Paul Alexander Casey (born 21 July 1977) is an English golfer who is a member of the US-based PGA Tour. In 2009 he achieved his highest position, third, in the Official World Golf Ranking.
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Early and personal life
Casey was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, but moved with his family to Weybridge, Surrey at the age of six. After attending Cleves School, Weybridge and then Hampton School, west London, he studied A levels at Strode's College, Egham, Surrey. He then took a golf scholarship at Arizona State University.
In 2008, he married Jocelyn Hefner, a distant cousin of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. The couple lived a quiet life on a remote ranch in rural Arizona, where keen amateur horse woman Jocelyn competed in local equestrian events. But after she abandoned an interior design course in 2010, the couple agreed to divorce.
After they met at the Formula 1 Chequered Flag Ball at the 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Casey started dating television presenter Pollyanna Woodward. The couple got engaged during the Christmas 2013/New Year 2014 period.
Career
His amateur career was distinguished. In the US he won three consecutive Pac-12 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 did not 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 US 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. He re-joined the PGA Tour in 2009.
Casey has featured in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking and was the highest ranked Englishman for a time. In January 2007 he reached a career high of No. 13 in the rankings.
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, 23 September 2006, in Ireland.
Casey sparked controversy in November 2004, when in an interview for the Sunday Times newspaper he reportedly said, of the US Ryder Cup team, "Oh, we properly hate them. We wanted to beat them as badly as possible". Several leading American 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 (Peter Kostis) and girlfriend and says he "has nothing against America".
Casey earned his first PGA Tour win on 5 April 2009 by defeating J. B. Holmes in a one-hole playoff at the Shell Houston Open. This win took him to No. 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Casey won his milestone 10th event on the European Tour at the 2009 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey, where he won by one stroke over Wentworth resident and fellow Englishman Ross Fisher. This win vaulted Casey to a career high of 3rd in the Official World Golf Ranking. He had been ranked at No. 41 at the beginning of 2009. Casey suffered a rib injury at the 2009 Open Championship, limited the amount of golf he could play in the second half of 2009.
In January 2011, Casey won the Volvo Golf Champions tournament in Bahrain, which was his first win for 20 months.
Casey won the 2012 Telus World Skins Game in Canada, having defeated Jhonattan Vegas in a tiebreaker during the event in July.
In June 2013, Casey won his 12th European Tour title at The Irish Open to end a two and half-year winless drought due to form and fitness problems. He captured the title with a final round 67 in changeable conditions, to win by three strokes over Joost Luiten and Robert Rock. He had begun the day four shots behind the leader Luiten, but a run of five birdies in six holes in the middle of the round opened up a three shot lead. It was reduced to one stroke, when Casey bogeyed the 15th and 16th, but a closing eagle on the par five 18th sealed the victory.
In September 2014, Casey won his 13th European Tour title at the KLM Open in the Netherlands, his first victory of the 2014 season. He took victory after posting a final round 66, putting him one shot ahead of runner up, and fellow Englishman Simon Dyson. He started the final round four strokes off the lead of Romain Wattel. The victory was especially emotional and gratifying as Casey's wife Pollyanna had given birth to the couple's first child two week prior to the event.
In 2014, Casey finished 95th in the FedEx Cup despite no top tens in 16 starts. He was playing out of the Past Champions category, with a number of sponsor's exemptions. For 2015, Casey chose to give up his European Tour exemption and focus solely on the PGA Tour, citing a need to lessen his travel.
In February 2015, Casey finished in a tie for second at the Northern Trust Open after losing in a sudden-death playoff to James Hahn. Casey finished the tournament at six-under-par, tied with Hahn and Dustin Johnson. After the trio all parred the first extra hole, Casey could only make a par on the second extra hole and was eliminated when Hahn and Johnson both got up and down for birdies from the greenside rough. This result moved him up to 43rd in the FedExCup rankings. Casey continued his good form in America the following week, when he finished in a tie for third at the Honda Classic, one shot outside of a playoff. Two weeks later he equalled his 2004 performance by finishing tied for 6th place in the 2015 Masters.
In 2016, Casey finished 2nd at both the Deutsche Bank Championship and the BMW Championship before finishing 4th at the Tour Championship to finish 5th in the 2016 FedEx Cup Playoffs, his best career performance in the Playoffs.
Amateur wins (5)
- 1998 Pac-10 Championship
- 1999 English Amateur, Pac-10 Championship
- 2000 English Amateur, Pac-10 Championship
Professional wins (17)
PGA Tour wins (1)
PGA Tour playoff record (1-2)
European Tour wins (13)
1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour
European Tour playoff record (2-1)
Asian Tour wins (2)
1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
Korean Tour wins (1)
Other wins (2)
- 2004 World Cup of Golf (with Luke Donald)
- 2012 Telus World Skins Game
Results in major championships
WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Summary
- Most consecutive cuts made - 9 (2007 Masters - 2009 Masters)
- Longest streak of top-10s - 2 (twice)
Results in World Golf Championships
Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.
Team appearances
Amateur
- Walker Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1999 (winners)
- Eisenhower Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2000
- St Andrews Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2000
Professional
- Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2004 (winners), 2006 (winners), 2008
- WGC-World Cup (representing England): 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 (winners)
- Seve Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2002(winners), 2003 (winners), 2005 (winners), 2007 (winners), 2013
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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