Paul Casey was blissfully unaware of the dramatic tussle which was going on
behind him as he led from the front to win the ANZ Championship title by four
points.
The 25-year-old led into the final round of a tournament for only the third
time in his career and, by ignoring the fluctuations on the scoreboard, was able
to remain calm despite having his six-point lead reduced first by Peter Lonard,
then Nick O'Hern and finally Stuart Appleby.
Eventually he sunk a birdie on the last to finish on 45 points and clinch the
£118,000 first prize, four points ahead of Appleby and O'Hern, who tied for
second, and five better than joint-fourth finishers Lonard and Jarrod Moseley.
It was only Casey's second career victory and was based on a scintillating
third round of 63 which, translated into the modified stableford format used on
the NSW Golf Club links, was worth 21 points.
He had scored nine birdies and an eagle to surge out of the pack and earn a
cushion that was to prove crucial as the former US College and British amateur
champion struggled for rhythm on the last day.
Lonard put together a remarkable outward nine of 30 and by the time he birdied
the 13th, the Australian PGA and Masters champion was level with Casey on 42
points.
But just when Lonard expected to go on and set Casey a target in excess of 50,
he double bogeyed the 14th and slipped out of realistic contention almost as
fast as he had risen.
Not that the Englishman knew anything about that, or that while he was
tripping up to card bogeys on the 15th and 16th, O'Hern had leapt into second on
41 points, just two off the pace.
Up until the 17th tee, all he knew was that Appleby remained a threat.
"The first time I looked at the scoreboard all day was on 17," he said. "I
knew what Stuart was on but I had no idea what anybody else was.
"I threw away a couple of points coming down the stretch. Not really nerves
or anything, just a few poor shots. I wasn't worried at any stage, I was always
trying to put myself in play and be aggressive and managed to stay that way
right through to 18."
The drama that had gone on behind him all day had caught him up. O'Hern was on
his shoulder and Appleby sunk a birdie on 17 to move onto 39 points.
Casey's victory calculations relied on him at least parring the 17th, and that
was by no means a given.
He faced an 18-foot putt to avoid dropping a third consecutive point. By then
he knew the entire situation, but remained composed and stroked the ball into
the heart of the hole.
"My calculations started to go through my head very quickly," he said.
"I putted well all week. When I had to make a good putt to save par I made
it. When I had the opportunity to birdie I made them.
"I figured I had to make that putt. Then, if Stuart made an eagle on 18, I
could make a birdie and win."
That almost proved the case. Appleby's eagled chip lipped out of the hole but
Casey sand-wedged from the bunker to within three feet as he finished with a
birdie and a flourish.
Casey's only other win was in 2001 at the Scottish PGA Championship and he was
determined to get another under his belt as soon as he could to get his Ryder
Cup ambitions on track.
"It feels huge. The first win was tough, I have no idea if the second is
tougher but it shows the first wasn't a flash in the pan," he said.
"That'll probably answer a couple of critics that are out there."
The tournament, won last year by David Howell, is one of only two in the world
to employ this scoring system, used to encourage attacking golf.
A birdie wins two points, an eagle five and with a par being zero and a bogey
only minus one, the onus is on the players to attack the pin.
It suited Casey's aggressive game to a tee, but it also left the tournament
wide open to rapid and dramatic fluctuations - as shown by Lonard's charge.
He blitzed the front nine in 30 shots, but conceded the initiative with a poor
decision on the tee.
"Looking back I would've hit a different shot on that tee," he said.
"At that stage I had just caught him, I thought I had to make two or three
more birdies. It wasn't a very good decision but on the other days I hit a
driver and got up near the green."
