Casey plays St. George’s to check out bud’s raves
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/07/2010 (5874 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
TORONTO — Organizers of the 2010 Canadian Open can thank a long-ago promise to a friend for getting Paul Casey to make his first appearance here.
The Englishman, currently ranked No. 8 in the world, belongs to The Wisley club outside London. His friend and fellow member Steve Lobb is also a member of St. George’s Country Club, the site of this week’s PGA Tour event.
"Obviously he loves this place," said Casey, who employed Lobb as his caddy for Wednesday’s pro-am.
"He’s like, ‘It’s the best course in Canada — you gotta come play it.’ And I’ve always said, ‘Yeah, yeah, I’ll come play it.’ And here it is. I had to come play it. I couldn’t back down."
Casey presents an affability not always common among professional golfers.
The same character who chatted his way through the final round of the British Open on Sunday with eventual champion Louis Oosthuizen showed up in the interview room Wednesday, which was his 33rd birthday. He brought along a present — "It’s one of those stick-it-in-the-ground, golf-ball-on-a-string things. It’s perfect if you don’t want to go down to the range."
His presence here is a prized gift for event organizers. His status as a top-10 player eases the burden of the late withdrawal of Jim Furyk, the 2006 and 2007 champion. Golf’s supernovas such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els continue to skip this event, so Casey is a name fans can follow.
An 11-time winner, although just once on the PGA Tour, Casey is someone expected to make the jump from good to great. He nearly broke through in 2004 at the Masters when he started the final round one shot behind co-leader Mickelson and Chris DiMarco. A final-round 74 that day dropped him into a tie for sixth, which remained his best result in a major until last weekend, when he finished tied for third at the British Open at St. Andrews.
"I played great, I made two mistakes," Casey said of last weekend. "Very disappointed not to finish second last weekend, but to be honest, nobody was catching Louis last week."
Currently ranked 23rd on the PGA Tour money list with more than US$2 million in winnings in just 10 events, Casey said he is driven to achieve golf immortality.
"I’m very hungry for major success. That’s the one thing that I haven’t achieved yet that I want to achieve," he said. "I don’t sit back and go, ‘OK, I’m top 10 in the world and I’ve won this and done that and made some nice money.’ I mean, it’s not about that to me. It’s about titles."
— Postmedia News
