Casey takes one last jab at Fleetwood over Nike irons

Just when everyone had probably forgotten about the Paul Casey-Tommy Fleetwood beef over Nike irons, Casey fired another shot.

Over the summer, Fleetwood revealed he was down to his last set of Nike VR Pro blade irons. Since Nike had exited the hard goods industry in 2016, and the former golf club company obviously couldn’t make him another set, he’d have to be extra careful with the irons he’s been playing for years.

"It stops me from breaking any, that's for sure," Fleetwood said. "Eventually, I'm going to have find a new set, but I've been using these for a long time and they're still going."

Facing a high-demand, zero-supply issue, Fleetwood found out that fellow Englishman and former Nike staffer Casey had a stash of the satin VR Pro blades, so Fleetwood reached out to Casey. The problem for Fleetwood, however, was that Casey knew the rarity of the clubs and wasn’t interested in selling them, at least for the price Fleetwood offered.

"They are as rare as rocking horse poo," Casey said with a laugh. "And I will not sell them to him. Or put it this way, he hasn't offered me enough money. They look beautiful, by the way, and I haven't used them. They're the kind of clubs you could hang on the wall. I love the fact that [Tommy's] running around telling everybody. I haven't found any gifts in my locker or handwritten notes. He's gotta try harder."

Casey’s recent Instagram post confirms that he’s still in possession of the sought-after set of Nike irons, so apparently Fleetwood did not make an offer Casey couldn’t refuse. Also, with “PC” stamped on the irons, it’s unlikely Fleetwood would actually game the set anyway.

Unless Fleetwood continues to risk playing competitive golf around the world without a backup set of irons, he’ll need to switch iron models at some point in 2019.

What iron manufacturer and model do you think Fleetwood will use next year? If he follows in Paul Casey’s footsteps, he’ll switch to Mizuno MP-5 blades, which have a chrome finish instead of the satin finish of Fleetwood’s Nike VR Pro blades.