Rising star Paul Casey confirmed his enormous potential by securing a maiden
victory in only his 11th European Tour event as a professional in the Scottish
PGA Championship.
Casey carded a final round 69 over the Centenary Course at Gleneagles for a
14-under-par total and one-stroke victory over Germany's Alex Cejka.
Swindon's David Howell was alone in third on 11 under with Worthing's Gary
Evans, Swede Carl Pettersson and France's Christian Cevaer another shot back in
joint fourth.
The 24-year-old collected the first prize of £166,660 to take his earnings
over £300,000 in under four months and into the top 30 in the Order of Merit.
Few players have made such an instant impact in the game with Sergio Garcia
offering the best recent comparison, the Spaniard winning the Irish Open on his
sixth start as a professional.
"This is fantastic," said Casey who secured his card for next season by
finishing second in the Great North Open in June on only his fifth of seven
allowed invitations.
"I'm really happy with the way I played. I kept my head on my shoulders and
stuck with the game plan. I didn't play well at the start of the year, but after
Slaley Hall I thought I could win out here.
"I had my Tour card after that and started looking towards next year which
was daft and had three or four weeks where I had no sort of drive or goal.
"But I got myself geared up for the Wales Open at Celtic Manor, but only got
to play two rounds because of the weather which was disappointing.
"I'd told my management company it could be my week at Celtic Manor so I was
just two weeks out."
Casey admitted he considered turning professional after playing a major part
in Britain and Ireland's Walker Cup triumph at Nairn in 1999, winning four
points out of four.
But he was enjoying college life at Arizona State and wanted to make sure he
began life in the paid ranks as assuredly as he has.
"I didn't want to come out and scrape around and end up having to go to Tour
School," added Casey who still lives with his parents in Weybridge, Surrey.
"There were times when I thought I should have turned professional earlier,
but no regrets now."
Casey, playing only his 15th tournament as a professional ever, began the day
one shot behind Cejka, but was quickly in front when he birdied the third as
Cejka made a bogey five.
A bogey at the next allowed Cejka to get back on level terms, but the German
promptly dropped a shot at the next and after they swapped birdies on the eighth
and ninth, Casey led by one at the turn.
Howell then got in on the act in style by holing his second shot from 107
yards for an eagle at the 13th to briefly make it a three-way tie for the lead,
before Casey made what proved to be the decisive move.
Birdies at the 12th and 14th - the latter from 50 feet - took him two clear
and although he bogeyed the next another birdie at the 16th put him two ahead
again.
Cejka would not give in however and birdied the 17th to close the gap to one,
but Casey held his nerve, holing from eight feet for birdie at the last with
Cejka slightly closer, to make sure of the title.
"It was a pretty good performance from me considering I primarily came here
looking to gain some confidence in my game for the next two big weeks," said
Cejka, without a Tour win since tasting victory three times in 1995.
"I wasn't very solid today, but I was pleased that at least I managed to keep
it interesting right to the end with my two birdies. I thought I might have a
little chance, but Paul played very well and deserved to win."
Howell had shared the lead after his eagle on the 13th, but revealed he was
struggling to keep his game together on the final day.
"It was quite a professional performance really because I was swinging it
really poorly all day," Howell said.
"I needed to birdie the 12th and when I did that and got a bit of luck holing
that shot on the 13th I thought I might be back in with a little chances, but it
was hard work and I never felt I was swinging well enough to make a load of
birdies."
A tournament meant to be all about Ryder Cup qualification eventually resolved
very little with Andrew Coltart, 13th in the standings at the start of the week,
missing the cut, and Andrew Oldcorn (14th) only in a share for 11th.
"I'm pretty much resigned to missing out," Oldcorn said. "I'll see if the
top prize next week is enough for me to catch the man in 10th place, but I'm
pretty much resigned.
"I knew what I had to do this week, (top-three finish), I gave it a good
shot, but it has just been two or three shots too many and it is purely because
of my putting."
Collated scores and totals in final round of Scottish PGA Championship,
Gleneagles: (Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 72, (x) denotes amateurs)
274 P Casey 69 69 67 69 (£166,660)
275 A Cejka (Ger) 71 67 66 71 (£111,110)
277 D Howell 70 71 66 70 (£62,600)
278 C Cevaer (Fra) 72 71 69 66, C Pettersson (Swe) 75 66 70 67, G Evans 66 67
77 68 (£42,466 each)
279 D Terblanche (Rsa) 73 70 70 66, J Lomas 66 74 70 69, P Hanson (Swe) 74 64
69 72, S Gallacher 67 71 69 72
280 S Scahill (Nzl) 69 74 69 68, A Oldcorn 70 67 73 70, P O'Malley (Aus) 68 72
70 70, D Smyth 71 71 68 70, M Mouland 65 70 73 72, D Higgins 67 71 70 72, J Rose
67 71 68 74
281 P Lawrie 75 69 69 68, R Chapman 72 70 70 69, R Wessels (Rsa) 69 72 68 72,
G Murphy 68 69 70 74
282 M Roe 73 71 69 69, G Turner (Nzl) 69 67 75 71, D Lynn 69 70 72 71, M
Mackenzie 75 66 70 71, P Broadhurst 68 69 73 72, S Dyson 69 70 69 74, J Rystrom
(Swe) 72 69 67 74
283 S Dodd 73 70 70 70, I Garbutt 70 72 70 71, J Donaldson 69 71 71 72, J
Sandelin (Swe) 72 66 72 73, R Karlsson (Swe) 70 69 70 74, N Vanhootegem (Bel) 73
65 69 76
284 P Fowler (Aus) 66 68 78 72, C Rodiles (Spa) 69 67 75 73
285 R Claydon 70 72 74 69, R Muntz (Ned) 69 72 74 70, D Robertson 72 69 73 71,
N Dougherty 70 74 70 71, M James 72 71 70 72, A Wall 69 74 70 72, B Davis 72 72
69 72, A Raitt 73 67 72 73, S Torrance 68 74 70 73, J Spence 71 68 72 74
286 R Drummond 71 72 71 72, T Immelman (Rsa) 71 73 70 72, S Kjeldsen (Den) 71
68 71 76, C Gillies 74 66 70 76
287 M Pilkington 72 69 74 72, W Bennett 67 75 72 73, W Riley (Aus) 69 72 72
74, D Park 73 70 70 74, R Russell 71 70 68 78
288 A Forsbrand (Swe) 68 70 80 70, SP Webster 70 72 74 72, O Edmond (Fra) 68
74 73 73, E Darcy 73 69 73 73, R Arnott 74 66 71 77
289 D Lee 72 71 74 72, D Botes (Rsa) 71 70 74 74, B Marchbank 75 69 71 74
290 S Luna (Spa) 71 72 74 73, O Karlsson (Swe) 72 72 73 73, G Houston 74 70 71
75, J Senden (Aus) 72 70 70 78
291 M Gronberg (Swe) 73 71 75 72, D Gilford 74 70 74 73, G Rankin 74 70 73 74
292 S Lyle 72 71 75 74, J Hugo (Rsa) 73 71 72 76
293 N Cheetham 74 70 72 77
294 P Eales 70 74 78 72, G Havret (Fra) 69 73 75 77
295 R Winchester 73 70 79 73
296 V Phillips 75 69 77 75, S Hansen (Den) 74 69 77 76, C Hainline (USA) 72 72
75 77
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