul Casey hate Americans, then he should not be playing any tournaments that held in the US soil. He should be consistent with his comments but he did play then we all know that he is a hypocrite!
What Mr Casey said was this, “Oh, we properly hate them. We wanted to beat them as badly as possible.” This was refering to the Ryder Cup team, not all Americans! His comment was passed with a marked air of joviality, and certainly without malice. I just wish America one day escapes from the crushing broadcasting mediums used to such ill effect. Do try not to believe everything you read\watch\hear as only the thinnest amount of truth is included in the news that we recieve. The hate/stupid remark came from the English newspaper, The Daily Mail, which is notorious for either a) Exagerating the facts, b) Fabricating the facts entirely, and c) Being reguarded as almost a ‘comedy’ paper by a large percentage of the population. Anyway, the record is now straight.