In a field boasting 8 major winners and countless tournament winners, it was England’s Paul Casey who took the title in the European Tour’s flagship event with a superb display of power and precision that moved him to number 3 in the world rankings and into first place for the race to Dubai.

He didn’t have it all his own way as Wentworth local Ross Fisher made him fight for the title with a final round 64 that saw him jointly atop the leaderboard after 12 holes and made Casey have to birdie the last 2 holes for a one stoke victory.

With the likes of Cabrera, Els, Goosen, Stenson, McIlroy, Daly and Casey competing it was always going to be a hard fought contest and after the first round no less than 29 players were within 3 shots of the lead.

Round 2 saw Casey move to the front with a 67 to take a 2 shot lead and follow that up and another 67 to increase his lead to 3 shots. While best known for his driving, his iron play was a sight to behold – a 224 yard 6 iron to 15 feet and a 162 yard 9 iron that took one hope before diving into the cup were 2 highlights. It was only the equal brilliance of the likes of Fisher, McIlroy, KJeldson that stopped him from running away with the title. Casey’s play was a masterclass of playing golf by getting out of your own way. That all four rounds were in the 60’s indicated how well he was playing but that all four could have been far lower was incredible.

It was only during the fourth round that the pressure began to tell on Casey. A hooked drive on the first resulted in a bogey and it looked bad on the third after he found himself close to the front lip in a fairway bunker but another magnificent iron shot to no more than 6 feet and an easy birdie putt righted the ship.

Fisher did everything he could with the lowest round of the week, a bogey-free 64 that saw catch Casey. Casey responded down the stretch with a birdie at the 17th and then another on the par 5 18th after getting up and down from a greenside bunker that was enough to take the win and his 11th professional title.

WITB
Nike SQ 460 Tour driver
Nike SQ II 13-degree 3 wood and 19-degree 5 wood
Nike Pro Combo OS 3 iron
Nike VR forged split cavity 4 and 5 irons
Nike VR forged wedges 52 and 60
Nike prototype putter
Nike ONE Tour ball.