GOLF/News: Paul Casey was blissfully unaware of the dramatic tussle going on behind him as he led from the front to win the ANZ Championship title by four points yesterday.

The 25-year-old led into the final round of a tournament for only the third time in his career and, by ignoring the fluctuations on the scoreboard, was able to remain calm despite having his six-point lead reduced first by Peter Lonard, then Nick O'Hern and finally Stuart Appleby.

Eventually he sunk a birdie on the last to finish on 45 points and clinch the €180,934 first prize, four points ahead of Appleby and O'Hern, who tied for second, and five better than joint-fourth finishers Lonard and Jarrod Moseley.

It was only Casey's second career victory and was based on a scintillating third round of 63 which, translated into the modified stableford format used on the NSW Golf Club links, was worth 21 points. He had scored nine birdies and an eagle to surge out of the pack and earn a cushion that was to prove crucial as the former US Colleges and British amateur champion struggled for rhythm on the last day.

Lonard put together a remarkable outward nine of 30 and by the time he birdied the 13th, the Australian PGA and Masters champion was level with Casey on 42 points.

But just when Lonard expected to go on and set Casey a target in excess of 50, he double bogeyed the 14th and slipped out of realistic contention almost as fast as he had risen.

Not that the Englishman knew anything about that, or that while he was tripping up to card bogeys on the 15th and 16th, O'Hern had leapt into second on 41 points, just two off the pace.

Up until the 17th tee, all he knew was that Appleby remained a threat.

"The first time I looked at the scoreboard all day was on 17," he said. "I knew what Stuart was on but I had no idea what anybody else was.

"I threw away a couple of points coming down the stretch. Not really nerves or anything, just a few poor shots. I wasn't worried at any stage, I was always trying to put myself in play and be aggressive and managed to stay that way right through to 18."