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WGC BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL

August 26, 2006

Paul Casey

AKRON, OHIO

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Paul Casey, thanks for joining us, great round today, 6 under par 64, kind of put yourself into contention heading into tomorrow. Davis Love is still out on the course with the lead, but you have to like your position after today.

PAUL CASEY: Yeah, I'm very, very happy with that. The goal today was grab a couple under par if I could and maybe sneak sort of into the Top 10, maybe a Top 5 or something like that. I didn't think I'd be obviously didn't think I'd be chasing Davis. There's a few holes to play still, so we'll see what happens.

Very happy with that. Lots of birdies, so a great round of golf.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about your season. A couple wins on the European Tour and had a couple good tournaments here, as well. Talk about your year so far.

PAUL CASEY: It's been a solid year. You try to take every tournament as it comes and really work very, very hard on the game, and that's resulted in, as you say, a couple wins in Europe and currently 3rd on Order of Merit, so very, very happy with that. I've never been in that position before, so that's really a goal of mine, trying to chase Robert Karlsson and David Howell, who are both ahead of me right now.

As I say, playing well this week, one of my best finishes in the States is probably a 6th or 7th. I think I was 6th at The Masters and 7th at the Amex a few years ago. So tomorrow is going to be an enjoyable day trying to improve upon that, so we'll see how well I can do.

Q. When you said you didn't think you would be chasing Davis, is that because you expected to be chasing Tiger?

PAUL CASEY: Correct (laughing). Yeah, nothing against Davis. I knew Davis was going to be up there, but I think that was a bit of a shock for everybody to see the scores. Thomas actually noticed it first. He pointed it out to me. He said the tournament has really opened up. The way Tiger has been playing, I didn't see that coming. He's still got some holes left, and he may be up there at the end of the day anyway, so we'll see what happens.

Q. Did something click into place for you today?

PAUL CASEY: I wish I knew. I had dinner with Gary McCord last night. Maybe that's the difference. No, it was just a nice round of golf. I actually hit the ball better today than I had the first few days. A made a couple of putts. I just kept myself out of trouble. It was probably I don't know what the stats suggest, but I felt like I was on the fairway more often than not, but I struck a lot of nice irons today and had good control of the golf ball. The yardages were nice and I was never between clubs.

It was one of those days that went nicely for me, and I capitalized on the opportunities I had.

Q. Have you been texted by Woozy about your preferences with whom you play? Luke said he had had a text about who he preferred to play with.

PAUL CASEY: I'll tell you a funny story. Yeah, I got a text from Woozy, but I'm not big on phones, so I didn't actually have Woozy's number, so I received the text and actually had Jocelyn call to see who it was because I thought it was somebody playing a joke. But it wasn't, it was Woozy (laughing). And I'm not going to tell you what I told him.

Q. We've had a number of the players on the American side through here, and questions have ranged from what do you think of the captain's picks to when are you guys ever going to win another one of these things and how come you always lose now. From the European side, do you find the American preoccupation with Ryder Cup outcome amusing, or is it just as intense on your side of the pond in terms of the outcome?

PAUL CASEY: That's a good question. I don't think I know the answer to that. I think the Europeans' obsession with the Ryder Cup is just as strong. You know, it seems that after a Ryder Cup, that's all that's talked about is the last Ryder Cup, at least for a few months, and then when the Ryder Cup qualifications start again, that's all that's talked about, the next Ryder Cup.

So no, I don't think it's strange there's a lot of questions being posted to the U.S. team. I think they've got a very, very good team on paper, and I know there's four rookies in the team, but they're spectacular players. It's difficult to I can't tell you how they're going to play, but I'm sure if we could maybe turn ourselves into the underdogs again, we'd like to. I think they're a very, very good team, and Europe has certainly taken notice of who is playing and certainly the preparations.

The U.S. guys flying over next week, for example, to practice. That's a clear sign that they're really up for it.

Q. You hit on a very interesting point there. When the European side started winning these Cups with fair regularity, you, being the European side, were the underdog. The fair perception is that U.S. players on the whole were far superior and that something flukey happened and they didn't win this time. But what is it now, seven out of ten or four of the last five, it's not it seems that the balance of power has swung. Do you think now that you're the overdog, that you're the decided favorite?

PAUL CASEY: On paper, if you looked at World Rankings or something like that, I have no idea. Obviously you look at sort of major wins, then we're not. I think we might be seen as the favorites because of the past few Ryder Cups. Has a European team ever been favorites before?

Q. I don't think so.

PAUL CASEY: No, so it puts us in a different position. Yeah, this one is going to be good. It's a different position for us. I mean, I have not experienced enough Ryder Cups to probably answer that question, but somebody like Woozy could tell you that one. But it's going to be different.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could touch on your round, and then we'll take a final question or two. You started out on the front side with a birdie on the 2nd hole, par 5.

PAUL CASEY: Driver, 4 iron to just short of the green in the rough and I chipped up to a couple of inches.

No. 3, 3 wood, lob wedge about three feet away.

Bogey, driver in the middle of the fairway, 7 iron, missed the green left, ended up about 40 yards from the green, chipped up and missed a seven foot putt.

Birdied the next two holes, 7 iron to eight feet.

6, driver, 8 iron to about four feet.

Then on the back side, birdies on 10 and 11, 3 wood, pitching wedge, about a 12 footer straight up the hill.

3 wood, pitching wedge on 11 to about ten feet.

Only other bogey of the day on 13, 3 wood, 6 iron, missed the green long and right, got relief from a tower behind there and pitched up about eight feet away, missed it.

Next par 5, 16, driver, left rough, 6 iron, bump and run down the fairway, 9 iron for the third shot and about an 18 footer.

Good short putt on 18, 3 wood, gap wedge to about four feet.

Q. Tom Lehman consulted a number of his players regarding the picks he made. Are you aware that Woozy has consulted with a number of the European players in a similar way?

PAUL CASEY: No, it's actually strange. The players have been discussing rumors about picks have come from, so that's purely between Woozy and any of the players that have been mentioned in the press.

No, the players know nothing, and they really do know nothing. There's a lot still to play for and things haven't been finalized, so I'm afraid I can't help you.

Q. It seems like the two captains have taken very different approaches. Tom sent a letter at the start of the year to every American member of the PGA TOUR and he's doing all this stuff, and Carl Pettersson said he hadn't even heard from Woozy. Do you think that's more of like a philosophical or cultural difference between the oceans?

PAUL CASEY: You know, I'm not sure. I don't think that's a sign that Woozy is taking this any less seriously than Tom, it's just a different approach. Woozy is very laid back. I'm sure the team will become a team as soon as it's finalized. There will be no issues with that. That's just Woozy is sort of low key, goes about his business. I don't think he's I'm sure, if anything, he's over prepared for this. I'm sure he knows everything that's going on, and he is in contact with the players. But it's interesting that he hasn't been in contact with Carl. That's just the way Woozy does stuff.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Paul Casey, thanks.

End of FastScripts.

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