Casey Finally Has the Mindset to Unlock Full Potential on TOUR
There was no mistaking how tired he was. His eyes told you all you needed to know.
So did his smile.
Paul Casey €" running on a couple hours sleep and maybe a power nap on a 6 a.m. flight out of Phoenix €" was in Houston Monday morning to live up to a promise he made nearly a year ago.
No one would have thought twice if he had cancelled. Or asked to do it via teleconference. After all, he had just played 60 holes of match play in two days. Not to mention surviving a string of 5 a.m. wake-up calls, a myriad of weather conditions and a suspension for darkness 23 holes into a 24-hole semifinal match against Camilo Villegas. That following a blitz of a quartet of 5 and 4 wins the four previous days.
To top it all off? He lost in the finals of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play for the second consecutive year Sunday to fellow Englishman Ian Poulter by a score of 4 and 2; a year ago to Australian Geoff Ogilvy 4 and 3.
And did we mention that he'd been around the world, playing six of the last eight weeks?
Whew.
Then his alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. Monday.
No bother. This was more important than sleep.
After Casey won the Shell Houston Open last year in a playoff over J.B. Holmes, he said he wanted to give something back to Houston. And he did in the form of what he called a little donation €" a $100,000 contribution to Houston charities from himself and his wife Jocelyn.
That tells you a lot about the 32-year-old. He already has a foundation in England that supports youth sports, but he wanted to start something in the United States, too, since he's living here.
"The money is coming from my heart and Jocelyn's heart,€ he said, "just to say thank you and mark my first PGA TOUR victory.€
That win took the pressure off the 10-time European Tour winner. It also shot him to No. 3 in the world and got everyone thinking his power-packed swing was going to make an impact in the majors. But it didn't.
Not long after winning the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour €" his third win of the year €" Casey suffered a rib injury and, despite trying to play through it several times, wound up sidelined most of the second half of the season.
Frustrating? Absolutely. But he rehabbed. He rested. He played with the dog. He even did a few things domestic.
"There's only so many times you can rearrange the furniture,€ he chuckled.
And, in the midst of it all, he realized what golf meant.
"It's a humbling game,€ he said, shaking his head, "and you can lose your affection for it.€
You can also realize how much you love it. And he did last fall, he watched his friend and fellow Englishman Lee Westwood win the Dubai World Championships.
"I was watching Westy shoot one of the best 64s ever to win the World Championship,€ Casey said. "I wasn't jealous. I was sitting there thinking that's really cool. That was fun. I watched it as a fan.€
Fast forward to this season when, in addition to the runner-up finish Sunday, Casey has two other top-11 finishes €" a T5 at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and a T11 at the Dubai Desert Classic, which he won in 2009. The rib injury is almost 100 percent and he's approaching the same form he had this time last year.
And, then there's the Official World Golf Rankings. Casey is sixth, Poulter is fifth and Westwood is fourth. A virtual Murderers Row as golf starts the countdown toward the Masters. The power in numbers isn't lost on Casey. Neither is the fact that the last Englishman to win a major was Nick Faldo €" nearly 14 years ago €" at the 1996 Masters.
I remember seven or eight years ago when we had two guys in the top 100,€ Casey said. "Now, we have three of the top six.
"I think there's a real feeling now that someone's going to break through, We're all friends. There's no nasty rivalries. But I am getting the feeling very much that the race in on. It could be Augusta. It could be the U.S. Open. Maybe the first winner will open the floodgates.€
Maybe this will be Casey's breakout season. Pound-for-pound, the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder is one of the longest players off the tee. Why?
Simple. "All I tried to do as a kid was hit it as hard as possible,€ he said. "I think that stayed with me."
Houston stuck with him too. The Redstone Course fits his eye. So do the conditions €" fast greens, shaved banks, negligible rough. Very similar to what players see at the Masters €" with different grass, architecture and elevation €" the week after the Shell Houston Open.
"The one thing that scares a golfer is short grass,€ Casey said. "We can make ourselves look like fools. You have to hit quality shots.€
Casey did just that a year ago on his way to the Shell Houston Open win. And, while it may have taken the pressure off him, that first PGA TOUR win didn't change his life.
"For me, it's not life-changing stuff,€ he said. "My life's great. I've been very lucky to do what I do. Life's pretty simple. A wife and a dog, that's about it. I've got the things in life that I need."
A few hours and a barbeque lunch later, he was on his way back to Phoenix for a week off. It was a hard decision not to play his hometown event €" the Waste Management Phoenix Open €" this week, but he needed to decompress for the run-up to Augusta.
