World Cup: After a miserable week away from the golf course, fate finally looked kindly on Paul Casey. Yesterday, in partnership with Luke Donald, his closest friend on tour, the Englishman - who paid a heavy price during the event for his anti-American sentiments by losing his contract with Titleist, his main sponsor - played sublimely, particularly with the putter in his hand, to claim the World Cup by a shot from Spain at Real Club de Golf de Sevilla.
In an awesome display of foursomes golf, the English duo, who had started the final round one shot behind Spain's Sergio Garcia and Miguel Angel Jimenez, shot a finishing 64 to their closest challengers' 66 for a total of 31-under-par 257, to finish one stroke clear of the Spaniards. Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley were third on their own, three shots adrift.
England, claiming the title for only the second time in the event's history, played flawless golf for 17 holes. And, when they eventually slipped up on the last for their only bogey, the stumble had no dire consequences. Casey and Donald pocketed $700,000 apiece, respectively the biggest pay day of their careers.
Casey, in particular, has matured inside the past week. A week ago, the first rumblings of his comments on Americans in which he stated he "properly hated" them during the Ryder Cup started a domino effect that led to him receiving vitriolic email messages and culminated in him losing his main sponsorship deal.
"I'm very happy with the way I've handled myself this week. I've been very professional," said Casey. "I've not enjoyed what's happened early in the week and this is a nice way to finish. I've tried to put all my focus on my golf as soon as I've arrived at the golf course and I'm very proud that I've managed to do that. It has been a distraction, but I think I'm a stronger player because of it. I'm certainly thicker-skinned."
Casey, who has a home in Arizona and who is taking up his US Tour card next year, is unsure what reaction he will receive in America. He is due to fly there later this week, and will play his first event - the Sony Open - in January.
"I hope they will be receptive, (but) I don't know if they will be. I really don't know. I'm going to worry about working on my golf game during the off-season and probably try and repair any damage that I can. I still feel upset with various people for what's happened, but we will move one."
Yesterday, for certain, Casey played exceptionally well in a partnership with Donald - first honed in their amateur days and brought to a new level at professional level - that, incredibly, saw them outscore themselves in foursomes as against fourball.
"It was amazing," suggested Donald. "We somehow gelled pretty well together in foursomes and Paul obviously got very hot with the putter both times. That was the difference."
Casey, in fact, sank seven of their birdies, including one of almost 50 feet on the 10th.
The final round developed into a battle between England and Spain, with Ireland on the periphery and threatening to make serious inroads after an eagle on the 13th, where Padraig Harrington holed from 35 feet, was followed with a birdie on the 14th. But the Irish challenge tapered out when they covered the last four holes in one-over.
So England controlled their destiny. Ultimately, the 16th hole, which had been Ireland's nemesis throughout the event, was decisive. There, Garcia put this approach into the water as Spain bogeyed, while England birdied. And that gave them the cushion over the closing holes that was beyond any of their pursuers.
Final totals
(at the Real Club de Sevilla, par 72)
257 - England (Luke Donald, Paul Casey) 61 64 68 64 (€530,000 each).
258 - Spain (Miguel Angel Jimenez, Sergio Garcia) 63 68 61 66 (€265,000 each).
260 - IRELAND (Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley) 60 71 64 65 (€154,000 each).
263 - South Africa (Rory Sabbatini, Trevor Immelman) 66 65 64 68.
265 - Austria (M Wiegele, M Brier) 60 70 68 67, Netherlands (R-J Derksen, M Lafeber) 65 69 63 68.
267 - Germany (K Baraka, M Siem) 64 69 66 68, Sweden (J Haeggman, F Jacobson) 64 67 64 72, United States (S Verplank, B Tway) 64 67 64 72.
269 - South Korea (K Dae-sub, S Yong-jin) 65 70 64 70, Wales (P Price, B Dredge) 65 69 64 71, Australia (S Leaney, N O'Hern) 64 68 65 72, Japan (S Maruyama, H Tanaka) 62 69 65 73.
270 - Denmark (A Hansen, S Kjeldsen) 64 73 67 66.
272 - New Zealand (D Smail, C Perks) 69 73 62 68, France (T Levet, R Jacquelin) 68 68 66 70.
273 - Italy (A Tadini, A Maestroni) 70 71 64 68.
274 - Scotland (A Forsyth, S Drummond) 64 72 66 72.
276 - Argentina (E Romero, A Cabrera) 70 71 65 70.
277 - Canada (D Griff, S Anderson) 68 71 65 73.
280 - Colombia (J Garrido, M Merizalde) 67 73 65 75.
282 - Myanmar (K Hla Han, S Kyaw Naing) 69 73 67 73.
283 - Chinese Taipei (W Ter-chang, L Wei-chih) 70 70 68 75.
288 - Mexico (P Del Olmo, A Quiroz) 74 72 68 74.