Collated final scores at New South Wales GC (Par 72, Gbr & Irl unless stated):
+45 - Paul Casey +8 +10 +21 +6
+41 - Nick O'hern (Aus) +10 +12 +8 +11, Stuart Appleby (Aus) +16 +2 +15 +8
+39 - Peter Lonard (Aus) +15 0 +8 +16, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) +3 +18 +3 +15
+38 - Greg Turner (Nzl) +4 +9 +7 +18
+37 - Martin Doyle (Aus) +4 +7 +7 +19, Scott Hend (Aus) +4 +8 +17 +8
+35 - Peter Senior (Aus) +10 +9 +9 +7, Robert Karlsson (Swe) +11 +9 +11 +4
+34 - Peter Fowler (Aus) +17 +2 +10 +5
+33 - Paul Marantz (Aus) +8 +11 +1 +13, Klas Eriksson (Swe) +4 +12 +5 +12,
Soren Kjeldsen (Den) +5 +7 +12 +9, Jamie Donaldson +4 +10 +11 +8
+32 - Richard Lee (Nzl) +7 +14 +4 +7, Nick Dougherty -2 +15 +17 +2
+31 - Brendan Jones (Aus) +8 +14 +1 +8, Terry Price (Aus) +10 +12 +4 +5
+30 - Andre Stolz (Aus) +5 +12 +7 +6
+29 - Richard Bland +3 +10 +6 +10, Arjun Atwal (Ind) +3 +14 +3 +9, Craig Parry
(Aus) +14 +7 +1 +7, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) +11 0 +11 +7
+28 - Mahal Pearce (Nzl) +7 +12 -1 +10, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) +6 +6 +7 +9,
Steven Conran (Aus) +11 +2 +8 +7, Gregory Havret (Fra) 0 +13 +13 +2
+27 - David Carter +10 +9 -1 +9, Soren Hansen (Den) +4 +15 +1 +7, Nathan Green
(Aus) +9 +13 +3 +2
+26 - Michael Pearson (USA) +10 +6 +4 +6, Steve Webster +10 +2 +11 +3
+25 - Stephen Gallacher 0 +12 -1 +14, David Drysdale +10 +9 -3 +9, Mark Foster
+8 +9 +1 +7, Gary Evans +7 +14 -2 +6, David Howell +11 +6 +9 -1
+24- Brad Kennedy (Aus) +10 +1 +8 +5, Cameron Percy (Aus) +5 +11 +5 +3, Steve
Collins (Aus) +12 +3 +6 +3, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) +10 +3 +8 +3
+23 - Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) +4 +10 +3 +6, Matthew Ecob (Aus) +5 +13 +1 +4,
Bradley Hughes (Aus) +7 +9 +5 +2, Stephen Leaney (Aus) +11 +3 +7 +2, Marcus Cain
(Aus) +10 +5 +10 -2
+22 - Peter O'malley (Aus) +4 +7 +1 +10, Matthew Blackey +12 +2 +5 +3, Paul
Sheehan (Aus) +5 +7 +8 +2, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) +4 +12 +10 -4
+21 - Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) +10 +1 +5 +5, David Lynn +6 +6 +5 +4, Michael
Clayton (Aus) +9 +8 +4 0
+20 - Adam Le vesconte (Aus) +6 +6 +4 +4, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) -1 +15 +3 +3
+19 - Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) +9 +8 -3 +5, Douglas Labelle (USA) -1 +12 +3 +5
+18 - Shannon Jones (Aus) +8 +5 +3 +2, Paul Lawrie +4 +7 +9 -2
+17 - Mikko Ilonen (Fin) -2 +19 -4 +4, Leigh Mckechnie (Aus) +1 +11 +6 -1
+16 - Jorge Berendt (Arg) +6 +7 -3 +6, Raymond Russell +6 +10 -4 +4, Ian
Garbutt +2 +10 +6 -2
+15 - Dean Robertson 0 +14 -6 +7, Adam Mednick (Swe) +4 +9 0 +2, Wayne Riley
(Aus) +2 +11 0 +2
+13 - Carlos Rodiles (Spa) +7 +4 +5 -3
+11 - Martin Maritz (Spa) +6 +5 -3 +3, Adrian Percey (Aus) +4 +10 -3 0
+9 - Tony Carolan (Aus) +7 +4 0 -2
+3 - David Gleeson (Aus) +3 +8 -2 -6
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook