Paul Casey, current leader of The Race to Dubai, has withdrawn from the 91st US PGA Championship with the same rib muscle injury which caused him to retire during the first round of last week’s WGC – Bridgestone Invitational.
The 32 year old Englishman explained the reasons behind his decision, which allowed American Tim Petrovic to take his place in the field.
Q. Obviously disappointed to have to do this?
A. Yes, very disappointed but I have to look at the bigger picture which is the fact that I will play a lot more Majors over my career and I have to be ready for what is coming up the rest of the season with the FedEx Cup and The Race to Dubai but it is very frustrating because standing there hitting easy golf swings it is not that bad. It is just starting to pull when you are getting to six irons and longer. If it is doing that on a flat lie on the range, then I can’t risk it on the golf course. It seems like there has been a lot of guys who have had similar issues in the past and the advice I have been given from the experts and a lot of the players is don’t push it too quickly.
Q. What has your treatment regime been since you pulled out of Akron?
A. Treatment every day but I will fly back to Phoenix today and actually really get it looked at. My trainer back there, Damon Shelton, has everything in place and we are actually going to go as far as getting it X-rayed and perhaps a CT scan to just make sure it is just a muscle strain and not perhaps a rib slightly out of place and indeed the worst case scenario maybe a rib might be cracked. I don’t think it is that but we have to get it checked just to make sure. I haven’t had all these tests yet and so the longer I am out here the longer before I know just what it is. The treatment this week has just been heat and cold, heat and ice. Not a lot of fun!
Q. You gave it your best shot to play didn’t you?
A. I feel good that I tried everything to try and get it ready and I also gave Tim Petrovic an hour. He was out there warming up alongside me so I went to speak to him myself and told him to go and play well.
Q. Just remind us how you actually did this?
A. It happened the Thursday before The Open so it has been five weeks or so. I was hitting drivers on the range with Kostis, trying to get more extension through the swing which is a drill I do with him where he gets me to close up my stance to a 45 degree angle so I move the right foot back which means I get better extension through the ball and the arms get longer on the follow through. I was fully warmed up and had been in the gym that morning and seemed fine but for some reason, the first time I did that particular drill, it just went. I thought it was strange and so, of course, I hit another one, as you do, and I thought, ‘No, that’s definitely not right.’ At that stage it wasn’t disasterous, it was uncomfortable but I battled through the Open although I didn’t swing the club particularly well there and didn’t commit to too much. It is on the right side and it ends up hurting on the through swing and you end up flinching and sort of short arming yourself and not releasing the club properly. I got it round at Turnberry, had more treatment and didn’t think too much of it to be honest and then it went again on Monday at Akron.
