Casey gets down to business with 63 at Kingsbarns

Steve Scott, golf correspondent, The Courier, 6 October 2006

He claims not to be thinking about it, but Paul Casey’s actions confirmed that he wants this European Tour Order of Merit business out of the way by Sunday as he took an immediate advantage on the opening day of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Playing at Kingsbarns Links, the 28-year-old Englishman shot a nine-under 63 for a one-stroke advantage over Sweden’s Johan Edfors and Bradley Dredge of Wales, leaving playing partner Colin Montgomerie 10 strokes adrift, with only Vijay Singh putting up much dispute from the rest of the big names in this £2.65 million event.

It really can’t be a proper celebration of links golf, as this claims to be, if conditions are like they were yesterday, with little real wind and soft and receptive greens. Unsurprisingly the field were unpeturbed by this and took the three courses to the cleaners, with Kingsbarns in particular being easy pickings for the voracious Casey and others.

The organisers can’t be blamed for the weather, but the tournament still has the feel of an enlarged “company day” - with the 51/2-hour rounds to match. Once again it seems as if there are more ancillary staff here, particularly PR people, than actual spectators.

Nevertheless, the vast riches available at this late time in the season are enough to get the juices flowing, particularly if, like Casey, there’s a maiden Order of Merit title there to be all but secured with a win this weekend.

“I’m really not going to think about it,” he insisted. “I saw Howler (second placed David Howell) in the locker room and we chatted a little about it, but my goal is to have fun this week and see how it goes.

“I can’t control what other guys do, and while I would dearly love to win it, it’s not like a tournament when you can feel it is in your control. It would be a wonderful honour, but I have achieved so many of my goals this season I feel very satisfied.

“If I don’t make it then it’s still been a wonderful year.

“Padraig (Harrington) asked me this morning about playing Majorca but I’m not, and I won’t change my schedule now.

“I need a break, actually, but he’s still very much in it and the accountant in him is working out how much he’s going to need, I suppose.”

Casey had four twos on his card, the best being an 80-yard pitch over a ridge at the sixth and into the hole for an eagle.

“I was quite surprised with nine-under because I was so tired last week, and it didn’t feel as easy as a 63,” he admitted.

“I prepared differently this week, just played 18 at the Old Course and nine at Kingsbarns rather than on all three courses.

“Am I in the zone at the moment? A little bit, I’m just trying to keep the game very simple, even the holed shot on the sixth I was just thinking about getting it close for a birdie.

“I just try to have a good attitude and roll with the punches.”

Casey would like to wind it up this weekend because the season-ender venue, Valderrama, is not one of his favourite courses.

“I think my best is a tie for 10th there, so it would be better if they finished up somewhere else, maybe Gleneagles. But it’s a gorgeous course and sometimes fortunes just change. I’d never shot 63 at Kingsbarns until today.”

Dredge set a new record for the latest extended version of the Old Course with his 64, but if the weather continues as present don’t expect the Welshman to hold it for long. He managed to set the record despite double-bogeying the 17th when he hit out of bounds off the tee.

“Five birdies on the spin when I started on the back nine, and that’s where the difficult holes are, and what wind we had was in our favour,” he admitted.

Edfors, the Roger Federer lookalike who has quietly won three tournaments this year including two in Britain - the British Masters and the Barclays Scottish Open - shot a 64 at Kingsbarns, with his driver and seven-iron to five feet for eagle at the long third the chief decoration.

The Swede first came to St Andrew with his parents as a young boy off a handicap of three in the late 1980s, went through the ballot to get a round on the Old Course and shot “three or four-over.”

“I’ve done the tourist thing and now I’m enjoying playing here, you just get such a feel of tradition and history,” he said. “Scotland’s been pretty good to me this year and to do well here at St Andrews would just be the perfect way to finish.”

Many think that Edfors was unlucky not to make the cut for the Ryder Cup team, but he is philosophical and said, “I was a little disappointed, maybe, because I got so close, but it was never one of my goals for the season so I don’t consider I missed out on anything.”

The Swede is just starting out on his European Tour career proper.

But Gary Evans, the often out- spoken Englishman, is winding up, even if yesterday he had a 65 on the Old Course.

Evans, who was fined last year for his comments suggesting Colin Montgomerie was a cheat, admits he’s never been “a glowing light” on the tour—but he’s certainly stuck around for long enough.

“I’ve got a number of projects I’m working on because the last few years have been tough, and when you’ve picked yourself up and dusted yourself down as many times as I have it gets a bit wearing.

“It just seems a good time to make the transition. If I were to win this week, I guarantee you 100%, I’d hang up the spikes.”

Singh shares fourth place with Evans with five players on six-under, including rejuvenated Harrington.

The Irishman looked over-stressed at the Ryder Cup and won half a point from five games but has surged again with the pressure of being the poster boy in his homeland lifted from his shoulders.

“My only aim today was to go out and enjoy myself, but after birdieing the first four holes things got serious pretty quickly,” said Harrington who played with his partner from his 2002 victory, the Irish businessman J. P. McManus.

Dane Anders Hansen recorded the best round on Carnoustie, a six-under 65 with the course being played to the Open Championship par of 71, that is with the 12th playing as a par four rather than a five.

As usual, Carnoustie was quite comfortably the most difficult of the three being used, with the average score close to a stroke over par, although the toughest holes in play yesterday were the 17th on the Old Course and the 18th at Kingsbarns.