He started his professional victory quest with a maiden success at Gleneagles in 2001 and Paul Casey continued to show his love affair with the famous Scottish venue when he claimed his sixth European Tour International Schedule title in the 2006 Johnnie Walker Championship.
The 28 year old Englishman carded a final round 72 on the PGA Centenary Course – venue for The 2014 Ryder Cup - for a 16 under par total of 276 and victory by a shot from
Home crowd favourite and Casey’s playing partner for the final day – Colin Montgomerie – failed to find the vital spark to ignite his challenge and finished in a share of fourth place alongside his Ryder Cup colleague Thomas Björn on 14 under par 278 after they finished with respective rounds of 73 and 71. But the day, and the tournament, belonged to Casey.
“I’m ecstatic,” said the new champion, who moved ever closer to compatriot David Howell at the top of The European Tour Order of Merit. “I started off with a bit of a flier and it became a battle at the end but it was always going to be difficult with Monty right behind me. But I am over the moon with that and although it wasn’t very pretty at times near the end, I got the job done and I feel like I have played good consistent golf and it was nice to sneak one in.”
After near misses this year in The Quinn Direct British Masters at The De Vere Belfry and the Nissan Irish Open at Carton House, Casey – who won the Volvo China Open last November - also revealed he was keen to finally have crossed the winning line again.
“It wasn’t frustrating not to win but I didn’t want to continue to finish second or worse because I think I am capable of winning golf events and I don’t want to be seen as somebody who cannot finish them off. Therefore it was satisfying to finish it off today.”
The ending to his final round might have been workmanlike – with the back nine covered in one over par 38 – but the start was sensational and a birdie on each of his opening three holes certainly knocked the wind out of the majority of his challengers as well as the fervour from the Montgomerie supporters in the gallery.
Although he was threatened on occasions, he was never headed from there on, Montgomerie’s challenge effectively ending when he dropped shots at the 15th and 17th which left Hansen and Marshall to jointly fill the runners-up slot.
“I’m delighted with that,” he said. “It is a great week for me, I’ve had a tough year but I just played lovely today and lovely all week and I hardly put a foot wrong. I’m a little bit disappointed not to make a birdie at the last because I saw a birdie would tie but for me, the first time in amongst a big crowd, I thought it was pretty good really.”
Fellow runner-up Hansen, who did birdie the last, continued the good form which saw him finish in the same position recently in the BA-CA Golf Open in Austria but admitted his closing 70 was all the more impressive since he had to take painkillers simply to be able to play.
“Last night I couldn’t even crawl into bed my back was so gone,” he said. “So I have been playing on painkillers today. I felt a little bit during last week and this week but then last night it flared up.
“I am going home now to
Montgomerie, the Championship Chairman, succinctly summed up where he felt his challenge had evaporated. “I missed out on the ninth all week,” said the Scot. “I had four great drives but played it in level par which is three and a half shots to the field and I played the last in one over with four other good drives. Those two par fives killed me.”
