Surrey’s Paul Casey is looking to go back to back at the WGC-Dell Technologies World Matchplay, in Austin, Texas, after defending his Valspar trophy at Copperhead. Picture by GETTY IMAGES
PAUL Casey arrives at this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies World Match Play in buoyant mood after the Englishman defended a title for the first time in his professional career last week at the Valspar Championship on the US PGA Tour.
The 41-year-old is the most recent of three Europeans to have won in consecutive weeks on the other side of the Atlantic – alongside Rory McIlroy and Francesco Molinari.
And all three are present at Austin Country Club in a field which features 48 of the world’s top 50. Casey, who was raised in Surrey, has a strong record in knockout formats, having won the Volvo World Match Play at Wentworth Club back in 2006.
His Ryder Cup record of four wins and five ties out of 12 matches – having played in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2018 having fallen out over the qualification process after missing out at Celtic Manor in 2010 – is one not to be sniffed at.
Add to that two runner-up finishes and four further top 10 in this event, and Casey is a force to be reckoned with in Texas this week.
The former Burhill junior who won back to back English Amateur Championships in 1999 and 2000 before turning pro at the end of that year said: “It feels great to be here after winning, really good.
“It’s obviously been a short week. I’m a little bit tired. I’d like to have a day off to recover, but it’s probably a good thing just to crack on.
“Last week was brilliant, so enjoyable, and what a tough golf course that is. But last year was like this huge kind of relief and quite emotional.
“Sunday was just exciting and felt great and kind of felt like the sort of golf – I certainly made mistakes, everybody did – but felt like golf I was playing 10 years ago, when I was in my 30s rather than my 40s.
So it felt very good.
“My matchplay record is fairly strong. Maybe not a huge amount of success in this particular event, or at Austin Country Club.
“But I played well finishing off the Ryder Cup last year in Paris. That was a great match against Brooks.
“I know how to play it. I’ve got massive respect for my group, but I don’t really have a group of death.”
The 13-time European Tour winner is one of 10 Englishmen in the field this week, a tournament record, and three of those are making their debut this week – Oxfordshire’s Eddie Pepperell and Herfordshire pair Tom Lewis and Matt Wallace.
Francesco Molinari does not have a standout record in the event, which has been won by Major winners in 12 of the last 16 outings.
The last outsider to produce a shock was Kevin Sutherland who won in 2002 when the WGC Matchplay was played at La Costa Resort in California’s Carlsbad, the home to two of the world’s biggest club manufacturers in TaylorMade and Calloway.
Molinari, who won his first Major by claiming the Claret Jug at The Open at Carnoustie, in July, said: “It’s always a tough event, not one where I’ve done particularly well in the past – so hopefully I’ll manage to change that trend this year.
“Clearly these guys are the best players in the world and it’s really exciting for people watching at home because anyone can beat anyone over 18 holes.
“I think the format is good, even if you win the first game you have to be on your toes and play well for the rest of the group stage and it can be a challenge for everyone for sure.
“You need a certain dose of good luck in match play but mostly you need to play good golf for a long time because it’s a lot of golf.
“In golf the margins are so small that really anything can happen, but you come into the week hoping to do well and hoping to play some good golf and that’s all you’ve got to do.
“So my focus will be on trying to control my game and my emotions and play some good golf and if you get the right breaks, you can go all the way.
“Since the event has come to Austin there has been a great atmosphere and the course is very good for match play, so many risk and reward holes so it should be a fun week for everyone.”
