Paul Casey

Paul Alexander Casey (born 21 July 1977) is an English golfer who is a member of the world's top two professional golf tours, the U.S. based PGA Tour and the European Tour.

Career

Casey was born in Cheltenham, but moved to Weybridge at the age of six. After attending Cleves School, Weybridge and then Hampton School, he studied A levels at Strode's College, Egham. He then took a golf scholarship at Arizona State University (one of an increasing number of young British golfers taking tertiary scholarships in the USA as sports scholarships are not part of the British university system). His amateur career was distinguished. In the U.S. he was the first man to win three consecutive Pac-10 Championships (1998, 1999 and 2000). In 2000 he broke the championship scoring record held by Tiger Woods (18 under par) with a 23 under par 265. Back on the other side of the Atlantic he won the English Amateur in 1999 and 2000. He was also a member of Great Britain and Ireland’s winning 1999 Walker Cup team, where he was only the third player in seventy seven years to record four victories without a single defeat. Casey joined the European Tour in May 2001 and recorded a second in his fifth event and a win in his eleventh, the Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship, ending that season 22nd on the order of merit and collecting the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award. After a disappointing second season he won the ANZ Championship and the Benson and Hedges International Open in 2003, and came sixth on the Order of Merit.

Casey didn't win any individual titles in 2004, but he was a member of the victorious European Ryder Cup team and also won the WGC-World Cup for England in partnership with Luke Donald. Another highlight of his year was a sixth place finish in his first Masters. He joined the PGA Tour shortly afterwards as a Special Temporary Member and his membership of the 2004 European Ryder Cup Team qualified him for membership of the U.S. based tour for the 2005 season. However he continues to play mainly in Europe, and was the leader of the European Tour Order of Merit in 2006, until Pádraig Harrington overtook him in the final event.

Casey has featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings and was the highest ranked Englishman for a time. In January 2007 he reached a career high of thirteenth in the rankings. [ [http://www.owgr.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=397083&itype=&iCategoryID=0 Week 3 - Paul Casey Wins the Abu Dhabi Championship and Reaches World Number 13] , Official World Golf Ranking site, 22 January 2007]

In 2006, Casey won the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, beating Shaun Micheel 10 and 8 in a record victory for the final.

Casey became the only player in Ryder Cup history to win a foursome match with a hole-in-one on Saturday 23rd September 2006 in Ireland.

Casey sparked controversy in November 2004, when in an interview for the Sunday Times newspaper he reportedly spoke disparagingly of the U.S. Ryder Cup team: "Oh, we properly hate them. We wanted to beat them as badly as possible" and also saying that Americans were quite insular. Several leading US golfers, including Fred Funk and Davis Love III, publicly dismissed the controversy surrounding Casey as tabloid mischief. Casey later apologised saying the remarks were taken out of context and using the word "hate" was an error. Casey has an American coach and girlfriend and says he "has nothing against America". [cite news | title = Casey apologises for 'hate' jibe | publisher = BBC Sport online | date = 2004-11-18 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/4019845.stm]

Amateur wins

*1998 Pac-10 Championship
*1999 English Amateur, Pac-10 Championship
*2000 English Amateur, Pac-10 Championship

Professional wins

European Tour (8)
*2001 (1) Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship
*2003 (2) ANZ Championship, Benson & Hedges International Open
*2005 (1) TCL Classic
*2006 (3) Volvo China Open (2005 calendar year, 2006 European Tour season), Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, HSBC World Match Play Championship
*2007 (1) Abu Dhabi Golf Championship

Results in major championships

DNP = Did not play
WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Team appearances

Amateur
*Walker Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1999 (winner)
*Eisenhower Trophy (representing England): 2000
*St Andrews Trophy: 2000

Professional
*Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2004 (winners), 2006 (winners), 2008
*WGC-World Cup (representing England): 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 (winner, with Luke Donald)
*Seve Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2002 (winners), 2003 (winners), 2005 (winners), 2007 (winners)

References

External links

* [http://www.paul-casey.com Official Site]
* [http://www.europeantour.com/publish.sps?syndicatorguid=&rmasiteinstanceguid=&pagegid=%7B20E6AA6B-0225-4C71-BD89-2ACBEE615D69%7D&playerid=30788 Profile on the European Tour's site]
* [http://www.pgatour.com/players/02/53/64/ Profile on the PGA Tour's site]
* [http://www.officialworldgolfranking.com/players/bio.sps?ID=7108 Results in ranking events for the last 2 years from the Official World Golf Ranking site]