Alan Shipnuck reveals time when LIV Golf star ripped into Sky Sports reporter

"Go f*** yourself and f*** your interview" - Alan Shipnuck reveals LIV Golf's Paul Casey ripped into Sky Sports' Jamie Weir at the 150th Open

Andy Roberts

04 Oct 2023

Alan Shipnuck reveals time when LIV Golf star ripped into Sky Sports reporter

Golf biographer Alan Shipnuck has revealed LIV Golf star Paul Casey once ripped into Sky Sports reporter Jamie Weir after being approached by him for an interview ahead of the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews.

Casey was making his first appearance at a major championship since breaking away from the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to join the Saudi-bankrolled LIV Golf League.

The former World No.3 (May 2009) and European Ryder Cup hero announced he was joining LIV Golf just a week before the 150th Open Championship at the Home of Golf in the first week of July 2022.

Why did Paul Casey rip into Jamie Weir at the 150th Open Championship?!

Shipnuck explains how the former UNICEF ambassador was pressed for comment by Sky's Weir while he was on the short game area at the Old Course at St Andrews.

Weir wanted to talk to Casey about the tournament, how his back was holding up and then about his move to LIV Golf.

It was Weir's particular question to Casey about the latter that really irked him.

Weir reportedly told Casey: "You are 29th in the world but have just joined a Tour without ranking points and will surely fall out of the Top 50, so given that, have you given serious consideration that this Open could be the last major championship of your career?"

Casey then gave Weir both barrels.

Shipnuck made the revelation about Casey in an exclusive excerpt from his new book, LIV and Let Die.

He also dropped this bombshell about Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at the very same tournament at St Andrews.

Here's what Shipnuck had to say about the interaction between Casey and Weir:

The Open marked Paul Casey’s first real tournament since the onetime UNICEF ambassador had gone to LIV. Sky Sports reporter Jamie Weir approached Casey on the practice chipping green at the Old Course to see if he would do an on-camera interview. “He said, ‘Oh, hello, mate,’ in his usual smug, insincere tone,” says Weir. 'I asked about having a chat, and right away he was defensive and wanted to know the questions. I told him I wanted to talk about the 150th Open, his good history at St. Andrews, how his back was feeling, and then finish off with a question about LIV.” Casey asked what the LIV question would be. Says Weir, “I said that he was 29th in the world but had just joined a tour without ranking points and would surely fall out of the top 50, so, given that, had he given serious consideration that this Open could be the last major championship of his career? His face darkened. He said, ‘F*** off. Go f*** yourself. What a f***ing shit question. Go f*** yourself. That’s a shitty f***ing question from a shitty f***ing reporter.’ I said, ‘Paul, you’re massively overreacting to this.’ He was like, ‘No, I’m not. Go f*** yourself. F*** you, and f*** your interview.’

Says Casey with a laugh, “That’s a fairly accurate recounting. But what is missing is the fact he sauntered over, invaded my space, and interjected himself into an environment where he was not invited. And what he actually said was, ‘This is probably going to be the last major championship you ever play.’ He’s just assuming I’m going to fail! I could have won that Open and been exempt for another 25 years. I was there grinding on my game, and it was his smugness that got me. I can debate with anybody, but he was just being a d***head. You know what, Jamie Weir can go f*** himself. Again.”

Sky's Weir was once again in the headlines last week following his story about Patrick Cantlay allegedly causing a rift in the US Ryder Cup team ahead of their clash with Europe at Marco Simone in Rome.

Xander Schauffele was said to have also been siding with Cantlay, per the report.

The article claimed Cantlay was refusing to wear a cap during the Ryder Cup because he was not getting paid for his participation.

European golf fans caught wind of this and began waving their caps in the air as Cantlay trudged around the course.

Cantlay hit back at Weir's story by claiming it "couldn't be further from the truth".

Cantlay said of Weir's article: "[There's] not a shred of truth in the article that just one journalist wrote. It's crazy that one journalist can put a tweet out there totally unfounded with complete lies and the crowd ran with it, and I tried to have fun with them all day, smile. That's what this event is about. You've got to embrace the crowd, and, you know, I'm happy to be out there today."

Related: Schauffele's father references Tiger Woods in fresh claim about Ryder Cup pay
Related: Schauffele involved in huge pay dispute on eve of Ryder Cup

Cantlay's caddie Joe LaCava embraced the waving of the cap a little too much on the 18th green in Cantlay's fourballs match alongside Wyndham Clark against Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick on the Saturday afternoon in Rome.

After watching his man drain a 30-footer for birdie, LaCava celebrated by taking off his cap and waving it around, as the rest of the Team USA members to the side of the green began doing the same.

Only LaCava kept on going at a time when McIlroy was attempting to line up his own 20-foot birdie putt to tie the match.

McIlroy and LaCava clashed.

The Northern Irishman then missed his putt, as too did Fitzpatrick from 15 feet, and it meant Cantlay and Clark walked away with a 1up victory.

Cantlay birdied the last two holes on his own ball to single-handedly turn the game from 1 down to 1up.