World Matchplay championship: Ian Woosnam can meet Tom Lehman on the tarmac of Dublin airport today with a smile, a handshake and a four-word greeting: one-nil to Europe.

Paul Casey's defeat of Shaun Micheel in yesterday's final of the World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth will not count towards the outcome of this week's Ryder Cup but it did much for Europe's morale ahead of The K Club - not least because Woosnam can look to the challenge ahead with the satisfaction of knowing that one of the most talented and, more to the point, in-form players in the world will be playing on his team come Friday.

Casey looked pretty satisfied with his day's work, too. His win, by a record margin of 10 and 8, saw him move into the top 20 of the world rankings for the first time in his career and pick up a cheque for £1 million - the biggest in professional golf.

The Englishman has now won three European tour events this season and heads the Order of Merit. It all adds up to quite a transformation for a player who, just over a year ago, was mired in a slump which had some speculating that he might never fulfil the promise he had shown during a spectacularly successful career in American college golf.

For all that this tournament had been marketed around the appearance of Tiger Woods, it was Casey who produced the best golf of the week by far as he dispatched Retief Goosen, Mike Weir and Colin Montgomerie - none of whom could take him past the 33rd hole. Micheel, who had seen off Woods in the first round, suffered the same fate - in spades.

As in those earlier matches, the English player grabbed an early lead yesterday and never let it slip. He played the first nine holes in the morning in 31, four under par, to take a two-shot lead.

The American, who is not a member of the US squad at The K Club, halved the deficit only to slip up on the 16th, where he put his approach shot over the green after hitting the wrong club - a mistake which, in the grand traditional of professional golf, he blamed squarely on his caddie.

"Don't say another word to me," he snapped as they headed to the next tee. "You might as well take the rest of the year off."

He lost the 17th hole, too, and headed in for lunch three down. The caddie was still on the bag when they came out again for the afternoon and, given the pathetic resistance offered by Micheel, it must have taken some restraint not to tell his employer to take the rest of the day off.

Casey did not even have to play at his best to win. He went four clear with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 20th and got away with a half on the next despite hooking his drive into the trees. He then won four of the next five holes and, effectively, the match was over.

For the American there was the consolation of a £400,000 second-place prize and the knowledge that his name will forever feature in the nightmares of the tournament sponsors HSBC, who spent so much money bringing Woods to Wentworth only to see him knocked out on the first day.

Casey, meanwhile, took the chance to talk up a couple of his Ryder Cup team-mates after receiving the trophy. "It's about believing that you should be in this position, that you are capable of winning world-class events. Luke (Donald) and David (Howell) have that belief. I had it, lost it and now I have it again."

• Guardian Service