European tour: Arnold Palmer has sent a personal message to England's Paul Casey congratulating him on playing "the ultimate shot" - his hole-in-one at The K Club on the second day of the Ryder Cup.
The four-iron shot on the 14th clinched Casey's foursomes match with David Howell against Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson.
Designer of the course and the record American points-scorer in the event, Palmer signed the following message on a giant replica image of the hole depicted in the latest yardage guide: "Paul, what a time to play the ultimate shot! Well done!"
The replica image was presented to Casey at St Andrews yesterday ahead of his appearance as leader of the European Tour Order of Merit in the Dunhill Links Championship.
John McHenry, director of golf at The K Club, said: "Paul played a wonderful shot at the 14th which lifted the European team and all of its supporters.
"It is highly appropriate that Arnold Palmer, as the course designer and a great Ryder Cup competitor himself, should send his congratulations to Paul, and we are delighted to present him with this special image of the hole on behalf of The K Club and CourseGuide."
Casey and Howell step up the race to become the top golfer in Europe at St Andrews. Howell led the order of merit for almost 10 months before being overtaken two weeks ago when his fellow Englishman won the World Matchplay title at Wentworth.
A tie for 13th place in the WGC-American Express Championship at Watford on Sunday pushed Howell within £80,000 of Casey at the top of the money list.
St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, three of the most celebrated courses in Scotland, will host the sixth staging of the Links pro-am.
Home favourite Colin Montgomerie is back to defend the title he won last year.
Montgomerie edged out fellow Briton Kenneth Ferrie by one stroke to finish top of the order of merit for the eighth time in his career.
Casey, Howell and Montgomerie are joined in a strong field by Ryder Cup colleagues Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley, Robert Karlsson, Jose Maria Olazabal, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood.
Captain Ian Woosnam, who led Europe to an 18½-9½ victory over the United States at The K Club, and his assistants Sandy Lyle and Peter Baker are also competing for the first prize of £427,000.
The overseas challenge will be spearheaded by Ernie Els and Retief Goosen of South Africa and Fiji's Vijay Singh.
Each of the 168 professionals joins up with an amateur partner for the week.
Among the list of celebrities taking part are Boris Becker, Ian Botham, Bobby Charlton, Johan Cruyff, Kenny Dalglish, Kapil Dev, Ruud Gullit, Dennis Hopper, Kyle MacLachlan, Matthew Pinsent, Steve Redgrave, Michael Vaughan and Gianluca Vialli.
The teams play one round at each of the courses over the first three days before the field is cut for the final round at St Andrews on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Ryder Cup star Sergio Garcia has revealed a more mature approach to golf has made him realise the sport is not the most important thing in life.
The 26-year-old Spaniard was Europe's joint top-scorer with Westwood in Straffan last month, taking four points from five matches.
Garcia's often fiery temperament is ideally suited to the matchplay set up of a Ryder Cup, but it has caused him problems in the past when he is playing as an individual in strokeplay events.
However, the world number nine said the days of his impetuous youth are in the past, and spending time with the recently-widowed Darren Clarke in Dublin only helped him see things more clearly.
"I used to be (temperamental)," Garcia said. "As I've matured, I've gotten a lot better, partly because I've realised that golf is important to me but it's not the most important thing in my life.
"There are other things. We've had a pretty bad run recently with guys losing parents and Darren losing Heather, and it shows you that there's more to life. So, I feel like I've grown up now."