And, we might add, catch up on a little sleep.
Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
So did his smile.
Paul Casey €" running on a couple hours sleep and maybe a power nap on a 6 a.m. flight out of Phoenix €" was in Houston Monday morning to live up to a promise he made nearly a year ago.
No one would have thought twice if he had cancelled. Or asked to do it via teleconference. After all, he had just played 60 holes of match play in two days. Not to mention surviving a string of 5 a.m. wake-up calls, a myriad of weather conditions and a suspension for darkness 23 holes into a 24-hole semifinal match against Camilo Villegas. That following a blitz of a quartet of 5 and 4 wins the four previous days.
To top it all off? He lost in the finals of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play for the second consecutive year Sunday to fellow Englishman Ian Poulter by a score of 4 and 2; a year ago to Australian Geoff Ogilvy 4 and 3.
And did we mention that he'd been around the world, playing six of the last eight weeks?
Whew.
Then his alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. Monday.
No bother. This was more important than sleep.
After Casey won the Shell Houston Open last year in a playoff over J.B. Holmes, he said he wanted to give something back to Houston. And he did in the form of what he called a little donation €" a $100,000 contribution to Houston charities from himself and his wife Jocelyn.
That tells you a lot about the 32-year-old. He already has a foundation in England that supports youth sports, but he wanted to start something in the United States, too, since he's living here.
"The money is coming from my heart and Jocelyn's heart,€ he said, "just to say thank you and mark my first PGA TOUR victory.€
That win took the pressure off the 10-time European Tour winner. It also shot him to No. 3 in the world and got everyone thinking his power-packed swing was going to make an impact in the majors. But it didn't.
Not long after winning the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour €" his third win of the year €" Casey suffered a rib injury and, despite trying to play through it several times, wound up sidelined most of the second half of the season.
Frustrating? Absolutely. But he rehabbed. He rested. He played with the dog. He even did a few things domestic.
"There's only so many times you can rearrange the furniture,€ he chuckled.
And, in the midst of it all, he realized what golf meant.
"It's a humbling game,€ he said, shaking his head, "and you can lose your affection for it.€
You can also realize how much you love it. And he did last fall, he watched his friend and fellow Englishman Lee Westwood win the Dubai World Championships.
"I was watching Westy shoot one of the best 64s ever to win the World Championship,€ Casey said. "I wasn't jealous. I was sitting there thinking that's really cool. That was fun. I watched it as a fan.€
Fast forward to this season when, in addition to the runner-up finish Sunday, Casey has two other top-11 finishes €" a T5 at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and a T11 at the Dubai Desert Classic, which he won in 2009. The rib injury is almost 100 percent and he's approaching the same form he had this time last year.
And, then there's the Official World Golf Rankings. Casey is sixth, Poulter is fifth and Westwood is fourth. A virtual Murderers Row as golf starts the countdown toward the Masters. The power in numbers isn't lost on Casey. Neither is the fact that the last Englishman to win a major was Nick Faldo €" nearly 14 years ago €" at the 1996 Masters.
I remember seven or eight years ago when we had two guys in the top 100,€ Casey said. "Now, we have three of the top six.
"I think there's a real feeling now that someone's going to break through, We're all friends. There's no nasty rivalries. But I am getting the feeling very much that the race in on. It could be Augusta. It could be the U.S. Open. Maybe the first winner will open the floodgates.€
Maybe this will be Casey's breakout season. Pound-for-pound, the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder is one of the longest players off the tee. Why?
Simple. "All I tried to do as a kid was hit it as hard as possible,€ he said. "I think that stayed with me."
Houston stuck with him too. The Redstone Course fits his eye. So do the conditions €" fast greens, shaved banks, negligible rough. Very similar to what players see at the Masters €" with different grass, architecture and elevation €" the week after the Shell Houston Open.
"The one thing that scares a golfer is short grass,€ Casey said. "We can make ourselves look like fools. You have to hit quality shots.€
Casey did just that a year ago on his way to the Shell Houston Open win. And, while it may have taken the pressure off him, that first PGA TOUR win didn't change his life.
"For me, it's not life-changing stuff,€ he said. "My life's great. I've been very lucky to do what I do. Life's pretty simple. A wife and a dog, that's about it. I've got the things in life that I need."
A few hours and a barbeque lunch later, he was on his way back to Phoenix for a week off. It was a hard decision not to play his hometown event €" the Waste Management Phoenix Open €" this week, but he needed to decompress for the run-up to Augusta.
And, we might add, catch up on a little sleep.
Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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