Paul Casey’s Favorite Golf Gambling Story: A Winning Pitch vs. Lefty

The Action Network spoke with several of today’s top professional golfers to find out their favorite personal golf betting stories.

• Who: Paul Casey
• When: 2001 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am practice round
• Where: Pebble Beach

Prior to his first career PGA Tour start at Pebble, Casey and his partner Seth Waugh [former Deutsche Bank America CEO and current PGA of America CEO] partnered for a match against Phil Mickelson and Kenny G. As his team quickly went down in every bet, Casey tried to think of a way to win some of it back. When he stepped to the tee at the famous downhill par-3 seventh hole, he got an idea.

“I’ve got a practice round lined up with Phil. I call Seth on the first tee, I’m like, ‘Hey you wanna play?’

“He was on a conference call, but he comes running to the tee and grabs a set of golf clubs.

“We try to get going, but we are struggling. By the sixth hole, we’re like 5-down or something.

“Phil wanted to up the bet. I’m straight out of college. Uncomfortable.

“So we get to 7. If you’ve ever seen my throwing ability before I dislocated my shoulder, throwing anything was never an issue. We’re already losing our asses, down about three ways, and I’m like, ‘What can I do? There’s gotta be something.’

“I decide to bet Phil one of the bets that I could throw it closer to the hole then he could.

“Of course he was taking that action. He threw some pitches with the Toledo Mud Hens, he can throw a football really well.

“So I throw first and literally just pitch it.

“It hits the flag and ends up about four feet away.

“Seth was like, ‘What was that?’ I’m like, ‘Cricket, baby.’

“Phil had this look on his face like, ‘What the F?’

“His throw didn’t even reach the bunker short of the green. So at least we won one of the bets back. We ended up completely losing the match and a bunch of money.

“That’s my favorite bet to this day.”

Other golf gambling stories from the Tour

• Adam Scott's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: Fred Couples, Phil Ivey and $10K
• Tony Finau's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: A $500 Hole-In-One
• Justin Thomas' Favorite Golf Gambling Story: 36 Holes With Michael Jordan
• Paul Casey's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: A Winning Pitch vs. Lefty
• Marc Leishman's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: The International Hustle
• Rickie Fowler's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: 1-on-1 with Michael Jordan
• Zach Johnson's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: When Doubling Down Goes All Wrong
• Brendan Steele's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: Ratted Out for Winning Too Much