Major success the next goal for Paul Casey after he climbs to third in world

In years to come, Paul Casey will look back on his career and give praise to Wentworth. Three years ago, the Englishman walked away from the West Course with the World Match Play Championship in his pocket and yesterday he went one better when he held his nerve under intense pressure to win the most prestigious of European Tour titles, the BMW PGA Championship.
It moved the Europe Ryder Cup player to No 3 in the world and allowed him to join an exclusive club. Only four other British players have climbed so high in the world rankings and Casey admitted that he was flattered to be spoken of in the same breath as Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle and Colin Montgomerie, three of whom are major champions.
“That’s very impressive,” he said. “But I have a long way to go to get close to achieving what they have.” On his immediate radar, however, is a serious attempt to win his first major championship, starting with the US Open at Bethpage State Park, New York, next month. At 31, Casey knows he is about to enter his prime and has taken consolation in the past from the fact that Faldo was 30 when he won the first of his six major championships. Things are about to get serious.
Casey, who had led the field by three shots at the start of the round, was chased all the way to the finishing line by Ross Fisher, a fellow Englishman, who started the day five shots behind but threw down the gauntlet with a stunning round of 64 that left Casey requiring a birdie at the last, the par-five 18th, to guarantee victory. By this stage Soren Kjeldsen, his playing partner, had fallen away.
There might have been a flutter of anxiety when Casey found a bunker at the front of the green with his approach. But he hit an exquisite shot over the flag and to within five feet of the hole and rolled in the putt for a 68 in a 17-under-par total of 271 and victory by one stroke. It was his third title this year, his eleventh in all, and, with a winner’s cheque of about £670,000, it moved him to the top of the standings in the Race to Dubai. His form is something to behold.
It would be true to say that Casey has made heavy weather of closing out tournaments in the past. At the Wales Open in 2004, he surrendered a four-shot lead with seven holes to play before losing out to Simon Khan in a sudden-death play-off. But what in the past has hurt him has now made him stronger.
At the Abu Dhabi Championship this year, he held a comfortable lead in the final round before wobbling down the stretch on his way to victory. And at the Shell Houston Open he needed a par at the last to win outright but bogeyed the hole before going on to beat J. B. Holmes in a play-off for his first win on American soil. But as Tiger Woods says, it is the W (a win) that counts, however it might be achieved.
Casey was disappointed not to have won in 2008 — after all, he had at least one victory to his name every year since 2005 — but has made up for it this year in spectacular fashion, also getting to the final of the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship, in Tucson, Arizona, where he lost to Geoff Ogilvy in the final. He blames the barren year on focusing too hard on the majors but now says he concentrates only on the immediate problem in front of him.
His interview style, like his golf this year, has taken on a slightly more conservative approach. As with his shots, he chooses his words carefully and does not wish to be thought of as brash. His golf, he hopes, will do most of the speaking for him.
Casey’s shot of the day yesterday was one of 160 yards from a fairway bunker at the 3rd to within two feet of the flag. It was his first birdie of the day and retrieved the shot he had dropped at the 1st. He tended to use fairway woods off most of the tees, relying on his considerable power and the fact that in warm, dry conditions, the course was running fast. It was sensible, no-nonsense play.
In one light-hearted moment at the 7th, his caddie asked a follower on the fairway to move out of Casey’s eyeline. “He probably owns BMW,” Casey said as an aside. In fact it was Richard Carey, the owner of Wentworth, who moved just slowly enough to let people know he was more than a little important.
As he was standing waiting to putt at the 9th, the cheers that poured all the way back from the 10th let Casey know that Fisher was on the move. He had already bagged four birdies in reaching the turn in 31 and another, this time courtesy of a putt from around 25 feet, drew him level, on 13 under par, at the top of the leaderboard. But Casey was not to be denied. At no point was he behind and birdies at the 12th, 15th, 17th and 18th secured a well-deserved victory. He had reached the turn in 35 and came home in 33.
- Colin Montgomerie, who scored 76 in his final round at Wentworth, gave up on the chance to play in the US Open by pulling out of the 36-hole qualifying tournament at Walton Heath today. The only time Montgomerie had previously missed the US Open since finishing third on his debut in 1992 was in 2004.
Great Britain or Ireland unless stated:
271: P Casey 69, 67, 67, 68. 272: R Fisher 68, 73, 67, 64. 275: S Kjeldsen (Den) 69, 69, 68, 69. 276: S Dodd 71, 68, 70, 67. 278: R McIlroy 72, 70, 65, 71. 279: A Wall 67, 71, 72, 69; C Schwartzel (SA) 68, 72, 68, 71; B Curtis (US) 69, 70, 73, 67. 280: T Levet (Fr) 70, 71, 68, 71. 281: T Aiken (SA) 72, 67, 74, 68. 282: M Kaymer (Ger) 72, 70, 70, 70; G Fernández-Castaño (Sp) 67, 77, 70, 68. 283: G McDowell 75, 71, 68, 69; A Tadini (It) 74, 71, 69, 69; N Dougherty 73, 71, 67, 72. 284: R Rock 71, 74, 69, 70; T Björn (Den) 73, 73, 70, 68; J-F Lucquin (Fr) 70, 72, 72, 70; S Dyson 74, 69, 68, 73; Á Quirós (Sp) 69, 71, 73, 71. 285: RJ Derksen (Neth) 71, 74, 69, 71; A Hansen (Den) 72, 70, 71, 72; S Hansen (Den) 73, 70, 71, 71; P Waring 75, 71, 70, 69; P Broadhurst 73, 72, 68, 72; M Warren 72, 66, 71, 76; A Noren (Swe) 69, 71, 72, 73; E Els (SA) 73, 73, 70, 69; M Brier (Austria) 70, 74, 72, 69; F Zanotti (Par) 70, 75, 71, 69; R Green (Aus) 72, 74, 68, 71. 286: R Karlsson (Swe) 69, 74, 72, 71; Paul Lawrie 72, 71, 70, 73; J Donaldson 70, 71, 73, 72. 287: F Molinari (It) 77, 68, 70, 72; S Kapur (India) 73, 72, 70, 72; C Montgomerie 69, 73, 69, 76; B Barham 72, 73, 72, 70; L Slattery 70, 72, 74, 71; N Fasth (Swe) 68, 74, 73, 72; A Forsyth 70, 75, 75, 67; L Donald 74, 72, 71, 70.
Source:The times